This is not easy. I have blogged, I have internet marketed, I have had things for sell and then upsell. I have given things away and then caught them on the back end. I have captured customer’s emails and I have marketed to them. I have made a ton of Squidoo lenses. I have done it all. My leaning curve is growing daily.

There are two things I have to say about it all.

1. I have accomplished the most difficulty job of chasing that elusive first dollar AND I CAUGHT IT!
2. I LOVE this business!!!

No I am not a millionaire, I am not even a thousand-aire, but I have hit the over a hundred dollar mark. I have written and sold some ebooks and I have sold quite a few affiliate products, and I am making money with my Squidoo lenses. So I am feeling pretty happy with my efforts.

So the number one thing that “they” say about internet marketing is that once you have managed to make your first dollar on line that you have arrived. You have made it. You are now among the ranks of successful marketers. All you have to do is duplicate whatever you have done and rinse and repeat.

Isn’t that a cute cliché, rinse and repeat, I actually get it and it is the truth, you have to do it. For instance if one Squidoo lens makes me money then 50 will make me more. If one product sold makes me money, then whatever I did to sell it, do it 100 more times. Yeah, I get it.

Sounds easy doesn’t it? Well it ain’t! And that is what I have been doing. If I sold one ebook, why can’t I sell 50 more? Oh sure I can make 50 lenses, actually right now the count is 37, but what does it take for those lenses to make me money. Which affiliate product is going to sell best and where should I sell it? These are all the questions that must be answered.

I think a lot of the legwork must be done by you. There are some wonderful people out there that actually want to help you succeed but there are a bunch of scoundrels too. The information is there and then you have to try it and then try something different. And start over again.

Keep trying and eventually we are going to find what works and what we like. An important distinction. We must like what we are doing. But that elusive first dollar is out there and you can grab it. I did.

And now I am learning where to spend my time. Where to focus my attention. Where to expend my energy. And that is a lesson unto itself.

But that is another post. For now, just keep fighting for yourself and your future and keeping trying. You must not give up. It can be done. No magic, no miracle, just good hard work.

See you next time.

Technorati Tags: internet marketng, make money online, work at home

First of all, I took the Thirty Day Challenge the whole month of August. It was fantastic! I think my brain grew I was so stimulated by the information that I learned.

For those that are not familiar with the 30DC, it is a month long intense learning seminar put on by Ed Dale and Dan Raine, an Aussie and a Brit that have one goal: to make you successful as an internet marketer. It really is outstanding. This was year four. I came in late last year so didn’t get the full affect of it. But this year, made me know I will not miss another year of this great FREE service.

Yes! It is 100% free. They do give you the option of spending some money. For instance this year, we could buy our own domain name $8, and we could get our own hosting $7. But they always give you free alternatives that are ever bit as good for the purposes of the challenge.

The goal of the challenge is for you to make your first dollar online. And of course after that to go ahead and make a business come to fruition.

I learned about keyword research, blogging-the proper way, search engines and what makes them tick, social marketing. The list goes on. I loved it. I wish you all could have been there, maybe some of you were. If so, I would love to have your comments.

I made some very good friends. They were my team mates and each of us supported the other in our blogging efforts. It was actually quite remarkable My blog, Baby Knitting Patterns Blog, is actually number 5 on Google for my keyword. Isn’t that great?!

You should also check out my friends’ blogs too, for the quality of work that the thirty day challenge produces. Debra McGauley, produces a gorgeous and wonderfully entertaining blog filled with fascinating ideas for county living. Her blog is A Little Bit Country Decorations.

And my friend Arthur Sherin made a blog that is so educational and filled with great ideas all about herbs. His main idea is aero herb gardening. But he covers everything from indoor gardening to container gardening and all to do wit all kinds of herb. You must see his blog called Aero Herb Garden. I know you will enjoy them both.

After the challenge was over, I have been seriously implementing all that I learned, unfortunately that equates to my neglecting you all.

The last time I posted I talked about all the things that can distract you when you work at home. Well, I am happy to say I believe I have now mastered that. Yet another thing I got out of the 30DC. I am now so much better at focusing, and actually getting things done.

So no excuses needed. I have actually been doing what I am always telling you do. Follow your dream. Find an alternative to the back breaking, mind numbing work that is called the JOB! Get yourself involved in some new type of income. Get started with an online income and make some changes in your life that will lead to your freedom.

It is doable, I am living proof. Have I quit my job yet?

Not yet, but it is coming. Just watch me!

Technorati Tags: aero herb garden, Baby knitting patterns, country decorations, Dan Raine, Ed Dale, make money online, thirty day challenge, work at home

1.  Lack of confidence

2.  Everything from here to the moon demanding my time!

We’ve already talked at some length about what not to do when you are working at home in a previous post. Well I let most of those things cause me to lose focus this last month. Very disturbing when the teacher doesn’t even abide by her own rules. Well I tried, really I did. But anyone that works from home or even tries to start working from home will run into this. It is amazing how many things get in the way of your staying productive.

Now the wonderful thing is once you are actually making a living online. You will no longer even have this problem. I promise. It is getting established as a work at home entrepreneur that causes the problem.

Everyone in your life is so much more in need of your time and attention. And if anything can go wrong in your home it will. For instance, my precious dog, that I love with all my heart, out of the blue, developed separation anxiety. One day while I was at the hospital at my JOB, she ate my kitchen door frame. Both sides as high as she could reach. ATE IT! I am not exaggerating! Well for the next few days I was occupied with plaster and sanding and painting. What a mess. But it crunched into my internet time. See what I mean.  Thank goodness I don’t have human children. I can’t imagine the time consumption in that area.

The second thing was Lack of confidence. This one is more difficult to talk about.

I have been approached by so many different people that are well meaning and of course have the solution to my problems. But you simply can not afford to get caught up in that. Everyone is actually trying to make a living online. Just like you. And many many of them are wonderful people that really  do know what they are doing. But…it may not be the thing that you need to include in your online business. But how do you know?

Here’s the thing, it may actually be that whatever is being offered to you could be the best thing to ever come along since sliced bread. But if it is distracting you from moving forward with your business. It’s garbage, at least for today.

See, despite what they say about being your last opportunity and you’ll never see this offer again. So what? Internet marketing is always going to be there and it is recycled from time to time. What works works. It just gets packaged in a new box with a new ribbon ever so often. If you like research, check it out in the history of internet marketing.

That is what happened to me, I became afraid that I was going to miss out on some spectacular something or other. And remember what I told you about information overload?

It is paralyzing.

I was paralyzed. So I listened and read and watched and worried and basically did nothing. Then I read the most amazing Blog entry by one of my mentors that I sort of forgot about or at least pushed to the back burner, and it was like a two by four to the forehead.

Well, I am back. Here is my advice to you.

Please, please, please, choose one or two mentors, people that you just feel good about. People that have steered you right a couple times. And people that do not constantly ask you to open your wallet. Sure they have things to offer but you know it and you’ll take care of that when you can afford it and in your time.

You must decide on your business model. What method are you going to use to get traffic to your site? What is your site? What is your product? When you choose your mentor you will figure all this out. It will make sense to you. Model what you are going to do after someone who is already doing it successfully. That is all there is to it. Why re-invent the wheel? It rolls pretty good already.

Once you decide these things, don’t let ANYTHING distract you from moving forward. One of my mentors actually has a list of things for me to do, in order, and then boom things start happening. When I finally came back to my senses and followed that plan… Well, surprise, surpise…it worked.

Internet marketing is not hard, but it is necessary to be paid attention. You must work it. You must follow the steps. You must NOT be distracted.

I am seriously going to follow my own advise. I hope you do too.

To our success!!

Susan

Technorati Tags: internet marketing, marketing, work at home, work from home

Well the point of telling you that is that I have only a certain amount of time that I can devote to my online business and that is one of the factors that can really sink you in the water.

You must be able to prioritize your life. You have to clean your house, do the laundry and do the shopping and if you have kids, well is there any end to it? See what I mean? Throw an actually JOB on top of all that and you can become undone.

The problem of working from home is that everything else becomes more important and demands your attention more than you “work”, and if something is going to be cut it is going to be your online work.

It’s a fact! I am living proof of this phenomenon. It doesn’t matter if you are male or female. The fact is you can only do so much with your 24 hours.

People won’t take your work seriously until you do.

Think about this. If we didn’t have our JOB’s and we were dependent on our online work for our income, how would you react then?  Do you see what I mean?

We MUST treat our online work as a business that can and does make us money. Otherwise we will always figure out a way to do something else and maybe fit this in someway or other. But without having a set pattern and an aggreement with ourselves and also our families,  that we will work this many hours on these days, no matter what!, we will find success extremely difficult.

Now of course, later when we are established and doing well, we can afford the luxury of being more relaxed and lenient with ourselves.  But not in the beginning.

I only just learned this in the last few weeks.  I was having serious information overload and reading so much that I felt like I could only chase my own tail.  I was never getting anything accomplished.

Well no more! I have  exercised some discipline in my efforts. I have organized my inbox so that I can look at things of interest when it is the appropriate time. Not when I need to get some things accomplished today. Do you see what I mean?

So make a contract with your self. Set up a schedule. Decide what you want to do and DO IT!

To our success,

Susan

Technorati Tags: internet marketing, make money online, work at home, work from home

I have done a huge amount of research on Google AdSense.  It has been suggested that this is the first and best way to get started making money online. I did so much research into how to do it, what was needed and where to get it, that I compiled it all into an e book. You can get a FREE download of Google Adsense for Baby Boomers by clicking on the link.

Anyway, you can see that I have put into practice what I learned. I am currently building a website that will be my home base for my new business.  Oh! that is another thing I learned.  Having a website although not essential, is very helpful. We are striving to make a living on the internet so it would be very helpful to have an internet presence.  The next thing you need is a Blog. Because it is essential for driving traffic to your site.

It all sounds so complicated and overwhelming. Well I’m not going to lie to you. It can be. but again, one thing at a time. I have discovered if I will  just devote my block of time, to accomplishing one thing at a time. I can keep moving forward.  I have put some excellent resources in my e book about  traffic and building web sites, check it out. Remember it is FREE.

till next time,

Susan

Technorati Tags: blogging, Google Adsense, internet marketing, work at home, work from home

You see these are the things that make us baby boomers. Memories of a time gone by. We should all be proud to be of that post war generation. A difficult time our parents suffered through to give us life. I am grateful, aren’t you?

But now it is today 2008. I am 55 years old. I am still working. Really hard work.   I have been working for nearly 40 years. I am a bit tired. I want something else for myself. But…

I have two mortgages, credit card debt and a life style that I enjoy and am not willing to give up. So I continue to work. Cost of living keeps rising. I can’t afford to take a driving vacation anymore because of the expense of gasoline. Food cost keeps rising. Gas and electric are higher than they have ever been. In the city I live in it costs $9.oo just to go to the movies. It used to be $2, remember??

I can’t afford to quit working. I’m too young to collect retirement or social security. But I am a bit tired, (did I mention that already )

So, recently I have begun exploring new ways of thinking. New ways of making money. Attitude changes. Paradigm shifting. I have been doing internet marketing. I should say most of this time (about 6 months) I have been doing internet marketing education.

Unfortunately, you don’t just start doing something with no knowledge base at all. So I started learning. OMG! I have never had more information overload in my life. School for nursing was a bit challenging. Learning how the human body works and why, and then how to fix it. You would think that would be intense, which it was. But this is amazing.

Here is the problem. There are some shysters out there. They are no more interested in your advancing on their turf, than the man in the moon. But they say they are. They say they want to help you and all you need to do is buy this and that and the other thing and in the next week you will be a millionaire too. Well, before you know it you are more broke than you ever were. It is shameful. It is even embarrassing as to how gullible I was.

But finally I got connected to some really awesome people who although they admit they are making a living online, they are also really interested in helping you do the same. It is also amazing how much FREE stuff there is out there to advance your effort.

And you know what I learned from these people. You must care about someone other that just yourself.

So that is what this blog is for. I plan to journal my journey into the world of successful internet marketing. I may make some mistakes but I will become successful. I also plan to share some things with any readers I may have. I have learned a lot. I have some good recommendations and can maybe even help you avoid some of the pitfalls.

You see we have two choices. Keep working until we are seventy. Or get out of the rat race now and start learning something new.

I am getting out!

If you want to comment on anything about baby boomers. Internet marketing, or share your own experiences or things you have found please do. Together we will move forward!

To our success!

Susan

Technorati Tags: A Blog for Baby Boomers, Didem, Food cost, Human Interest, internet marketing, internet marketing education, marketing, president, The Organ, USD, work at home, work from home