Random Thoughts

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It’s been a while since I updated you on what’s happening with my niche stores.  This is story with some twists and turns so follow along!

So…after my expiration from the Ebay Partner Network, I needed to quickly find a way to replace the income from EPN.  I was already signed up with Popshops.com and decided to switch all the stores over to other merchants and see how it would go.  Unfortunately this just wasn’t working very well for my niches as Ebay was perhaps the best match.

So what did I do?  I sold my websites! I sold 12 websites and received a fraction of what they were worth because of the uncertainty with EPN.

Then I moved on and signed up for PPC-Coach which was a great move.  There’s so much information there that you will quickly learn about PPC.  The Coach himself is available to help you, but there’s also a forum with MANY people earning some pretty big money and they’re more than willing to help.  I can’t recommend PPC-Coach enough.

So things were going along well with PPC-Coach, I was learning a lot and was making a little bit of money and pretty happy with my decision to join.  Then one evening I was sitting in Starbucks with my wife.  I had my laptop there and she was doing a crossword puzzle when I decided to check my email.  So guess what was in my inbox?  An email from Ebay Partner Network!  So I opened it up and couldn’t believe my eyes.  “Sorry for the delay in answering…”.  It turns out that I have been reinstated by EPN and it was a glitch that got me booted off.

So this was great news.  Back to BANS sites, except one problem.  I didn’t own any BANS sites anymore because I had sold them just days earlier!  It took 1 month for EPN to get back to me and I had really forgotten about EPN and moved on.  So needless to say, the past few days I have been very business building some BANS/Wordpress niche sites.  So far I have 2 high quality sites up, but will be starting one more next week.  I believe that I can get my earnings back up to a respectable level in a short period of time now since I know what works and what does not.  Three websites will be enough for now since I plan to add plenty of content to them.

So, life is interesting…

Sitting on a beach getting a great tan, with a drink in hand I decide I better go home and get some work done.  I jump into my Black Lamborghini Murcielago and head on home to my $2.5 million dollar gated home.  I login to my computer for 1 hour each day and watch the profits roll in….all $5000 per day!

Isn’t it ridiculous what some of these Internet marketers will tell you!  The problem is, somehow many people actually believe them.

When I started in Affiliate Marketing I found so many of these claims that if you buy their e-book, you will be making thousands by tomorrow.  Just type “make money online” into a search engine and look at the claims made by the sponsored ads on the right.  The truth of the matter is this; Many of these affiliate marketers make money by selling you products that tell you how to make money, yet they themselves don’t actually make a dime, unless you buy the book! Photoshop is a handy tool, isn’t it!  It can help put a face in a sports car, or in front of a large home that they claim they bought with all their internet earnings.

Now don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of money to be made in affiliate marketing or internet marketing, but it won’t be quite as easy as many claim.

Affiliate marketing is an interesting business that certainly keeps me on my toes, much more than any “real job” has.  With a conventional job, you go into work everyday and you trade your time for some money.  While you’re there, you do what they tell you to do, within a set of guidelines and expectations and then you head home for the evening and do it all over again.  This kind of arrangement is just not for me.

I have a very entrepreneurial mindset in that I would rather make $30k working for myself than $100k working for someone else.  Sure, a steady paycheck might be nice but what do you sell in exchange for the money your employer gives you?  Time with family, friends, helping others…those are much more important than anything else, even driving a nice car or living in a nice home and certainly not worth the trade-off in my opinion.

So What Is The Affiliate Marketing Life Really Like?

Many 12 hour days of sitting in front of the computer where some days, if I calculated my time vs earnings,  I work for $1 per hour…whereas other days, I will earn much more.  Here’s how I spend most days:  I get up early only because I like to, not because I must.  I work  a few hours at Starbucks on my laptop before coming home.  I work for several hours at home then take a break and watch a little TV.  Then it’s supper and then I’ll work on my laptop and watch TV with my wife or occasionally we go out.  It’s not a glamorous life, but I like it.

Am I rich?  NO WAY!  Do I have the potential to earn quite a bit?  YES, but it will take a lot of time, commitment and perseverance.  No one is cracking the whip everyday and making me work.  If I don’t work, I don’t make any money - it’s as simple as that.

Don’t get sucked into ridiculous income claims.  If you desire to make money online, just work hard, keep your head up even when things are not going well and eventually your hard work will pay off.  You will need to be a constant student;  Learn new information or techniques and come up with new ideas that will help your business every single day.  People that make money online are explorers, innovators and are driven to learn and succeed.

Those that are looking for a manual that will tell you exactly what to do to make money online…I suggest you keep your day job!

I’ve been unemployed since moving to a new city 2 months ago and if the truth were told, I haven’t spent much time looking for work.  Why is that?  The reason is that I love blogging!  Blogging is something that I have a come to love and as I blog, I learn. What I’ve learned is that there’s huge potential to earn a full-time income online from a combination of Affiliate Marketing and Blogging.  My blog has finally started to earn a very small amount of money and all I need is an increase in traffic and the income will hopefully increase accordingly.  I would like to see 1000 unique visitors per day on a consistent basis.  I have had a few days where traffic came very close to 1000, but I haven’t crossed that line.

How Much Money Do I Need to Make?

That’s a very difficult question to answer.  In order to live, I need quite a bit of money, however I would learn to live on a lot less if I was doing something that I enjoyed.  The figure that I have in my mind as my first goal, is $1200 per month.  I know that’s a relatively lofty first goal, but that’s the number that works for me.  $1200 would cover the cost of renting our apartment, which would free up a few $$.  Obviously I don’t want to stay at $1200, but I’m hoping to be at $1200 per month within the next 3 months.  Is that possible?

I’ve only been blogging for 2 months, so I would have a total of 5 months in and be earning $1200.  I know that’s a rather lofty goal, but that’s the number I will stick with.  Keep checking back and I will let you know if I’m making any progress.

Of course there are other things to think about when deciding to go full-time on the internet.  First, going full-time means that I won’t have any benefits or pension.  Job security is also something that most people think about, however that’s not much of a concern to me.  In today’s economy, what does it actually mean to have a secure job?  Unless you’re highly skilled, jobs come and go and employers come and go.  20 years ago everyone felt that if you were able to get a job working for Ford, Chrysler or GM, you would have a good paying gig for life.  As we’ve seen in the past 3 years, this is no longer true.  Essentially, blogging appears to be one of the most secure of occupations because your success is largely dependent upon your effort.  Your own ability to market and write quality content will determine whether or not you get paid.

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I had a job interview today.  Interviews are very awkward and not very comfortable, but I think that it went alright.  I must admit, I am getting a bit bored of hanging around the hotel even though it is nice.  If you haven’t read my previous posts, my wife and I are living in a hotel for at least 45 days since moving to a new city.  I enjoy not having to cook or clean.

I have another interview lined up for next week as well, so hopefully between the two of them, I will get a job.  I certainly cannot live of the VERY small earnings from this blog, so a job is definitely a good thing.  My wife won’t let me stay home much longer either!  Unfortunately she’s not into the whole blogging thing, so a regular 9-5 job would make her quite happy.

So you’ve been staring at your portfolio and noticing something troubling; You’re losing money! According to a number of economists, the much dreaded recession has hit the U.S. Here in Canada we have not been affected quite as much as the U.S. from the credit crunch, however we have certainly felt it.  Like the old saying goes “When the U.S. sneezes, Canada catches a cold”. Many of our Canadian banks have been stuck holding billions in bad loans which has affected the stock price of the 5 major banks and has taken a toll on profits. Unfortunately many of the mutual funds that I currently hold invest heavily in bank stock, so I certainly don’t like what I see. The high dollar is causing our factories to become less competitive in the global marketplace which translates into job losses. Our housing prices have been increasing fast and people have been scooping up any equity that they have to buy things that they cannot really afford. In Canada, the U.S and many European countries statistics show that most people actually spend more than they earn each year. It’s not hard to see that this is a problem.

One thing to note about a recession is this: it’s just a word. Of course among the economists and financial analysts, it’s a word that they fear. But what about you? I wouldn’t say that I fear a recession or fear what it’s effect will be on me, my family, and friends. I’ve been through a few job losses and had to start over in a new job. It’s not the end of the world. Job security isn’t everything. Baby boomers tend to look at it much differently than Gen-Xer’s. Lets look at their history: they finished high-school and maybe some post-secondary education, were offered a job working for one of the “Big Three”, a parts factory, or sitting at a desk in an office for a blue-chip company and they sat there for 30 years or more, then retired with a fat pension! I would say it’s very rare for this scenario to happen in todays economy. While there are regions and occupations where you may still see this happening, I would say its the exception, not the rule. Times are changing and we need to “roll with the punches”.

So how do we respond to news of a recession? Cut the cable, forget buying the new car, the new flat panel TV or postpone that family vacation. NO! That’s the worst thing you could do. The media fuels our fear of going broke and thus causes us to stop spending. What happens when we stop spending? A recession! Here’s an idea; Turn the TV off, stop reading the Financial section of your newspaper and enjoy yourself. Take the vacation, buy the new car or TV and watch the economy bounce back. One thing that certainly will not help is buying on credit, which will only temporarily help the situation. We need to get back to learning to live within our means, save consistently and be happy with what we have. Buy things with cash, not credit and forget trying to “keep up with the Jones’” because the “Jones” family doesn’t actually have as much as you think.

The “honeymoon” period is over!  I thought that I would love living in a hotel for 2 months, however it’s starting to get a little annoying.  Two nights ago some kids (about 10yrs old) checked into the hotel with a chaperon.  Apparently they were in town for a hockey tournament and seemed to really enjoy running up and down the hallway for hours on end, yelling at each other and going in and out of their room which was just across the hall.  They checked out this morning!  :o)

Also, last evening I started experiencing internet connection issues with no warning.  I have not been able to connect to either wireless or wired internet for over 24 hours now (and it’s driving me nuts!) I spent an hour on the phone with a guy from India, but no luck.  Thankfully our hotel has a business centre with computers that are available all the time.  I just came down to research my PC issues and I’m going back to our room to work on it.  Needless to say, hotel living isn’t always problem free.