The other day I talked about using free hosted services such as blogs and I’m not done yet. I mentioned that it’s hard to take any one seriously when they are using free services, least it is for me.

Today some one followed me on Twitter, who touted themselves as a Success Coach, who teaches Internet secrets to grow ones MLM business. They could very well be and do all of the above, but I had a little trouble believing it when i found out their web site was  a Myspace page. Myspace has it’s uses, but not as your business home on the web.

Think about it, would you pay some one to be your success coach, when it seems their biggest success is making a Myspace Page? What kinds of internet secrets will you learn? How to add stuff to your glitterized  MySpace page?

Yes I am being a jerk.. come on people! Do you really expect anyone to take you serious and want to do business with you when you can’t even fork over measly $10 a month and make your own web site? Would you hire a lawyer who set up shop under the local underpass tunnel? Of course you wouldn’t.

Spend some money on your business, you’ll be happy you did.

/rant

I promise my next post will be more positive

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I am really amazed at how many people put so much of their time and work on a free hosted service, mainly free hosted blogging services, such as Blogger and Worpdress.

Well, you know my experience with Wordpress (no hard feelings).

I am not saying these services do not have their uses. I will be the first one to say Blogger blogs have sent me traffic and I know they are a boost when it comes to link backs. They do come in handy.

Problem is, you put in all this work into your free hosted blog, slaving over the content to get it just right, building up readership, and one day… it’s gone. For some reason, doesn’t really matter, they decided your blog needed to be deleted. Believe you me, it happens.

Perfect example: I was on MyBlogLog account, working on adding friends. Before I add a friend, I always like to check out their sites, see what they are about and more importantly, to see they are in the same type of business. I stopped by one marketers site today and clicked on the first site is his list, happened to be a blogger blog of his, and what did I get?

“Blogger: Blog not found”

i have no idea why and it really doesn’t matter, it was gone and actually anyone could now register the blog. From what I saw, it looked like he put some work into it, a shame really.

For me it also comes down to business. Maybe I’m odd, but I find it hard to take any one seriously, when they’re using free hosted anything. I’m not trying to be rude, but if some one can’t put up a few bucks for hosting, how serious can they be about their business? I realize many people are on a tight budget, been there many times myself, but I don’t personally buy the excuse.

These days hosting is dirt cheap, so much so, any one can afford it. Honestly if some one can not scrap up a few bucks a month, they probably shouldn’t be online in the first place. Seriously, it takes money to make money, yes… even on the Internet.

By all means, use the free services for getting traffic and link backs, but it doesn’t make much sense to trust your important business content on a blog that could be gone tomorrow. Right?

Okay, enough of my ranting today. I’m sure I’ll think of something else to rant about tomorrow..:)

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I’m no economist, so I am sure some one will correct me, but hears my thoughts…

Seems lately so many marketers are preying on the fears of a bad economy, it’s like all I see lately. Not the normal, it’s bad times, it’s like the economy is going to completely collapse any day now and we’ll all be a deep pit of dispare.

I understand it’s marketing, maybe I should embrace it more myself, but I really don’t want to, for a good reason.

I’m not going to say times are great and it’s all a big hoax, but honestly, what actually fuel’s the fire, the fire of every one thinking we’re all screwed right now?

First in line is the media, as most of their stories are on the negative side and they have to add even more despair and dread. Sadly it’s what gets and keeps people watching. Why do we feed off negativity?

Second comes the marketers, using the media negative reporting, adding even more despair to really twist the prospects fear gland. To bad it wasn’t a gland, some that could be removed.

It’s not like millions of dollars mysteriously disappeared from the economy. Sure folks have had to pay more for gas, and gas prices have increased other products, and money has moved around some, but it’s not the end of the world.

The money is still out there and believe it or not, people are still spending.

The big reason I bring this up is the fact that when we start “believing” our sales will decrease or our business might suffer, there’s a good chance it will do just that.

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You didn’t know I had an empire? Sure I do, started building it in 1998.

I don’t have websites that money money, I have an empire that makes money.

Maybe my title was a little too dramatic, or maybe not. It really has risen and fell a few times over the years. Although it’s ALWAYS paid me more than any regular “job” would afford, no matter how much work I did or didn’t do at any given point in my empires life.

I can tell you exactly why each time my empire grew and I can also tell you why each time it fell. On either occasion it boiled down to one little but powerful word, action.

When my empire was growing and my income was increasing, it was because I was working, I was taking action.

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I happened across one of the Big Guru’s Blogs today, found my way from Facebook (maybe there’s something to that Facebook thing after all?). I made a comment on one of the posts, nothing out of the ordinary, nothing real exciting here yet.

I hit the main page, scanning the post titles as I scrolled down, nothing really catching my eye yet. I reach the bottom of the main page and click the “Previous Entries” link and reached the end of the line… All I received for my click was that nasty “Not Found” message in big bold type (almost as if they want you to look like an idiot with that kind of message).

Hey, things happen, our websites do not always work without a hitch, I can vouch for that.

Here’s the interesting part of the story…

I was going to be a nice guy and let him know, there was a slight hiccup with his blog, I’d love if some one let me know, thing is, I couldn’t tell him!

After searching the whole main page, there was NO way to contact the owner. I know what it’s like to get spammed, but there are plenty of secure contact options for blogs, even a link to a support desk would have worked just dandy.

The contact thing aside, If I didn’t know this guy from Adam, would I came back to his blog? There’s a chance I wouldn’t because it doesn’t even work right.

Course, he won’t hear it from me, because he’s not listening. Are you listening?

I can’t say every visitors to the his blog is a potential customer, but I’m sure there are some in mix.

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Unless you’ve been living under your house lately, you’ve probably heard Ebay has made some major changes as to what you can or can not sell on their auction site. As far as I can tell, the new change is that you can not sell digital or download only products. I’ve seen many folks saying Ebay is not thinking and they will be losing business, ect, ect, ect. Now come on, this is a major company, don’t you think they really thought it out before going through the steps? Of course they did. You can bet they’ve had many meetings and have hash this out before putting it in place.

My thoughts are, it’s their company, though it might sound rude, they can do what they want. I also believe it is a privilege to use their service, not a right. It’s obvious, they believe it is the best for their business and more important, what is best for their users, both buyers and sellers. Course you can never make every happy all the time.

Now, on with the show… this big news totally re-enforces what I posted on the 20th about not relying on one source of income. I don’t know first hand, but I am guessing, there are a large group of folks who will not have much of an income in a few days, if any. I don’t mean this as a, “I Told You so”, more of a wake up call. It’s like realizing you should have backed up your pc, only after it crashes and burns. I’ve lost plenty of digital 0’s and 1’s in the past.

The sky isn’t falling, these people that have relied on selling e-books on Ebay, could turn their digital products into physical products. Better yet, for many this could open a whole new incredible business opportunity for them. A little thing called direct mail thats worked for many years and still works today. Seems these days, all most of us see is the internet. While it’s a great medium to make money, it is not the only one.

In my opinion, I think direct mail is is more wide open today than it was just years ago, because of the fact that so much as moved to the net. I am no expert in direct mail, so it’s just my “Two Cents”. Think about it a minute though, how much direct mail do you get in your mail box compared to, say 10 years ago?

I am also no Ebay Expert, my only rant about the Ebay change is the short notice, they only gave 7 days for the changes to take effect.

So…

How many income streams do you have? How many more will you add? With multiple streams, if one takes a hit it won’t hurt as much. Not like losing your whole business in 7 days.

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Wheither you like them or not they are kicking butt and taking names in so many ways. The reality is, they really are not doing anything any other company could not do, it’s really kind of shocking.

A good case in point is one of their competitors, Barnes and Noble. I love going to a B&N real world store and spending a hour or more, along with many other worms, but when I’m looking to buy online, I’ll buy from Amazon, sorry Barnes and Noble. It’s mainly the price, your buying the exact same product, why should I pay more? They both deliver quickly without problems.

It’s not price I’m talking about in this post, it’s the huge differences online between the two, the big differences in their selling process.

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I’ve mentioned this recently, but every day I am reminded how bad it is.

There have been at least two major product launches in the last week or less.

What bugs me is they seem to imply that with a hefty fee, you’ll make tons of money before you know it. To sweeten the pot they imply you don’t have to do much work, or position their product as such.

Don’t fret my friend. There are literally 100’s if not thousands of 1,000’s or ways to make money online, right now.

The problem is, people buy dreams instead of taking action and build a business.

You DO NOT need a $999 website script to make money. You DO NOT  need a $1997 networking even to make money. Have you read even part of the e-books you have sitting on your hard drive? Have you applied any of the information?

This month, my hopes and dreams did not pay my house payment. They did not pay cash for the last three vehicles I purchased. Nor did they pay for my utility bills or vacations. My business paid for all of it. The business I built. Not the dreams I chased.

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Guru is so over used today, maybe I should say “Leaders” in the market.

Anyway, It amazes me just about every day, how the leaders don’t even practice what they preach. I don’t say this to put them down. I say it to impress upon you, you can be just as good, if not better than the so called leaders.

A few leaders I’ve been watching of late really surprise me. All three of them preach staying in touch with your subscribers. I completely agree with that line of thought, it really can make the difference between some income and a barrel full of money. Funny thing is, how often do you think I hear from these guys? Very rarely.

These same three leaders also tell me that the best leads are customers who have already bought products from you. Again, I agree completely, they are right on. I should be on all three of these markters customer lists, as I’ve bought at least one product from each. Two of them I have purchased multiple products from. Once more, how often do I hear from these guys? The same answer, once in a great while. There’s a good chance I would purchase more from these leaders, if I only heard from them. Their loss.

One last thing that comes to mind. The same guys say how important a proper support system is for your business and products. Right on again, could’nt agree more. But, alas, only one of the three has a on-line support ticket system. We all know e-mail is not 100% reliable, there is no doubt about it. Being such and important aspect of business would you leave it up to a system that is not 100% reliable? How much could you lose? One of these guys even mentions over and over how many times refunds can be curbed greatly with a proper and reliable support system. That is 100% correct and only makes sense to any one. Sadly this same person only uses e-mail links embedded on a web-page, even for paying customers.

I’ll say it again, these guys provide some solid ideas, not just the same old recycled junk that seems to be in the majority for information sellers.  Each one gets me saying wow, this is great stuff as I read and listen to their works. This post was not to blast any one, I will get every penny back that I have spent with them, the information will pay for itself many times over.

I only created this post to show you, you can beat the “guru’s”.  So often we look up to certian people, while they might derserve it or have earned it, often they are not as superior as we might believe. With just three examples, you could beat the leaders at their own game. As you can see, it’s often just the little things.

Little things that can make a huge difference.

What will you do today?

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There is nothing wrong with being an affiliate and selling other peoples products, I’ve made a good living since 1998 from others work. I’ve seen success story after success story, affiliates making some great money. Frankly though, I’ve grown tired of making others more wealthy and here are a few reasons why. Some reasons why you should consider selling your own products or services.

1. Saturation -  Being an affiliate, your not going to be the only one to sell any given product. With a big launch or a product produced by one of the big name guru’s, there could be thousands of marketers selling the exact same thing. There is a good chance your traffic has already seen or heard about it. Being on a number of lists I see the same pitch many times over, I am only going to buy from one person, every one else loses the sale.
2. Affiliate Sales - How much do you think you could make if you have thousands of marketers selling your products? Instead of working your tail off getting your offers out there, you have many others selling for you at no cost, they only get paid if they make a sale, which means a profit for you.
3. Backend - If your selling an affiliate product, who gets the back end sales? It’s a fact the backend is where the big money is  made.

These are just a few points, but important aspects to think about, depending on your finacial goals or dreams.

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A big push of late seems to be making money with PLR products. If your unfamiliar, PLR stands for Private Label Rights. The general idea is that you are given or purchase a report or e-book with PLR rights which you can then sell and keep all the profits. What could be better, you have a product ready to go without having to type a word. It can be a quick easy way to make some cash.

You might ask, why would some one give me a ebook to sell and I let me keep all the profits? Two situations come to mind. First the end customer buying the product must give up their name and email address to the PLR product creator to recieve access to the product. Second would be that all the links in the product benefit the creator, be it affiliate links or links to other products they sell. It’s a great deal for the creator of the product with so many people getting their “stuff” out there, in the hands of many people. What does it cost them? Usually, not a penny, you’ve done all the work for them.

Dn’t get me wrong, it can be a great way to start and get some money going into your paypal account. But who is getting the best deal of the transaction? Who gets the up-sells? The cross sells? More importantly, who is getting the precious back-end sales? who stand to make the most money?

I’ve been carving out a income on the net since 1999, pushing affiliate programs. It took me far too long to realize, exactly who I was making rich. Granted I’ve made a good income for many years, but I came to understand, I was making others rich. I’ve spent many years working my butt off to produce traffic to push to some one else’s back-end. Sure I received a commission, but what did I lose on the lifetime of the customer?

What’s the solution? Of course create your own products. Don’t tell me you can not produce your own ebooks, every one can, they just need to start, it works for me.

If your stuck on how to make your own, check out Information Product Creation , the best you’ll find.

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I happen across a forum post that I see far to often.

First off I applaud any one for taking the big step of deciding to work for themselves. Few people ever get even that far.

The question this person was asking, if they build a list without an auto responder. Well, the real question was could they run a business for free without spending any money. Not that this was such a terrible question, but it’s echo’ed so often.

Maybe I am more curious. Do most people believe they can make money on the internet without spending anything? Maybe they are ill-informed or have misconceptions?

Don’t get me wrong, the internet can be an incredible opportunity. It is very possible to make a steady and comfortable income on a limited budget, but thats the clue, limited budget.

Free services on the internet are great and all, but they come with a price. Free auto responder services put their ads in every e-mail “you” blast out. Free web hosting services put ads on every one of “your” web-pages. Free e-mail services put their ads in all “your” e-mails.

Free web hosting is perfect for my wife to post pictures of our animals. Not so perfect for making money.

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A few months back it was Joint Ventures. Lately it seems membership sites are the “in thing. What’s next? Or the better question is, will you jump on the wagon along with every one else?

There is nothing terrible about following the crowd, it’s actually much easier. It’s less thinking and stress on your brain. You don’t have to be as creative either.

Joint ventures can dramatically increase your business and membership sites and can build a healthy income.  As that famous sneaker company says, “Just Do It”.

But what if, just what if, you did your own thing? What if you did something new or different?

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