[b]Today’s interview is with 20-year old Internet Rock Star who does awesome things with the net, Thomas Frank.

His writing has been featured in over a dozen sites, including USA Today and Stepcase Lifehack. He was featured as one of the best young entrepreneurs of 2011 at Gen-Y Rants, and have been featured at multiple blogs. And the amazing part is this, despite all the success social aspect, he keeps his GPA above a 3.7.

Thomas is obsessed with entrepreneurship, human potential, and DDR. He says “When I grow up, I want to write, speak, and teach people how to shoot for the stars”. I’ll stop writing now and hand you over to Thomas, this is one of the best interview I’ve done on this blog! Thomas, over to ya.



Let’s Meet You:
I’m a 20 year old college student living in Ames, IA. I go to school at Iowa State University.


Inspiration:

A lot of things inspire me – I try to surround and immerse myself in as many inspiring pursuits and environments as possible. I read a lot of books and blogs, and I talk to a lot of great people. I also get inspiration from self-experiments.

MIS and Internet Entrepreneur?
I’ll be honest; studying MIS used to be a lot more interesting to me than it is now. When I started college, I had no dreams of being an entrepreneur; I just wanted to land a job as a system administrator.
However, after starting my blog and doing a corporate internship, I knew entrepreneurship was for me. And it’s been great so far! I’ve been able to meet some amazing people and even do some travelling


Wall Street Journal Story?
The Wall Street Journal gig was actually a bit of a lucky break; my friend Emily was posted on her Facebook wall that a journalist was looking for people with experience getting scholarships, and I happened to see it.
As I do have a lot of experience with scholarships, I was picked for the story!

Other press outlets have always contacted me first; I haven’t done any digging for stories. Maybe I should in the future; I’m not really sure how that stuff works, to be honest!

Writing Inspirations?
That’s really tough to say – ideas will just come to me at all times (usually when I’m at the gym, walking, or just don’t have access to my computer).
I do read a lot of books and blogs, so I’m sure that’s part of it!


Online Success:
I think the first time I felt “successful” was when my hanging desk project was featured on LifeHacker.



Bloggers Skill?
There’s a lot to learn if you want to be successful, so I’d definitely recommend reading through blogs like Smart Passive Income, ThinkTraffic, and Social Triggers. The guys behind those blogs have a lot to say.
That said, I think my #1 tip is to get out there and network with other bloggers – both in your niche and outside of it. Blogging isn’t just about getting your message out there; it’s about having conversations and meeting people as well. So do it!

[/b]

For best reading go here:

www.ivblogger.com/thomas-frank-interview

SHALOM

Some people are just silly!

SHALOM

Alaye-spain:
@Suxes2006
What schools in the South can i apply for Language Course Study?...

Sorry for the late reply, i didnt get a notification that there is a reply.

As per the language course, i guess you need to search online sir.

SHALOM

ludab, you are in the best position to convince the consular on that.

@kaffy4tope, simply go with invitation letter.

SHALOM

[b]Today we have a superb interview with one of the most talented Writers and Internet Entrepreneur I have come across in few years of doing business online – Sean Platt of GhostWriterDad. GWD is Sean’s blog which he used to get clients during his writing career as a Freelance Writer. Yes, I said during his writing career, because according to Sean,he said “I retired from ghostwriting since there was no reason to take paid work when I could write for myself, then publish it to Kindle and have an asset that would provide a positive return forever“.


Sean is a busy dude who puts his hands into profitable online adventures and that is why I call him an Internet Entrepreneur unlike other Internet Marketers and Freelance Guys whose only aim is to make money with other people’s product or get a paying client.


The most interesting aspect on his blog is “I used to be a Ghost Writer. That was before I’d published my first book, landed my first five-figure client, taken my first $300 an hour consulting call, or had more than a thread of belief that I could make this all work”. I thought all ghost writers will continue to be ghost writers till the internet goes away or something else happens until I met Sean who gave more insight into the future of a successful Ghost Writer.

In particular I absolutely love Sean’s answer to my question on the what he’ll do differently:

“I would start writing for myself sooner than I did.”

Also in particular look at how Sean has leveraged Social Media (Twitter, Facebook) to achieve such remarkable growth in his online businesses and he continues to do so.

Enjoy the interview – and please let me have your comments and feedback below.

Let's Meet You.


I live in Cincinnati Ohio and I am 35 years old. I’m motivated mostly by my wife and children, though I have plenty of internal drive as well. I started my first business at 12, and have always enjoyed the art of commerce. I’m inspired by everything from forward thinking business thinkers like Steve Jobs to kick ass artists like Eminem and Quentin Tarantino to writing powerhouses like Stephen King.[/b]


Read more here:
www.ivblogger.com/sean-platt-interview/

SHALOM

Ask your questions here

SHALOM

starfort:

so many comments and post over the years, its impressive though. I think we need people who have actually gone to the embassy to apply for student visa to drop their experience and advise. Just check out the US and UK visa thread.

We actually started this thread about German visit visa before
people started asking about German student visa

There is no rocket science in getting German SV just let's know
your questions and you'll surely get answers.

SHALOM

I can be of good help here. Will surely create time out
of my busy blogging schedule.

Sheyi
www.ivblogger.com (My blog)
sheyi AT ivblogger.com

Mail me and let's get started

SHALOM

Anyone still interested in this challenge?

This time around, we are going to make sales within
first month very fast!

Make sure you have at least 5k to invest to make it
easy for you.

Domain name: $10
Hosting: (You can use a 9ja host @ 2k per year including domain name self)
Design: I'll guide you through

Let's just assume you spent 2k on the domain and hosting (9ja host)
so you are left with 3k.

The 3k will be used for ads.

If you want to take it up, you can read a post i did
here: http://www.ivblogger.com/100-niche-site-case-study/

SHALOM

HOPE4ME2012,

Its all good. Forget the past and dwell on the present.

I guess you can apply at any time just to correct the
miss understanding and this should be your main point
during your next interview.

SHALOM

masterp204:

Thanks for ur response. The agent promised to get me bank statement with my acc name and number. I am kinda scared as I dnt knw where he's gettin it frm. Is it been done that way?.

You should talk to your agent about that!

SHALOM

5 Tools to Help You Overcome Distractions as a Blogger

BY Onibalusi Bamidele http://www.ivblogger.com/overcomedistraction/

SHALOM

[b]When we entered the blogging year of 2012, niche site bloggers continued with the tactics in order to avoid Google panda and get their sites ranked again while some other bloggers were looking for things that work and how to increase traffic.

To be frank and candid with you, blogging has taken another step forward to what it seems to be. The arena of blogging we are now needs you to WRITE EPIC SHIT and BUILD BLOG THAT MATTERS.

That is the anchor for the 2012 year of blogging – so if you want your blog to have a good meaning in this year and forever more, then you must write epic shits and build blog that matters.

Writing Epic Shits has been part of the success of great bloggers. Before you think about traffic or guest post, then you must write great blog contents.

Let us take Ramith sethi as an example. This is the same guy that has written great FREE contents over the years. One will wonder “When will this guy monetize his blog”? Infact, with the rate of epic shits on his blog, you think there are no other things left for him to write or product for him to create but you can answer that now considering his great courses worth thousands of dollars now.

Another person that I will like to reference here is Pat Flynn of SmartPassiveIncome. He owns the SPI community which I’m proud to associate with. There is hardly any post I will write here without making mention of this guy. The obvious reason is that he writes Epic Shits and his blog matters.

Though top bloggers hardly write about fellow bloggers (or even praise them like I am doing now) but it does not matter and the vision I have with this blog is to interview as many people as possible in the world that lives life that matters, does epic shits or has business that matters.

Pat Flynn wrote an article titled “The Back linking Strategy That Works” (2010) and till date, there has not been another article to outrank how detailed that post is. Glen at Viper chill also wrote an exceptional article on same topic too but I will always vote for Pat’s article.

Anytime I remember that article, I always believe I can rank any site against any competition provided I am ready and I have the money to invest in the BL strategy.

Glen is also a great guy out there who is writing epic shits. Infact, this guy is almost 90% opposite of what non-famous bloggers were thought by famous (GURU) bloggers.

I read a post on his blog where he detailed what you must do in the blogging world. One of which that caught my attention was you were told to write between 350-500 words because your readers are busy but he says he won’t write less than 1,000 words per article.

So let’s get diggy into the main topic about today’s post. I want to try my possible best to come to a good conclusion on how much you can spend on a blog to make it an Epic Blog and the one that matters.

You’ve settled with domain name and hosting so the first thing we start with is the Design!

There are lot of great WP designers that you can higher to help you build a blog that matters. When you get to Elance.com, there are guys who are ready to work with your budget in order to put up a great looking blog for you.

For what I believe in, we are going to build a Minimalism blog. A simple blog with a primary background and the text area should be as clean as possible.

When I started my blog, I used different (FREE) themes on the blog but each time I visit the blog, I was not comfortable so I continued to change the themes from time to time before I stumbled on an almost (PAID) theme which I am currently using.

If you install the theme and discovered you are too busy or cannot work around it to give you the design you wanted, that means you need to hire someone to help you tweak it. Head over to elance.com or fiverr.com and look for those that will help you out.

If you are using elance.com, you have to post a job description. IMHO, I will like to Job posting to be as simple as short as possible.[/b]

Read more:

http://www.ivblogger.com/blog

SHALOM

Vicjustice:

I didn't mean to be "mean", i was only of the opinion that the poster is the appropriate (or more likely) person to know why he was refused the visa

I didn't mean to mean what i mean in my mean reply too!

He surely does know wassup - maybe he is doubting it!

SHALOM

Sure, I will.

SHALOM

They are all in the make money online niche but somehow different.

You sell sites and give another person ownership!

SHALOM

Site flippers here and wanna-be site flippers
let's talk about site flipping!

SHALOM

^^^^^^^^^

Happen?

SHALOM

Vicjustice:

You were refused a US visa at the US embassy, and came to Nairaland to ask why?

Boss, that was too mean!

@OP, you have to think deeply and look the area where
the problem might have arose! Try contact the embassy
and explain wassup to them

SHALOM

Real14all:

To settle Down in USA? Very easy. Try get enough money. When i mean enough money, i'm not talking about $1k. A one room apartment in my state is $550 per month,electricity bills $32, you will also pay for internet bills,buy a car which is a must or else you are ready to walk miles from your home to the bus station and wait for some mins.Shoppings are very fantastic.You will be tricked in buying everything. but if you dont have enough money, dont think an unknown fellow will help you,instead they will trick you to collect the little in your hand. Then trouble begins and you will eventually become a marathon athlete.

US is very organised country. God Really Bless America

What about job opportunities which is hy most
guys wanna travel.

SHALOM

I just came across this website:

http://www.developertutorials.com/writers.php

So check it out and if you are convinced go ahed
I don't write in the webmaster niche so i know little
about that niche

Stay tuned at: www.ivblogger.com

SHALOM

[b]Here is a case study I diligently did about Huffington Post and as a blogger, an entrepreneur or someone who just needs to be motivated, you must read it word by word and let me hear your view after reading it!!

According to Wikipedia, “The Huffington Post is an American news website, content-aggregator and blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, Andrew Breitbart and Jonah Peretti, featuring columnists and various news sources”.

Furthermore, “The site offers news, blogs, and original content, and covers politics, business, entertainment, technology, popular media, life & style, culture, comedy, healthy living, women’s interest, and local news.”

I know you are not here to read the meaning of HP as you probably one time or the other might have heard about the blog (are you an ardent reader too?).

When Ana was about to launch HP with 3 other people in May 9, 2005, there were other top authoritative news blog online as well doing good but HP came with a different voice and tone entirely!

She was a successful writer and author before she taught about creating HP which now took her name to the lips of almost all Americans wanting to read political news online – even though she says HP is not a political blog, it reports more of politics and govt news.

Lessons Learnt From Arianna Huffington

1. Be Fearless

“Her first foray into the Internet was a website called Resignation.com, which called for the resignation of President Bill Clinton and was a rallying place for conservatives opposing Clinton” That was a quote picked from wikipedia and I doubt if i could give you something better than to summarize this message.

You see, for you to work your way to the top, you must be fearless. Make sure you believe in your intuitions and follow your mind. Do not let anything bother you a lot. There are lot of great ideas thrown away all because there might be trade mark problem and you will go to prison.

Arianna was a fearless lady who does not care what happens to her. She wants to speak her voice and let the whole world know whom she is and what she wants. She actually does this on her own with or without the backing of others and once she starts, others follows her.

2. Fail Fast

Whatever your bigger goals are in life, what are you willing to do achieve it? Are you willing to make sacrifices? Work when others are sleeping? Eat only ramen noodles? Breakup with a girlfriend/boyfriend who is holding you back?

For a better understanding of this, go read my friend, Benny Hsu’s post on this where he wrote about how famous people faced failures and still went ahead to succeed at: Famous People Who Found Success Despite Failures the best part I love there is the story of the 65 years old guy who built his business to Billions starting at 65![/b]

http://www.ivblogger.com/huffington/

[b]How Arianna Huffington Created HuffPost – Made $100M + Why Many Bloggers ‘Might’ Die Poor!

3. Seek For Partnership (Joint Venture)

When HP became a success, Arianna did not just sit down and allow everything to continue to work like that. Instead, she agreed to welcome investors and also invest in other things as well which are the backbone of HP now. Get in to the social media scene and get like minds. Forums and other popular means are advised as well.

4. Be Creative + Think Outside The Box

In 2008, the site launched its first local version, HuffPost Chicago; HuffPost New York launched in June, 2009, HuffPost Denver launched on September 15, 2009, HuffPost Los Angeles launched on December 2, 2009, and HuffPost San Francisco, launched on July 12, 2011. HuffPost Detroit, launched on November 17, 2011. The most recent, HuffPost Miami launched in November 2011.

The Huffington Post launched its first international edition, HuffPost Canada, on May 26, 2011. On the 6 July 2011 the Huffington Post UK launched its UK edition. On October 10, 2011, Huffington announced a deal with Le Monde and Les Nouvelles Editions Indépendantes for a French-language, France-targeted edition, Le Huffington Post,[29][30] to be launched by the end of 2011. On February 8, 2012, another French-language edition was launched in the Canadian province of Quebec. International editions for Spain, Italy and Germany have been announced for 2012.

[/b]

http://www.ivblogger.com/huffington/

Yes boss, as much as i like Germany, the advice is not to go with visit visa hoping to work illegal.

As per doing PhD in Germany, I have little info, talk to wip7 (find him on North Cyprus thread) he migh have infos.

If its in the States, Usa,I 'guess' u earn some money why doing ur PhD prog.

I will try and confirm but since you chose Germany, process should be same with UG except req but you will be required to pay the 6K euros IMO.

Pple in Germany pls contribute!

SHALOM

[b]Here is a case study I diligently did about Huffington Post and as a blogger, an entrepreneur or someone who just needs to be motivated, you must read it word by word and let me hear your view after reading it!!

According to Wikipedia, "The Huffington Post is an American news website, content-aggregator and blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, Andrew Breitbart and Jonah Peretti, featuring columnists and various news sources".

Furthermore, "The site offers news, blogs, and original content, and covers politics, business, entertainment, technology, popular media, life & style, culture, comedy, healthy living, women's interest, and local news."

I know you are not here to read the meaning of HP as you probably one time or the other might have heard about the blog (are you an ardent reader too?).

When Ana was about to launch HP with 3 other people in May 9, 2005, there were other top authoritative news blog online as well doing good but HP came with a different voice and tone entirely!

She was a successful writer and author before she taught about creating HP which now took her name to the lips of almost all Americans wanting to read political news online - even though she says HP is not a political blog, it reports more of politics and govt news.

Lessons Learnt From Arianna Huffington

1. Be Fearless

"Her first foray into the Internet was a website called Resignation.com, which called for the resignation of President Bill Clinton and was a rallying place for conservatives opposing Clinton" That was a quote picked from wikipedia and I doubt if i could give you something better than to summarize this message.

You see, for you to work your way to the top, you must be fearless. Make sure you believe in your intuitions and follow your mind. Do not let anything bother you a lot. There are lot of great ideas thrown away all because there might be trade mark problem and you will go to prison.

Arianna was a fearless lady who does not care what happens to her. She wants to speak her voice and let the whole world know whom she is and what she wants. She actually does this on her own with or without the backing of others and once she starts, others follows her.[/b]

Read the rest at:

http://www.ivblogger.com/huffington/

SHALOM

Real14all:

Try to go for the ones that grant IV. You will be asked for the IV and Hotel reservation at the port of entry. It may not be important for the consular to ask.

How easy is it for people to settle down
in the States with a visit visa?

SHALOM

Aiit!

You should contact 'em first.

SHAALOM

Boss, I do not understand that maybe you can xplain more.

SHALOM

Chei, see yabis!

I'm actually waiting for my graphic designer to come up with the new design!

Tnx for checking out the blog.

SHALOM

Before writing this post, I know nothing about Eike Batista until I decided to get some inspiration from Forbes on my next article. I originally planned to write something I learned from Richard Branson. I am a big fan of Richard Branson and I love his books, especially, Losing My Virginity

Read full Post Here:

http://www.ivblogger.com/billionaire/

SHALOM