About Goal Book Blog

You can purchase the book at Smashwords with this link :

Book page to sample or purchase The Goal Book - 150 things to do in life:

http://smashwords.com/b/21195

My goal is 
1. Have 15000 units sold.
2. This blog become a trusted place where you can find something useful ( a post, a book, a thought... ) to lift your mood, solve your problem.


Why did I set this goal ? Why did I write this book ? The true story could be long, please be with me.


It happened on 17th of July, 2012.

A seminar was held at a café, the speaker was a business man, a Buddhist who is famous for his charity. I attended the seminar, but my mind was somewhere out there. My soul was twisted with anger and worry.

A few days earlier, I'd had a scholarship paying half the fee for my favorite course, which lasts for 2 years. My job could pay for the rest of the fee, as well as the student debt.
Then I decided to quit the job, because the environment wasn't suitable, too much beer, too much wine. It isn't the job I love, although the salary is good, but I felt the burden inside my heart.

At first, it was a brilliant idea. But then, the fear hit me hard. What should I do ? How could I pay all the debt and the fee ? What about my parent ?

Those questions twisted me, I found no answer. When the speaker, now I call him "mentor", revealed the secret of the rich is to "give away", up to 20% of their venue. That statement stroke me so hard that I felt there was no air in this room anymore.

I decided to wait and ask him this question : "How can I give away ? How can I help the poor when I can't even help myself and my family ?"

I was too scared to stay calm. The tears started to burst, I cried in front of him. He said to me a lot ( I called him "mentor" since that night )

Now I can't remember what he said. But that night, I decided to "give away". But, what I can give other than money ? I believe the best way to help others is give them financial support when they need it most.

Now, the challenge is : "How can I earn enough money for my needs and help the poor at the same time ?" The fee needs to be paid, it's urgent.

Honestly, I didn't know how I can afford 4500 USD for my need ( debt and fee ) and help the poor at the same time.


"Write a book and publish it" was my idea. I love writing, but I'm not an author, I'm not used to writing something in English, and at that time, I couln't find any interesting topic. And I still couldn't find it for many days to come.

One night, while reading "Jack Canfield's key to living the law of attraction", I stumbled on "goal list". It's an interesting idea from John Goddard. You write down 100 ( or more) things you want to achieve before you dead. Then, let the law of attraction takes care of the rest.

Of course, my first goal is to " donate 20% of my first book's monthly revenue for charity". But again, how ?

"Why don't you create your own Goal book ? Why do you have to buy a book just to get a list ? " 


Now, it made sense. A "goal book" is a list of your goal, which you want to achieve before you die. It should be small enough for you to bring it along, so you can read, and remind yourself. Nothing else, just your own goals.

I wrote "The Goal book" in just one day. But what should it be ? Ebook or print ?

Print is the best choice, because you can write on it, hold it and feel it. But I can't handle the fee for shipping and the proof at Amazon.com.

So, ebook. With the ebook reader like Kindle or iPad, I think you can write on the ebook. Now these devices become so popular, so, it's a good choice.
I chose Smashwords because of this article. I believe this was a good choice, too.

Then, the price. The minimum is 0.99 USD, it's too good. Because "The Goal book" isn't a book, it's just a notebook to write down your idea.

Why I need 15000 units sold ?

If I remember it correctly, I got approximately 0.54 USD for each unit.
 So, totally : 15000 x 0.54 = 8100 USD

My country doesn't have  tax treaty with the US, so I have to subtract 30% of my revenue for tax.

The rest : 8100 x 0.7 = 5670 USD

20% is for charity , now I have : 5670 x 0.8 = 4536 USD

( I don't know if there's any fee for tranferring via PayPal, I'm new to this )

So, where is the money going to ?
My friends told me about : Kiva.org and Vittana.org is good to donate. I think I'm going to do that

What happened after I achieved my goal ?
I decided :  60% revenue of this book is for charity

About this blog ?
This blog is a kind of "give away". My mentor often tells me this term. It's about attitude. Have no money ? Give away thoughts, experience, viewpoint. Anything could make a life better.

What are the affiliate link and donation and ads doing here ?

I want to be completely honest with you. After publishing this blog, I consulted my mentor for advices, he told me about the coolest thing of the rich : With money, you can take care of your own family, have quality time with them, donate to charity to help more and more people.

So, he encouraged me to share quality thoughts, monetise this blog, and first of all, show respect to my readers by telling them the truth at the beginning. So I did.

This was all my story . Thank you so much to be with me all that long.


Book page to sample or purchase The Goal Book - 150 things to do in life: http://smashwords.com/b/21195


Tom Nguyen's Smashwords Author Profile: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/tomnguyen