Focus On Your Money Maker

I’m really excited today because we have our first profile of a money maker. Shanel Yang has an amazing story of coming to the United States from South Korea in 1971 and the obstacles she had to overcome. Her parents were in charge of earning money by taking whatever jobs they could find and she, in turn, was in charge of learning everything else this country had to offer.

Hit the jump to see our complete interview with this amazing person.

*Image courtesy of shanelyang.com

1. Briefly tell us about your money maker. (Some people have multiple money makers like stocks, real-estate, websites, businesses, etc.)

Right now my exclusive “money maker” or income stream is my blog, which is also my business. It’s not making much yet. But, I have plans to grow it to a sufficient size to attract advertisers and affiliate marketers to enable me to live comfortably again. I also plan to leverage the future popularity of my blog to engender interest in my future self help books.

However, my ultimate money maker goal is to have a cable or network TV show in which I provide personal development advice specifically for the intersection of teens, immigrants, and minorities. Although my blog doesn’t currently reflect it, that’s actually my ideal target group. When I launched my blog last year, it was designed only for that group. But, I quickly discovered that my blog would get nowhere fast if I focused on a group whose presence is as yet extremely limited on the internet. So, I broadened my original focus to include anyone who wants to hear self-help advice from a girl who came to this country when she was 5 years old, part of a very poor (only $50!), uneducated, immigrant family of six (from South Korea), who didn’t know a lick of English, and who struggled to find the American Dream, found it, pretty much hated it, and abandoned it all for the life of a struggling but very happy self-employed entrepreneur with huge dreams of success.

So far, I’ve done remarkably well with my blog in a short time, considering I had absolutely no computer skills or programming skills when I started. I am 100% certain I will succeed in all my goals — though I’m not exactly sure of the time frame it will take for me to accomplish all of this — because I have the requisite burning desire that all successful business people talk about and the intelligence, hard work ethic, and fantastic support group that I need to succeed. Most of all, come hell or high water, I will not quit.

Not to ignore the rest of your first question, I also plan to invest in real estate, index funds, and my own future businesses. But, I’ll need to study up on all of that as I go.

2. In your opinion, tell us what it means to stay focused on your money maker.

For me, staying focused on my “money maker” (That’s such a funny term! It always reminds me of that song, “Shake your money maker!”) is about how to motivate myself when I occasionally feel overwhelmed by these really big goals I’ve set for myself and the monstrous learning curve I sometimes stare up at, which looms over me like the huge stone ball that tried to mow down Indiana Jones in one of his movies.

But, the way that I do it is I remember myself when I was a confused little girl, or a frustrated teenager and all I wanted more than anything else was a mentor who could show me the way to do all the hard stuff. And there was so much hard stuff to learn in this strange, new country, when my entire family was literally depending on me for that information for their survival. It was a crushing burden, and I tried to be brave and carry out my familial duties.

Many nights, I stayed up and prayed and wished for a friend, a teacher, a guide through it all. I once saw a “Land of the Lost” episode in which Holly, the little girl, was magically visited by a beautiful woman who saved her and her family’s lives. It turned out that woman was her older self come back through some sort of time warp. She gave her words of wisdom and strength to carry on. I always wished that would happen to me. So, where I draw my strength when I feel weak is I remember how I felt back then — and I think of all the little girls out there now, who are immigrants, minorities, or otherwise disadvantaged, who are desperate for someone like me to help them by sharing what I know with them. All the little things that people whose parents speak English well, had great educations, and so on, take for granted. That’s how I stay focused on my “money maker,” which to me means my dream of helping as many of those kids as possible, which of course means a TV show. Nothing reaches as many people literally and figuratively as TV. My people don’t read or go on the internet much, but they watch a whole heck of a lot of TV. That’s where I must end up to finally reach them.

3. Most people have a mentor that they look up to and seek advice from. Tell us a little about your mentor and what sort of influence they have had on your life.

I have many mentors, but they don’t know me yet. Oprah Winfrey. J.K. Rowling. Steve Jobs. Andrew Carnegie. Napoleon Hill. Dale Carnegie. What these folks have in common is they were very poor — outsiders, if you will, from people who were born without the advantages of wealth, education, or even a stable home — until they decided to follow their hearts and do what they love and give it all they had. Then, when they “made it,” they gave back as much as they took and then some. I am following their lead.

Warmest regards,
Shanel

A big thanks to Shanel for allowing us to learn from here. Make sure to check out her website at shanelyang.com where you can learn more about her and get a free copy of her eBook.