Michel Fortin heard my frustration – and spent a LOT of time investigaing the cause. He finally tracked it down to a hidden file from a malicious software program – which was not picked up by any of 3 different Internet security packages. With the simple solution he provided, I was able to remove the file and am now able to see his excellent blog again at MichelFortin.com 

Many thanks to Michel for his time and care – what a joy to work with quality people!

For the past two years Stu McLaren has hosted a multi-guest event where he intereviewed the top marketers about their predicitons for the coming year. It’s truly an all-star cast. And this year I have been included! In fact, I’ll be interviewed on Monday, December 15 in the Kick Off session of Predictions.

And the best thing about this is that all of the proceeds (100% – no affiliate fees here) go to World Teacher Aid, a charity started and run by Stu’s wife, Amy. Each year Stu and Amy visit a different country and set up schools, hire teachers, and feed hungry children. Their pictures and stories from past years are incredible!

So join us in helping educate children around the world - and giving your business a HUGE boost for the New Year.

Even under ideal circumstances, the holiday season puts additional requirements on your wallet. Add the economic issues and this year appears to be putting even more stress on people.

I’m a firm believer that there is always a way to increase revenue. That’s why I’ve started collecting affordable products and ideas that can help at Fast Money Generators.

As you can imagine, there are a lot of possibilities. And I’ve just started gathering resources. That’s why I’d appreciate your help:

1. If you have an opinion on one of the resources already on the site, please comment and rate it.
2. If you have another resource to recommend, send me a ticket at TechTamersSupport.com
3. Share this site with your friends and colleagues. The more people who can benefit from it, the better. Naturally, I’m donating a portion of the proceeds to a charity, so it will help in two different ways.

I look forward to being able to share even more resources as the holidays get closer.

I’ve spent the last 24 hours helping a person walk through the decisions on selling an ebook online. I’ve answered questions like:

• Should I put it on a domain I already have or get a new one for the product? (Answer: Match the product to the domain name and vice versa.)
• Should I sell this through a shopping cart or Clickbank? (Answer: It depends on price and potential affiliate sales. You can always do both.)
• Should I deliver this as a PDF, an exe or is there another format I should use? (Answer: PDF)
• Do I need an optin page for an ebook? (Answer: Only if you want to build a list of people who are interested in this topic and want the opportunity to follow up with them if they don’t buy the ebook on their first visit.)

and the questions went on.

Now there is nothing wrong with these questions. They absolutely need to be answered – for the first ebook you create and sell.

But here’s my concern. When I went to this person’s current website, they advertised themselves as a “marketing strategist.” They are actually in the business of telling other people how to market their products – online!

I’ll be the first person to tell you that most of us sell ourselves short. We don’t claim the expertise we have. That’s why I always encourage people who have proven themselves a solid worker with results to claim their expertise.

If you can knit well and have taught others to do it, SAY you’re an expert. Don’t be shy. But if you don’t know how to cast onto the kneedles, PLEASE don’t tell others you’re an expert who they can pay to guide them.

If you can consistently hit a putt better than anyone else you play with, claim your expertise. But if your putts are about as good as everyone else you play with, please don’t ask me to pay you for your “expertise.”

I am an Internet strategist. I have helped thousands of people get their start online through seminars, teleseminars, webinars, and more than 50 information products.. I can point to many people who are making tens of thousands of dollars online who got their start with me. I can comfortably claim my expertise and have no doubt people get their money’s worth when they work with me.

But there are a lot of other people out there who also claim to be “Internet strategists” and Internet marketing coaches. PLEASE do your due diligence before hiring them. Ask questions like:

• How long have you been online? There isn’t any magic number, but unless someone has been online to live through the up’s and down’s of various tactics, they’re not in a good position to help you weather the storm.
• What have you achieved online? Not just how much money have you made, but what have you done. There are any number of “experts” who had a one-shot hit, but couldn’t repeat it. And many times the technique they used to achieve their big hit is outdated or a little “black hat.”
• Who else have you helped become successful? When I’m hiring a consultant I really don’t care whether or not they can do it themselves. I just want to know if they can help ME do it – and the best indication of that is the success of their clients.
• What type of results should I expect? Again, if they are limited in their perspective, they can’t answer this. And if they promise the moon within the next 30 days – RUN!
• What business models do you recommend for my revenue mix? If they say “huh?” that’s a clue. If they only know how to teach you ONE model, you can assume they are an expert in that ONE model – not a strategist or a marketing expert – both of which have a wide arsenal of models, strategies and tactics they can call upon to help you create your success.

I’m not trying to be a snob here, but I AM tired of everyone who knows how to buy a domain name telling me they are an “Internet marketing expert.” There are probably less than 500 true experts in this field. So unless you are one of them (and no one has to tell you whether you are or not), please stop kidding yourself and take the title off your name. You’re scamming good people.

—–

Dr. Jeanette Cates IS an Internet strategist who works with business owners who are ready to create their Online Success. In her 12 years in Online Business she has helped thousands of people get started online. She offers individual consulting and group coaching.

I’ve had this experience in the past month. I had a tight schedule for a product launch, a new workshop and revising multiple websites during the month of August. But guess what? Life Happened.

My Mother-in-Law died unexpectedly in another city. Naturally we dropped everything and travelled to take care of funeral arrangements and getting together with family who came into town. Settled affairs. Grieved. Life (and death) Happen.

That same week one of my daughters moved and as we always do, the “Cates Family Moving Company” gathered and helped. I’m in charge of taking care of grandkids and keeping them safely out of the movers’ way. Their other grandmother took care of feeding one and all. While it was fun, it was a lot of backbreaking work. Life Happens.

Another of my daughters called last week to tell us that our carefully orchestrated plans and travel arrangements for the arrival of her third child – and our sixth grandchild – were changing as she spoke. While he was scheduled to arrive September 5 – he decided he wanted to be an August baby and showed up two weeks early. Life Happens.

All together I will have slept at my house only 9 days this month. I’ve made calls from various family guest rooms and taken care of most of my email via my cell phone. It’s not ideal working conditions, but taking care of my family is more important.

So how do you handle it when Life Happens to YOU? I’ll tell you what I did. I took a deep breath, put my to-do lists on the back burner, tore up the schedules and just decided to enjoy the people around me while we were together.

You see, the work that has gone into my business over the past years ensured I would have income coming in throughout the month. I knew I didn’t have to worry about paying the bills, because my bookkeeper has them prescheduled to be paid automatically. Everything else could be done online.

I can’t tell you how good it felt knowing that I didn’t have to worry about me and my business. Instead I could focus on those I love who needed me more than my business did.

What’s YOUR plan for Life Happening to You? Start now to Organize Your Online Business so that you are worry-free and free to enjoy your loved ones.

1. Figure out what you want. It may be a new website, more subscribers, fewer support tickets. In online business terms, let’s say I want “more sales.”

2. Now take that goal and ask yourself “What do I need to get more sales?” Again, for the online business owners, it’s probably something like better website sales conversions, more traffic, better followup.

3. Next take one of those topics and start unraveling it. “If I want more traffic, what do I need?” More links to my site, more affiliate referrals, more clicks from my ads.

4. Now take one of those topics and continue to unravel it. “If I need more links to my site, what do I need?” More links from articles, more directory links, more blog posts linking back to my site.

5. Now take one of those topics and keep repeating the process of unraveling it. “If I need more article links, what do I need?” Write more articles, hire others to write more, distribute them to a broader audience. Your answers can be broad or precise. The idea is to identify the factors that are stopping you.

You can see the pattern. I generally use a sheet of paper or a spreadsheet and keep writing the links from one item to the next – making the string longer as it unravels. Eventually you will reach the point where you say I don’t need anything else except Action. And that’s where you start.

The unraveling process is simple and often points out a flaw in your thinking or your business planning processes. For example, the longest strings are the parts of your business that you neglect. The shortest strings may give you the fastest results.

If the same item shows up in more than one string, it may mean you have a crossover in your processes. It may be a source of confusion for you and your staff. Or it may be a way to complete a single item and shorten two strings.

When using this unraveling process on your business, you are able to move to the Action phase of your planning sooner. Plus you’ll have a visual map of how your business works.

Dr. Jeanette Cates is an Internet strategist who works with new online business owners to create Online Success. She is the creator of Organize Your Online Business.

You’ve probably heard this saying before. Dr. Joe Vitale uses it a lot when he’s talking about prosperity, such as he did in the popular movie “The Secret.” But let’s consider the facts…

You can make money fast – or you can make it slow. Most people will tell you they prefer to make it fast! Why wait for success if you can have what you want now?

Success begets success – another old saying. But it’s essentially true. The more success you have, the more successful you feel. The more successful and confident you feel, the more likely you are to take action. And that action will lead to more success. So it’s an upward spiral.

The wealthy get wealthier – same idea. When you know how to make money once – you can repeat the process. Over and over again.

So how do you get that first “break through” when you want to make money online? Here are three methods I’ve used:

1. Hang out with successful people. That’s what you’ll have the chance to do at the upcoming seminar May 8-10. Not only will you hear from each of the speakers twice, but you’ll also have round table discussions with them. Plus, each of them will be there during the seminar to talk to you in the halls, at meals, and over dinner.

2. Emulate their success. And here’s where this seminar is VERY different from others you may have attended. Ray and Andrew, the organizers and good buddies of mine, have asked each of the speakers to identify their best FAST methods for making money. They’ve taken those methods and put each one of them into a unique Speed Money checklist. You can literally go right down the checklist and see the exact steps you need to complete in order to emulate their success.

3. Get to know successful people. If you’ve listened to any of the advice on how to do Joint Ventures with those who are already successful, you know that the #1 advice is to make friends with them. It’s no problem calling a friend to share information or ask a question.

You’ll have the opportunity to get to know these people starting this week. You see, Ray and Andrew have already started hosting teleseminars, talking to each of the speakers. You’ll be able to tune into these calls and learn more about them – even before you go to the seminar. Then when you’re there, you’ll have that critical networking opportunity that only a seminar like this can offer.

So here’s what you need to do if you want to learn the Speed Money tactics these experts can teach you.

1. Sign up today. You’ll automatically be invited to listen in on the teleseminars. Even if you can’t make them live, you get the replay. This is some good stuff!

2. Look at your calendar and rearrange things if you need to. This is not only a very reasonably priced seminar, but it’s also one of the rare events designed to promote a LOT of interaction between you and the speakers and other participants. You’ll want to be there.

But hurry. I just talked to Ray and seats are filling up fast. To preserve the character of the event, they are strictly limiting attendance, so you’ll want to grab one of the seats as soon as possible.

Now get over to the site and register! Money loves speed – and speed of action is important!

This is the power of announcements. IMNewsWatch receives a feed from my blog. They then take my announcements and reword them into their announcement – and Google picks them up every time. My thanks to IMNewsWatch!

If you’re in the Internet Marketing market, I strongly recommend you submit your media releases to IMNewsWatch. They regularly put you on the front page of Google!

And while my blog post appears on page 2 of Google for “optin page” (not too shabby in less than 24 hours), nothing beats the front page above the fold.

 

I first became aware of NSA in 1996 when I attended my first local event. Thus, on May 15, 1997, my first day of “freedom” – the day I quit my last job – I flew immediately to Phoenix to attend an NSA Workshop.

The thing that attracted me to NSA initially was the open spirit of sharing. No one was afraid to share advice or good wishes with you, because they all believe that the pie is big enough for all of us.

That attitude of unselfish giving and abundance for all came as a direct result of Cavett Robert, the founder of the National Speakers Association. He not only embodied that spirit, but he passed it on to everyone he met, especially those who formed NSA.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my ten years in NSA. My fellow speakers have never hesitated sharing tips and advice to help one another advance their career. All of them are glad to support local organizations with complimentary speeches. None of them wish ill just to advance their careers.

Yet these are the same people you see on Oprah, Larry King, the covers of best-sellers. People like Mark Victor Hansen, Tom Antion, Marjorie Brody, Rebecca Morgan, Jim Cathcart, Patricia Fripp – and the list could go on. Each still sharing in the spirit of Cavett.

I have been privileged to see this same spirit carried on with my friends in the Internet marketing world. That same spirit of unselfish giving, sharing of advice, and a sense of the pie being big enough for all permeates the meetings and time I spend with my colleagues in this field as well. That’s one of the reasons that I have embraced both speaking and Internet marketing over the past ten years.

Cavett Robert dreamed of a world that shared selfless acts and was okay with everyone getting a bigger piece of the pie. I believe the Spirit of Cavett is alive and well both online and on the platform.