My Online Business Adventure

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:

PlugInProfit Site

SFI

Success University

Empowerism

Leisure Audio Books

Thanks for reading!

Ros Bott

Achieve Financial Freedom Online

The world of affiliate marketing can be a bewildering place when you are just getting started.  Without a helping hand or proper guidelines, the novice can easily get trapped into paying for expensive marketing without really knowing what they are doing.  If you are a novice in affiliate marketing, or are interested in getting started, here’s my list of essential first steps:

1.  Set a budget.  Decide, realistically, what you can afford to spend every month.  Do not be tempted to go over this in the hope that you will get your money back quickly.  This is the way to run up an enormous credit card bill and get yourself into debt quickly.   Even if you can only spare a few dollars every month, that’s fine, as long as you know this and are prepared to keep within it.  Making money takes time and you need to look after your finances before you get to this stage.

2.  Get In Communication with Your Sponsor.  I am often amazed at how many of my affiliates just don’t seem to want to communicate.  Unfortunately, these are the ones that pull out a few months down the line.  This may be a business that you work at alone, but you don’t have to BE alone, and everyone needs support.  If you get a welcome email from your sponsor, reply and tell them what your goals are.  It’s quite possible that your sponsor is an expert and will be able to help you build your business without falling into any of the traps that they will have experienced.

Sadly, there are some sponsors who do not communicate with their downline!  This is madness.  Affiliate marketing is all about helping your downline, because when they succeed, you do.  If you are unfortunate enough to have signed up with an uncommunicative sponsor, then don’t despair!  Step #3 is the next best thing for getting support and encouragement.

3.  Use Forums  Most good affiliate programs will have their own forum.  Join this.  If it doesn’t have a forum, join some general internet marketing forums such as Conquer Your Niche, or the Warrior Forum.  Many people who use these forums are experienced internet marketers and are usually very helpful if you have any questions or need some support.

I cannot stress enough how important it is to communicate with other people in this business.  Doing this on your own is extremely difficult - you need guidance and positive input.  By interacting with other people you can also have fun and make new friends all round the world.  I certainly have.

4.  Learn, learn, learn.  Use any training your program gives you, ask your sponsor, ask in the forum.  Try not to learn too many things at once - you will feel overloaded.  Take it one step at a time.  Learn one thing thoroughly, put it into action and then go onto the next step.

Above all, it is important that you learn that this business is a real business that takes time and effort to build.  However, it has many advantages over other businesses because it’s easy to start and you don’t have to have a huge capital.

Novice affiliate marketing is an exciting time, and if you are still looking for some excellent money making ideas, have a look at my website here.   As your personal sponsor, I won’t let you down.

Ros Bott

Financial Freedom Online

As global recession worstens and the price of fuel and other commodities increases, more and more people are looking for an alternative to the 9-5 job.  In fact, I recently read that about 72% of Americans are considering a home business.  Whether or not that statistic is correct, there is certainly a huge increase in people taking their financial future into their own hands and going it alone.  If you are considering this, you might like to consider the work at home online business ideas I have set out below.

Before you start, though, here is a word of warning.  The internet has produced a wealth of opportunities for the home business entrepreneur.  However, it has also created a lot of opportunities for the scammer - so it is important that you check out any program before handing over your money.

It is also important that you choose a business that is right for you.  Ask yourself the following questions:

Does this appeal to me?  Does it fit in with my beliefs and interests?  How much money will I need to start this?  Is this a proven and trustworthy business?

Here is my list of ideas for getting started with an online business quickly and easily:

Affiliate Programs

This is the quickest, easiest and most cost-effective way to get started with an online business.  In affiliate marketing you promote other people’s products or services and receive commission for sales and/or referrals.  Many will pay referral commissions several levels deep.

All programs have different systems for paying out and you need to check out their commission system before starting.  You also need to make sure you are comfortable with promoting the product or service, otherwise you will be severely handicapped in your ability to sell.

With most affiliate programs you can start with very little or no cost - though it is recommended that you spend a small amount of money to pay for website hosting, upgrading or marketing.  However, there are many ways to advertise for free and you should definitely look into these.

Hosting your own website is probably the best way of promoting affiliate programs, and your main task will be to create traffic to this website using free marketing techniques such as blogging.

Private Label Resell Rights

You can find many products, such as e-books, that have already been created by someone else where you have the right to sell them as if they were your own.  Do make sure that the product gives full resell rights, otherwise you could be in trouble.  You can sell these via your website, through traffic exchange sites or sell them to an opt-in email list who have confirmed that they would like to hear from you.

Offer Your Own Product or Service This sounds like it’s harder work - but if there is something you have a real interest or experience in it can be very enjoyable to write it up as an e-book or offer your own product or service. Using what you know is a very good way to make money online.

If you love writing, you could offer a freelance writing service, or if you have good organisational skills you could write an e-book on time management.  The potential is endless and everyone has some skill that someone else would like to learn about.

This is just a small sample of some of the ways of making money on the internet - but they are certainly the most tried and proven.

Working at home can be a way of providing a supplementary income - or eventually become your main income allowing you the freedom to leave your job and become financially independent.

There are several work at home online business ideas in the side bars of this blog - or you can look at my website for even more ideas.  Have a browse and choose what appeals to you!

Ros Bott

Financial Freedom Online