Being a leader is maybe not something you have thought about when you work at home alone.Surely, being a leader is only something you need to do if you have employees!However, if you think that learning how to be an effective leader is something only other people need to worry about, think again.Whatever your goals are, achieving success is all about leadership and personal growth, and if you choose to ignore this important skill you are shooting yourself in the foot.
Are you wondering whether to start affiliate marketing? Wondering when would be the best time to start up an online business?
The answer is: “Don’t wait any longer; the time is now!”
The truth is, in the affiliate marketing industry we are just coming to the end of the slow period. As people come home from their holidays and look at the bleak prospect of getting back to their jobs, they begin to think about alternatives to the 9-5, and towards the end of August the online marketing industry really starts to pick up.
So if you’ve been hesitating and thinking about it, but have not got started yet, don’t lose out on the opportunities that will be coming soon.
Another good time for affiliate marketing is the New Year, when people review their lives and look for something new to start. But why wait until then? If you begin now and learn as much as you can before January, you could find yourself really reaping the benefits by the time the New Year begins.
There really has never been a better time to start this fun and exciting business. As the credit crunch hits, and traditional jobs become more insecure, more people are looking to start a home business than ever before.
If you start up an online business now, you could be looking at earning a full time income within two years.
I was just sitting at my desk, looking out of my window at our very gloomy, wet, English weather, and I came up with my blog post for today: Stuff To Do On A Rainy Day!
If you don’t have to go to a job, then being at home can look a bit dull on a day like today. These are my list of great things to do on a rainy day:
While it’s on, don’t miss the Olympics - there is nothing so cheering on a grey day as seeing your countryman win a medal! I find it inspirational. And even when we are disappointed in our hopes, there are so many amazing personal achievements and breakthroughs going on across the whole Olympiad, you can’t help but be cheered by the smiling faces of those who do win!
Clear some clutter - if you’re stuck indoors, it’s a great idea to clear out a few cupboards and throw away stuff that you don’t use, don’t like, or is broken. You might even find you can make a bit of money by selling your stuff on Ebay! You will find that clearing out clutter has an amazing effect on the way you feel. Every time you see that cleared cupboard, room or desk, you will feel less cluttered in your head as well, and ideas may come to you that you couldn’t think of before.
Read a book - reading exercises the brain and can be extremely uplifting, depending on the subject matter of course. Why not use the time to get round to some of those self help books you’ve wanted to for so long? Get some ideas from the following: Inspirational Books
Do Some Surveys and Get Paid! Filling in surveys can be a great way of earning a little extra money. While you won’t get rich, it can certainly be a welcome addition to your income. Go to this page of my website for a few ideas: www.wealth-city.com/paid-surveys.html
Start a home business! OK, this might not suit everyone, but if you’re feeling fed up with your present situation and want to start something new that you could really get your teeth into, you could be earning a full time income within two years. My website will give you plenty of ideas, and you’ll get a free motivational newsletter for joining as my affiliate too: www.wealth-city.com. If you’re not quite ready to do this, then why not sign up to my free home business newsletter and think about it for a while? You’ll find the sign-up link on the left of my website.
It doesn’t really matter what the weather is doing, you can always find things to do that are exciting, inspirational and self-motivating.
Whatever you find to do on a rainy day, don’t forget to have fun!
It’s a cloudy Monday morning here in the UK, and I often remind myself on days like this that five years ago I was joining commuters on the 30 minute morning drive to work, trying to wake myself up to face the day ahead, while the weekend faded away into oblivion.
These days my commute is somewhat shorter: from my bedroom to the spare room where I have my office. I can gently ease myself into Monday morning, and while I don’t sit at my computer in my pyjamas, I certainly don’t have to wear a smart suit and have perfect hair!
I became self employed just over four years ago, and despite set backs, some financial, I have not regretted it for one second. In the last year I discovered affiliate marketing and am happily building my business and looking forward to financial freedom in the not too distant future.
Today I have the Olympics running on one half of my computer while I’m typing, and I have an old school friend coming round for lunch.
Don’t be fooled, though. Working for yourself at home is hard work and discipline is needed to keep up the momentum. But I can honestly say I find it easier to get out of bed these mornings than I did five years ago! And if I need to catch up I can work in the evening, or get up an extra half hour earlier if necessary.
Working at home gives you flexibility and freedom. In these days of recession and work insecurity, it is certainly worth looking at self employment as an option. There are many choices available for the home worker - and you don’t have to put up a lot of money either.
If you’re fed up with Monday morning, why not contemplate a home business? It’s definitely one way of improving your Monday!
Like many people when they first start affiliate marketing, I joined several programs very quickly, but then found I did not have the time to focus on all of them! I’ve flushed a few out now, but there’s one I’m keeping because I’ve just recently realised what a little goldmine it could be! As well as a free affiliate training program, this site offers a portfolio of products and services to sell, and high commission rates on many of them.
So, you get some high quality products to sell, and training in how to sell them - all completely free! I think that’s a pretty good deal.
The program is The Second Tier and is owned by Russell Brunson. You’ll get your own nice looking, easy-to-use back office, training videos and conference calls, and a set of tools and resources that pay up to $450 in commissions.
If you want to try out one of the products first, there is a free training system that Russell will send out just for the cost of shipping. This is his Dotcom Secrets Wealth Building Portfolio that includes dvds and worksheets.
I definitely think this one is worth keeping! After all, it’s not often you get so much for free - so you’ve got nothing to lose!
For your free affiliate training program and affiliate website, click here.
Yesterday I gave a brief overview of the best free ways of getting more website traffic. Today I want to expand a little on two of my favourites: blogging and article writing.
If you don’t feel that you are a natural writer, blogging is a very good way to start and get into the habit of writing on a daily basis. It is less formal than article writing and you can express who you are in a much more “conversational” way.
While some people like to put full articles onto their blogs (which is certainly useful) I do feel that blogs need to be more “user-friendly”. Today’s readers are often very busy and like to find things to read that are short and easy to read.
The beauty of blogging is that it does not have to conform to a set of rules. You can be as brief or as long as you like (though I always think the briefer the better!).
If you are involved in any form of internet marketing I would say that a blog is an essential tool. If you make sure you use strong keyword phrases for each blog, you will get yourself in a strong position in the search engines. Also, every time you post, with a link to your website, you create a backlink. If you submit your blog to social bookmarking sites you then have many backlinks.
Be careful here, though. Many social bookmarking sites will consider you as a spammer if you submit your own blog too often. It is a very good idea to get together with some like-minded people (perhaps on a forum) and help each other out by submitting each others’ blogs.
Article writing is different. When readers are looking for articles, they expect a more authoratative tone, and a more structured read. You will also restricted as to what you can put in an article. Your article must be informative and useful, and cannot be a blatant advertisement for your site or anything you are trying to sell or promote, otherwise it will not be accepted by the article databases.
When you submit an article to an article submission site such as Article Marketer, you will be able to fill in a resource box with a link to your website or other link, as long as it is relevant to your article. This is actually a very powerful way of marketing. Readers who have enjoyed your article will very often be interested in finding out more about you or your products and do use these links.
If you really feel daunted by the idea of writing an article from scratch, and have no idea where to start, there is a great service called InfoGoRound, which provides public label rights articles that you can copy and re-write. You just need to make sure that your new article is 60% different to the original.
If this is still sounds a little too hard, you can buy ready-made articles from article writing services such as Team-Schuman.com which provides excellent, low-cost articles very quickly.
So you see, you don’t have to be an expert writer to use blogging and article writing as a fabulous way of getting more website traffic.
It never needs to be necessary to spend a fortune in getting website traffic, and in my experience the most effective ways to increase traffic are indeed free. All it takes is your time and effort.
First, you need to make sure your website contains keyword phrases that have a high search volume but low competition. This will take some research, but it is your most important step as you want to make it easy for people to find your site. Use Google’s free keyword tool to see how often it’s searched for and then use the search engine to see how many other websites are using that keyword - the fewer, the better.
Second, make sure your site contains unique content. The search engines like this. Create pages with unique articles, and make sure your home page is not a carbon copy of everyone else’s.
Get as many free backlinks as you can. You can do this by putting a link to your website in other high quality sites. Use free directories, or trade links with other websites that have a high PR.
Get more backlinks through forum marketing, blogging and article writing.
Tomorrow I’m going to give you some ideas about using blogging and article writing to increase traffic extremely effectively - even if you are not a born writer!
There are plenty of free ways to increase traffic to your website - you just have to put the work in.
Today I’m going to post an example of one of the emails in my free affiliate newsletter.
This newsletter is offered to any affiliates who sign up under me for any of the affiliate programs I have listed at the bottom of this post.
Instead of the usual practical advice (which you can find in your program - or in my other newsletter available on my website), this newsletter offers my experience as a life coach to give you motivational tips and support that will really help you to make that commitment to your business and encourage you to keep going.
Running a home business on your own is a real challenge - my newsletter allows you to have the help of a life coach, without actually paying for one! I also am always available for questions from any of my affiliates.
Here’s one of the emails you will receive:
I want to address something that happens to a lot of affiliate marketers when they first start up their business.
Overwhelm.
It happened to me when I started, and I’ve heard so many other newbies talk about it too!
So - you are not alone if you are feeling overwhelmed right now.
If you have joined more than one affiliate program, you will be receiving several emails, sets of instructions, training letters and lots of helpful practical advice. This is all very positive, but it can feel like you are being bombarded with advice on what to do next and difficult to know where to start.
Even if you’ve only joined one program, it can still feel like you have a long way to go in order to achieve success with it.
What tends to happen is this: You go from one set of instructions to another, try out a few things, wonder whether you should be doing something else, and go off to do that, only to find you need some other action or tool in place first, so you give up on that, try something else, wonder how you’ll ever get the hang of it and then find you’ve spent several hours doing very little.
Sound familiar?
The trouble is, you feel you should be doing everything at once, and in the process, end up doing nothing very effective at all.
If you are feeling like this, STOP.
Breathe.
Relax.
Breathe again.
OK. There is a way to stop feeling overwhelmed and actually start being effective.
It’s called FOCUS.
At the beginning it’s very easy to be distracted by all the information that is coming to you. However, it is important that you DON’T try and take everything in at once.
Decide on one or two things that you are going to do for, say, the next week or fortnight. This might be learning a specific way of marketing and putting it into action. Concentrate on this until you have mastered it and then go on to something else.
Sometimes this means that you will have to ignore some good stuff that’s being sent to you. You don’t have to delete this or forget about it. Set up some subject folders in your email manager and put them in there, or if you’ve seen a useful website, put that into a favourites folder.
If your program gives you a step-by-step training system, then follow this in the order it’s given - and take your time over it.
There is no rush over this. An affiliate marketing business is a long term commitment. Take your time to do one thing at a time.
In the next email I will be giving you some advice on time management, which will help you to set up a system of work that will allow you to organise your work, prioritise activities and keep focused.
In the meantime, stay focused, work on something that you feel is easy for you, or appeals to you. Take baby steps.
After all, you know what they say. You can’t eat an elephant all at once. You have to do it one bite at a time!
Have fun!
How many sponsors give you this much support?
You can have access to this affiliate newsletter by signing up with any of the programs below:
Hi. If you regularly subscribe to this blog, you may have wondered whether I’ve fallen off th edge of the planet - but I’m still here! Two weeks ago I realised I had gotten very tired and run down, so I decided to take some time off from work and do something completely different.
No - not sunning my self in the Bahamas or taking a cruise - and not even sitting on the beach on Southend - I decided to clear some clutter in my house and enjoy the sun in my own back garden!
When you run a business at home, it can be easy to fall into the trap of running yourself into the ground. Now, don’t get me wrong - I have a very big work ethic and I believe in pushing yourself quite hard sometimes to achieve your dreams, but sometimes things can get a bit on top of you, and whether you can afford it or not, you need a break. But if a proper holiday is out of the question, just doing something different can clear out the cobwebs and get you back on track.
Clearing the clutter in your house has an amazing effect on the brain too. You find that your head clears, ideas come to you - and so do opportunities.
I actually got back to my desk on Monday, but the reason I haven’t posted is because I had a lot of sorting out to do and a re-evaluation of my life coaching business. More on that in a later post, but the point is that a short break of doing something completely different gave my brain the space to come up with some new things.
So, if you are feeling tired and overwhelmed by your business, take some time off from work and clear some clutter - it really works! There are some book ideas below this post.
If you have the home business blues at the moment, it could be because it’s July. I read somewhere that this is quietest month of the year for affiliate marketing and if your business is less than a year old it can be a trying time, wondering whether things will ever pick up. Here are some tips for staying motivated with your home business during the quiet period.
Work on a project, such as an ebook, that will be ready to launch as soon as things pick up.
Remind yourself of the reasons you began your business. Think about your goals and the lifestyle you will have when your business is successful.
Remember that the work you do now, although it is not showing results at present, will pay off in future months - so don’t be tempted to take too long a holiday!
Get in touch with what you love about this business - rekindle the excitement you had when you started by listing all the things you enjoy about it.
Take a day off to review your business; set some new goals; plan a new project; brainstorm about how you can improve your traffic and make more sales.
Spring-clean your business. Cancel any newsletters that you never read, clear out your inbox folders, and consider cancelling any paid-for programs that are not working for you (making sure, of course, that you have done everything possible to make it work first)
Think of all the skills, interests and experience you have and how you can use them in your business.
Read some motivational books (there are some suggestions at the bottom of this post)
Read biographies of people who are successful. This is extremely motivating, because you will find that they have all come through difficult periods, and you are not alone!
Join some home business forums and share your feelings with other people.
Don’t listen to any negative thoughts you may have. Reality is something you create from your thoughts, so make sure you are creating something positive.
Above all, remember that in a few weeks things will begin to pick up so just hang on in there and don’t give up!
People in the affiliate marketing business often give up just before their business was about to take off. Don’t be one of these people. The most successful people in the world all had to get through tough times.
If you want more ways of staying motivated with your home business, I offer a special service for everyone who joins an affiliate program with me: a free motivational newsletter delivered to your inbox every 3 days. Go to my website for details.
I am a writer and part-time life coach living in the UK.
I have been interested in personal development for many years and I am passionate about the power of positive thought and the law of attraction. I know, through experience, that we create whatever we believe in.
I started in network marketing towards the end of 2007, and I love the amount of support and motivational material there is available for people in this business, if they are prepared to look.
My main interest is history - particularly family history, and I write novels that usually have a historical twist.
Subscribe to my FREE newsletter full of tips for running an online home business - and get $147 worth of free gifts!
I am a writer and part-time life coach living in the UK.
I have been interested in personal development for many years and I am passionate about the power of positive thought and the law of attraction. I know, through experience, that we create whatever we believe in.
I started in network marketing towards the end of 2007, and I love the amount of support and motivational material there is available for people in this business, if they are prepared to look.
My main interest is history - particularly family history, and I write novels that usually have a historical twist.
