How to focus

Focus.

It sometimes seems that all of us suffer from an attention deficit. Working alone makes it easy to let ones mind wander, there is no one close by to keep your nose to the grindstone so to speak. Working from home you have to multi task and it is so very easy to use that as an excuse to wander off track. A little bit of "research" here, checking that out there, and before you know it you are so far off course that you are totally lost.

How to avoid that trap? Very good question, especially if you are new to this online stuff. Many of us are starting from very close to ground zero and are as lost as we have ever been. One of the biggest problems is impatience. We want to be profitable now and I mean now. It is very easy to get into the situation where you need some funds now or yesterday.

So we "research" and sign up for the latest and greatest. If you are lucky you do not have any charges on your credit card. But your inbox is inundated with newsletters. Breathless hectoring newsletters. How anyone expects you take notice of some of them is beyond belief. Even if you read fast a couple of minutes on each can easily waste an hour or more.

What is the answer? I wish I knew. I do have some ideas. Take a large grain of salt. A saltshaker full in fact. Take your time to learn some of the ropes.
There is no free lunch in this business or any other and dues have to be paid. The motto of Ken Evoy's Site Build It is slow and steady wins the race. That company’s motto is the tortoise.

Try and work with some one. At the very least strike a relationship with a companion. Even if you are both novices you can give each other a reality check.

There are many mentoring programs out there. Most are not cheap and all very difficult to assess their competence. I have one that calls me on a regular basis
but I have not found a way to check them out.

One I did try was about $4000 and did tell me a thing or two, but was it worth it? I don't think so. The one on one was only for half an hour for six weeks. Just enough time to get comfortable with the mentor and have some idea of direction.

I attended an "Internet Marking Center" seminar the other weekend. It was a sales pitch but not obnoxiously so. I learnt a lot and do plan on working with them in the future. I think you do need to have some basic knowledge of this business to learn from a mentoring set up. "Insider Secrets to Marketing Your Business on the Internet"

What has this do with focus? Working with another will help you stay on course.
Mark Joyner's " Simpleology course is a very simple way to clear the mind and focus on the essentials. He is also a very prolific author here, this one is free.

Set you target, Aim at it, keep you eye on it and follow through. No gazing out of the window dreaming.

Rob

The Burg
Kapstone Report
Gadgets By George
R Solutions Inc
The Interface Financial Group

Drop Shipping

Drop shipping? What is it and does it work? There is a lot of buzz about drop shipping and the fortunes that can be made from it.

If you become a drop shipper all you are is the order taker. You don't own anything, you never take possession of anything. All you do is take the order, take the money, pay the drop shipper giving them the address of your customer. The dropshipper takes care of all the shipping and storage and hastle. Many dropshippers will even personalise the paperwork and packaging with your name. All you do is pocket the difference between what you are paid and what you pay the dropshipper.

Simple? In theory yes. However the margins on most things are not all that great especially if you are thinking of selling on EBay. There are a lot of people doing the same thing, look around on there and notice all the identical ads. The competition is fierce. Many of the coaching programs guide their clients in this direction. These so-called coaching programs will be the subject of another article.

Too make it work you really have to research your market and hope when you find a good one you can make a few bucks before the competition catches up with you.

Some points to consider.

For

No capital required, you do not pay out anything until you have been paid.
No inventory to store and take care of.
No shipping and packaging to take care of.
All you need is a computer and internet connection.
You do not even need a website if your are going to auction stuff.

Against

The margins are slim and competition fierce. I do make a little on EBay but it is a lot of work.
You have to come up with well writen copy to stand out from all the others selling the same stuff.
You have to be very careful who you team up with.
The customer is yours and the order fulfilment is out of your hands


A good source for reliable drop shippers are these guys:



An even source is to find a local manufacturer who does not have a national presence and offer to take care of the marketing for him.

This is a drop ship web site Gadgets By George

Bottom line? It works but you really have to know and research the marketplace.

Internet Marketing Center

The Internet Marketing Center. In the past I have made much of the free offer and its pitfalls. My last post was about the fact that you do not have to pay for information. I am on David Gehl's Internet Marketing Center's Newsletter. As a Result I received an invite to a "Free" two day seminar being held in various locations around the country.

Very sceptical at first - free but you have to give them $97 first to be refunded if you show up. I was going to be in Seattle on the appropiate weekend so I signed up. No Regrets. Two days of jam packed info. There was the sales pitch but it was bearable.
About 14 hours of great free content and maybe an hour if that of sales. I can live with that. Of course you could use the $97 as a rebate on some of the programs they were offering - I did.

Plus I got to make some decent contacts. Had a chance to chat to their training staff who knew what they were talking about. Two note pads worth of notes.

Just wish I could afford their full mentoring program. Already wasted my budget on another program to much regret..

The presenter was Jason Bax. Very good at it. Also very approachable and if he does not know what he is talking about makes a damn good show.

It was also nice to know that some of my sites do not seem to be too bad, but a lot of work ahead.

It does help if you do have some experience and a web site - shameless plug for one of mine The Kapstone Report.

Definitely a thumbs up event and if they are in you area grab the chance to attend one, you won't regret it.

The Seminars are still being held with these dates coming up:


San Diego, California -- November 18th and 19th, 2006
Featured speaker: Derek Gehl & IMC Team of Marketing Specialists
Get your FREE tickets at http://www.marketingtips.com/seminar-sandiego

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania -- November 18th and 19th, 2006
Featured presenters: Jason Bax & IMC Team of Marketing Specialists
Get your FREE tickets at http://www.marketingtips.com/philadelphia-seminar


Calgary, Alberta -- November 25th and 26th, 2006
Featured speaker: Derek Gehl & IMC Team of Marketing Specialists
Get your FREE tickets at http://www.marketingtips.com/calgary-seminar

Vancouver, British Columbia -- November 25th and 26th, 2006
Featured presenters: Jason Bax & IMC Team of Marketing Specialists
Get your FREE tickets at http://www.marketingtips.com/vancouver-seminar

Miami, Florida -- December 2nd and 3rd, 2006
Featured presenters: Jason Bax & IMC Team of Marketing Speciailists
Get your FREE tickets at http://www.marketingtips.com/workshop-miami

You don't have time to go to one of the seminars, or want to get up to speed before you go. Check this out; the #1 best-selling Internet Marketing course online for more than 7 years running, the "Insider Secrets to Marketing Your Business on the Internet"


Rob Stone "The 'Burg" 11/13/06

Do You Have To Buy Information?

Is an affiliate based business model for you?

Do You Have To Buy Information?

If you are looking to start an online business one of the big problems is information overload. You are inundated on all sides by information that you have to pay for or free information that is really a teaser to get you to buy information, which is a tease to buy the next information e-book or program.

However there is an abundance of truly free and worthwhile well written informed information out there.

Interested in adsense? Go to Google Adsense pages and learn. They invented the program and do know a little about it. I have adsense on some of our sites, not get rich quick, but it is money for very little or no outlay. We also have a few sites up using adsense templates. Not yet sure if they will be profitable.

Interested in Google adwords? Do the same on Google adwords site. Very comprehensive FAQ. These are the basis for many of the affiliate programs. Get your mind around these and build on the foundation.

The next step will be to get into a forum or two. Also a newsletter. We recommend Alan Gardynes newsletter and forums here.

Ready to learn more? To of the easiest ways to get onto affiliate marketing are with ClickBank and "Commission Junction" Both ClickBankand "Commission Junction" have very comprehensive information about their programs on their respective sites.

As you can see not all information has to be paid for. Just spend some time checking things out and do all you can to resist the urge to buy the latest and greatest. Not everything on these sites is perfect, after all they are promoting themselves, they do however have their reputations to take care of. In out experience this sort of experience is worth its weight in gold.

Once you have a basic grounding in the subject do a search for forums using the keywords that your are interested in and join in.

Then feel free to go out and buy knowledge.

The Kapstone Report.

Beware The Free Offer.

Everybody loves a free offer, but beware there is no free lunch. Any Internet business is totally reliant on one thing and one thing only.
That is traffic, no traffic equals no readers, no buyers, no affiliate buyers, no clickers on ads, equals no money.

The whole idea behind a free offer is to add you to their database. Or use it as a hook to get you into something that pays. It is perfectly legitimate.
Every business does it. What you need to be careful of is not forgetting to follow up.

Do not use your regular email address to sign up for the free offer whether it is a course, e-book or whatever. If you do there is one sure guarantee. Your mailbox will fill up with email, newsletters and offer after offer, but no really a free offer It will also help to distract you from the task in hand, which is to focus. If you jump from one information bite to the next all that will happen is information overload. At the most stick to no more than one thing at a time.

Please remember that no matter what the hype states the chances of turning a decent profit immediately are about the same as reading the truth in a political ad at election time.

The ones to be really aware of are those that get your credit card number to pay for the shipping and handling or a token $2.00 for example. If you forget to cancel before the 30 days are up you will be automatically charged the full subscription.

Read the small print and write down when you signed up, test the course or whatever out, and if you do not like it or think it is not worthwhile cancel. The onus is on you.

I have not had too many problems getting cancelled, but have had more than one subscription be paid before I realized what was going on.

There are many who give unconditional guarantees; these are the ones to get involved with. A mentoring program is not essential but it does flatten out the learning curve. They are not cheap, some running into many thousands. Get one where you have some time to cancel. Beware of those that find out how much your credit limit is and are willing to adjust the rate accordingly. They will try and flatter then cajole you into spending more than you can afford.

A good mentoring source is The Millionaire Of The Month Club It is a free offer, so try out for one month and if you don’t think it is worth drop out.

What are good mentoring programs? It needs to be ongoing, Find someone whose service you are using. Build a relationship and pick their brains. Always remember that they are in the business of making money and do not abuse the relationship. After a while you can build a mutual support system, swapping links etc. There are many good forums out there. My personal favorite is Site Build It Forum


Also when you get into forums it is a good way to publicize your site. Most have some restriction on what you can put in as links. Definitely do not over do it. But it is one of the best free ways to get your site out there. And DO not be devious.

If you want to try a genuine free offer, try this one.

Do You Want to Make Lazy Money?

Invent or buy into a system.

Set it up, maintain it, and be ready to find and use the next system when this one gets outdated.

Not lazy enough for you?

Once you have the system in place, hire people to manage it for you.
OR, have a team that works together to alleviate some of the work for you.
Think of the MEGA earners Bill Gates, Don Trump, Ross Perot (reaching far for that one).
They all made a lot of money but you wouldn’t call them lazy by any means.
Maybe you should re-evaluate what you’re going for.

Money can come easily and it should come easily- but answering ads that appeal to "Lazy Money Seekers" more often than not, brings disappointment.
Some of these programs below, will yield results but only if you put hard work into them. Not lazy by any stretch of the imagination.
Automated perhaps, but not Lazy.
Experts say that it can be done even without a web site Let's examine some in detail.  Remember, if these programs are to work for you, they cannot be approached with a lazy mindset.

Chris Carpenters Google Cash although now a bit out of date – Google has recently changed things around a bit - does however give an excellent overview of how the system works – and also a 90-day money back guarantee. Another huge bonus with his system is that yuou do not need a web site.

The whole methodology of an affiliate program is that the outfit you are affiliated to relies on you the affiliate to drive traffic (and potential customers) to their site. There are many good sources of books explaining the finer points of how this works.

One of my must reads is the The Rich Jerk Generally believed to be Kelly Felix. Plays hard at coming across as obnoxious. The short e-book has virtually no fluff fill content, though it does repeat itself a bit. This is in total contrast to most e-books. If they were tightly edited there would not be much there. I have probably learnt more from this book than all the rest put together about tactics and how to market etc.

Another one of the definitive books is by Rosalind Gardner. Again it shows the system through rose-colored spectacles. However for total beginners, which most of us were once, out it lays out the roadmap. Once you get familiar with the terminology and how the system works you are half way there.

There are also turnkey deals. CB Mall is one. Put together by Jeff Mulligan. (Who does answer his own phone!) It is just a site of links for Clickbank. Just a storefront you drive traffic to either by PPC (Pay per Click). Through your newsletter, through your website. Jeff has come up with a cool idea. One stop shopping for an amazing array of sites and information, check it out here, or if you would like to try one out check out this 15 day course.

YOUR OWN STORE

You can start your own store for a total outlay of less than $100. You do not have to worry about employees, but a teammate is very helpful at any stage of the game.

• a laptop


• DSL or Dial up, or wireless connection 


• cell phone.

You can practically do it from a bus- or the steps of a post office! (what?)

Part time, full time or anything in between. Most of the really successful players do have a staff and all the support that that entails. A lot can be outsourced and can be based from home so no matter how large you get you do not need a physical presence.

So give up your JOB, charge up the cards, and don't worry about anything. This is the INTERNET, and it's easy to make LAZY MONEY.*

*We do not for one second suggest you give up your J.O.B, unless of course your significant other can and more importantly is willing to support you.

Most of this affiliate stuff is simple in concept, but the devil is in the details. If you even needed to read this disclaimer to realize that the last line was a joke, perhaps you should get a paper route first. (No offense meant towards paper boys, or girls - paper people(?))

Can You Make Money With Google Adsense Templates?

Adsense,

Many have heard of Google Adsense, an almost automated way to increase income from a website. Very simple to set up- just log in to Google Adsense  Excellent tutorials there about how to set it up easily. Joel Comm is probably the foremost expert in this field, though there are others.   Please download this free booklet on Google Adsense.

If you are unsure how to start or wish to get going quickly you can purchase Joel's Adsense templates.

I bought the earlier version back in June and as so many people do who purchase these programs downloaded it, took a quick look and was intimidated by it and that was that.

We have now decided to do a trial and see if you can actually make money with adsense so follow our journey and see how it goes.

After downloading the package take some time to go through it. It is jam packed with stuff. The version I have has 55 different templates covering subjects as diverse as Debt Control through GPS through Organic Fertilizer to Hiking. The content varies from quite good to really awful.

There is a complete set of educational videos included. These are by Eric Homlund and very well done. Depending on your skill level you will probably need to go over these more than once. They are very comprehensive and are not restricted to these templates. It is almost worth buying the set for this information.

You will need to customize the templates to your own specs to make them yours. You will also need to improve on the content. This can take quite a while. This intimidated me so much that I did not pursue it. I then thought that that was a total waste and am now going to get a site up and published.

We picked out a few templates about subjects we have some knowledge of. Also those that the content did not need too much editing.

This took a while but the first site, Organic Fertilizer Solutions,
was ready quite quickly. And we now have it published as a sub domain under our business site.
Web Hosting. is also up, both these sites are works in progress.

One thing you will need to take care of are the keywords and keyword density. The meta tags need quite a bit of work. This is not mentioned in the tutorials I have.

A great resource for checking out and finding keywords etc.

I am planning on getting a site operational every few days.

Some additional resources you might need are web hosting and domain registration, We use this hosting company
A really simple and fast site building tool is included.

You will also need an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) client which allows you to transfer files between your local computer and a server on the Internet. There are many out there. I use Cyber Duck on my mac. Not quite idiot proof but close enough. Recommended for a PC is Smart FTP. These are both free and easy to download and use.

Stay tuned to see how we do with these. The hard part is going to be driving traffic to the sites. We will keep editing the pages and fine tuning them. The plan is also to add affiliate links.

Driving traffic is the most important part of any web based operation and we will be covering it as fully as possible.

The Kapstone Report.

Now... About Home Based Business:

There is no authoritive standard for what is possible and what isn't. It is very easy to hide behind the anonymity of the internet and rake in the bucks- and for what? At the end of the month you look at your credit card charges and think what on earth was that for.


What is BS and What Isn't?

Are You New to Making Money Online?

Or have you been struggling for a while? Though the two of us found ourselves in a highly regarded industry, through the course of many conversations, we had one common theme: When it came to believing all of the “claims” and “schemes” of “easy money” and “the get rich quickst-ers,”

We were as guilty as anyone.

So to save us from making any mistakes, or at least reducing the number and impact, we put this report together free of charge as a public service to you, and a path to sanity for us.

The biggest problem we’ve found is getting sidetracked.

There is so much information and so many “deals of a life time, buy now before I raise the price.” Then you read someone's material and he tells you this is the way to convince people to buy. Then you find out you were reading the 2003 stuff, and everyone has caught onto that. The 2006 stuff is $1500- Arggggg! Aaaaaa!

Then you get another email announcing the greatest "free" teleseminar since the last one. So you call. Note these calls are always at least about one hour or more and it is on your nickel unless it coincides with the free minutes on the cell phone. Or you have a voip setup. Then you get another email anouncing another call. You could easily spend all your time on the phone. You won't have time to read the e-books that are gathering dust on your hard drive. Then you get another idea. Then your credit card gets charged again. A viscious circle. The puppy chasing its tail.

Like a parent it’s time to say: “OK, OK, ENOUGH ALREADY!”

The Creators of the Kapstone Report- Robert Stone and Phillip Kaplan pledge to you that with every report you will get

Tips on Focus
Tips on Email Management
Official Rankings on the Best Programs We Have Reviewed
Interviews with the internet’s brightest new stars of marketing
Special offers And Much Much More

The Kapstone Report

Are You New to Making Money Online?

Are You New to Making Money Online?

Or have you been struggling for a while? Though the two of us found ourselves in a highly regarded industry, through the course of many conversations, we had one common theme: When it came to believing all of the “claims” and “schemes” of “easy money” and “the get rich quickst-ers,”

We were as guilty as anyone.

So to save us from making any mistakes, or at least reducing the number and impact, we put this report together free of charge as a public service to you, and a path to sanity for us.

The biggest problem we’ve found is getting sidetracked.

There is so much information and so many “deals of a life time, buy now before I raise the price.” Then you read someone's material and he tells you this is the way to convince people to buy. Then you find out you were reading the 2003 stuff, and everyone has caught onto that. The 2006 stuff is $1500- Arggggg! Aaaaaa!

Then you get another email announcing the greatest "free" teleseminar since the last one. So you call. Note these calls are always at least about one hour or more and it is on your nickel unless it coincides with the free minutes on the cell phone. Or you have a voip setup. Then you get another email anouncing another call. You could easily spend all your time on the phone. You won't have time to read the e-books that are gathering dust on your hard drive. Then you get another idea. Then your credit card gets charged again. A viscious circle. The puppy chasing its tail.

Like a parent it’s time to say: “OK, OK, ENOUGH ALREADY!”

The Creators of the Kapstone Report- Robert Stone and Phillip Kaplan pledge to you that with every report you will get

Tips on Focus
Tips on Email Management
Official Rankings on the Best Programs We Have Reviewed
Interviews with the internet’s brightest new stars of marketing
Special offers And Much Much More

For More go to the The Kapstone Report

Message From Publisher

Who's That I See Walking In These Woods?

Ever go to Yahoo Search engine and and instead of Home Based Business just type “Help”? Or just some cuss word, or something like  “What the Heck?”

You are not alone. In your box, known as a computer, hooked up to the boxes known as “the internet” are the instructions for almost EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD!

20 years ago, we had nothing like this at all. Our main problem then was that it was HARD to find information. NOW, the problem is completely reversed.
There is much information- have to sift through, find the good stuff- and on your way to a good Home Based Business, there are 100’s- no 1000’s or more people like the Big Bad Wolf in the forest as you are just trying to get to Grandma's House.

So there you are in the forest of data, cute as a button with your little red riding computer. Looking for “how to make your life swell” for the moment, the day, the week, the month, or perhaps forever.
All of the sudden- “CLICK HERE TO MAKE YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE”.

“WOAH” you say, “here it is, THEY understand me and THEY want to make MY dreams come true. “WOaaaa.”

Whoaa but Wait! How many bites will the wolf take out of your wallet before you realize he is just a wolf DRESSED UP LIKE YOUR GRANMA? Ha! Got you again. Its not just one wolf either- Whole network of wolves selling systems, potions, promises, dreams, books, software, consulting and more.

The problem is: Grandma really is out there. You can find her and all of her wisdom about Home Based Business- and she has even gotten smarter. (Let’s just say for the sake of this article, that your grandma is way cool.) So because she is way cool, you can’t stop searching. You can’t stop! Grandmaaaaa, Grandmaaaaaa!

Well my friend, we are not charging for advice- and we are staking our names and reputation on giving you good advice in our report on Home Based Business. Our report separates the big bad wolves from the wise old but hip grandmas. We link you to each. But we review and warn you. Here you will see our words of recommendation or warning and you’ll get a link- but we will be quick to call your attention to any bogus claims from the wolves who want to eat you, wallet first.
Kinky?. No! Its bloody expensive!

We want everyone who comes here to feel so happy with us- that we got them to Grandma’s house safe and sound. There TRULY are instructions to everything in the world in this box you are reading, and that’s why you brave the forest.
No bread crumbs required.

For more on our message

-The Kapstone Report, Robert Stone & Phillip Kaplan