An Early Christmas Wish

Hello dear readers,

As Christmas draws ever closer, we all seem to get so busy with lists of things to do… baking, decorating, holiday parties, family and also keep up with work.  It makes it easy to overlook the true meaning of Christmas and the Joy that it brings.

This week I took time out of my week to go to Winterfest at Kings Island, an amusement park close to home with my daughters, son in law and grandsons.  I arrived there early and was sitting watching the ice skaters as I noticed a nearby tree seem to have snow falling.  What a wonderful touch they added to make the visit special.  I watched many people of all ages experience the wonder as they walked by and you could see the magic of Christmas affect one and all.

For many, the hustle and bustle means dealing with crowds and people bumping into each other, but this trip and seeing the wonder through the eyes of my twin grandsons enjoying every moment of the night, not only made it a special night, but also brought more joy into my heart than I ever could have imagined.

My wish for each of you this special holiday of Christmas is for you to feel the kind of love and joy that I felt that night each and every day! 

Merry Christmas and Have a Spectacular 2018!! 

Posted in Travel | 6 Comments

Changing Direction for 2018

Well its that time of year again (already?!).  I have been reviewing what I have been working on over the last year and what things are most important in my life.  Over the last few years I have had a few things happen in my family that reminded me of the importance of time and really loving what you do.

For the last several years I have been working in and out of the affiliate marketing world and helping others learn to earn money online. Sometimes it was just a small amount to get them started and other times it led to a nice extra income.  I really love helping other people and enjoy the people I have met and work with.  They are some of the most helpful people around.

Over the last couple of years, my passion has grown more in the personal development and travel field.  I love meeting people and experiencing new things and sharing that love of history and travel with others.  As a result, I have made a decision that will lead to me changing direction and focusing more on my new blog with travel and experience reviews, specifically with people over 50 who may or may not be traveling alone.

I love to travel with my children and grandchildren as well and will be sharing those adventures as well.  I want to thank you all for growing with me in this blog.  Although I will be changing directions in my focus, I will still be keeping up with the “make money online” arena and update this when I find things of interest to you.

When I am ready to introduce my new blog I will be posting the link here and I hope you will follow me there.  If you have any topics you would like to see me address either here or in my new blog, I would love to hear from you.  Leave a comment here and I will respond.

Here’s to new directions, and new roads…

Sunshine and smiles

Carla

Posted in goals, personal development, Travel | 2 Comments

Start With the End in Mind

Today I want to talk about a few things.  When people discuss working towards goals, we often hear that we need to start with the end in mind.  That’s not the only time we need to do that.

Pro Golfers often play hole to tee, not tee to hole… they start with the end in mind and work backward.  They see where the hole is in the green, and visualize their hits one step back at a time to see the most efficient way to play the hole.

In developing a marketing piece, whether it be an ad, a landing page, or an email, we need to first think about what we want to happen when our prospects see that ad.  Do we want them to give us an email, watch a video, or take action to make a sale.  Then we need to create our words and images to bring out that desired response.  Try 2 different versions and test to see which one brings the best results.

So many people start with an idea to create a business without first asking is there a real market for my business?  They put hours and hours, sometimes months and years to create a product only to find that it wasn’t what their customers really wanted or needed.

So I say, ask yourself, “What are you doing now, that changing the way you ask questions at the beginning, can change your results?  “

Posted in goals, personal development | 12 Comments

Even the Girl Scouts are Doing it,

I was going through my email last night and came upon an email from my granddaughter and the Girl Scouts regarding their latest fundraiser.  I had already ordered but I suddenly realized that even the Girl Scouts are using autoresponders and lists to grow the organization to help the girls obtain their goals.

I think we get caught up in our own little world of building an online business that we forget other opportunities that may be in our own backyards.  So what lesson could I and those who are reading take from this observation?

There has been so much talk in the marketing community about the importance of building a list, yet so few take action and actually do it.  If you still have any question as to the relevance of the question, you only have to look to your own email inbox.  How many of the things you pay attention to or purchase come from an email reminding you to go look at x…?

I am using RocketResponder as my autoresponder. It is affordable, easy to use and getting better all the time.  Recently, I have found a relaunch of a list building program TEListbuilders that takes you step by step through the process. It is so easy that there is no longer any reason to delay starting to build your own list.

Email marketing is alive and well… even the Girl Scouts are using it.  Shouldn’t you?

 

Posted in entrepreneurship, goals, Income Opportunity, list building | 7 Comments

The More Things Change, The More They Stay the Same

This was the topic, I was asked to write about in my English class way back in 10th grade.  But so often, as I go through lifes experiences, I see the truth in the theory.

Last night, I finished reading Jon Olson’s book from ten years ago “Hits, Clicks, & Misses”.  As I was going through the book, it was apparent there are so many things that remain true in the Traffic Exchange industry as were true in 2007.  Yes , many of the names have changed, but they are experiencing some of the same questions as those of the past.

In an excerpt from the book….”but one thing’s certain, there are too many hit exchanges.  The supply and demand of the exchanges is way out of synch” he goes on to say “things need to be done to improve the overall quality of hit exchanges…”   A group I am a member of including Jon is talking about the very same issue that he was discussing 10 years ago.

The model of traffic exchanges can be a very powerful method of marketing when used to their full potential.  Unfortunately the majority of those using them are still using generic pages.  So how can we bring the message out to make traffic exchanges the amazing tool they could be for marketers.

The importance of branding yourself and your product,  and developing a relationship with your users can not be overstated.  There has been changes to the traffic exchange industry, but one thing remains the same.  Those who take the time to build relationships, a list, and use branded splash pages and put in the time to learn the ins and outs of the program they are using, these are the people who are successful.

What are your thoughts?  What changes would you like to see in the industry as either a surfer or an owner?  I’d love to hear more and work with you to make this industry stronger!

Posted in entrepreneurship, goals, Income Opportunity, list building | 5 Comments

What does Einstein have to do with list building?

The great Albert Einstein once said “Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it … he who doesn’t … pays it.”

What does this have to do with building my list to grow my business you may ask.  Although building your list technically is not earning interest, the concept of growth can still be applied.

Over the last few years, it seems like one of my great sources of prospects for my list has started to lose its footing.  More and more of the people who would have been viewing my ads, are blasting through them simply for the opportunity to earn a few cents.  I’m not saying that a little reward here and there is bad, just that it has led to more people who are surfing for pennies instead of using the exchanges for their original purpose which was to share a business opportunity and see the offerings of others that may be of interest to you. When viewing 100’s or even 1000’s of sites a day, with shorter timers, in my opinion very little attention is actually being paid to what is being shown.

However, if only some of these aspiring business owners would see the real value in earning credits in a traffic exchange, they may start to change the way they surf and advertise.  What they need to realize is that each and every credit could turn into a prospect to build your list.  It has been widely accepted throughout the business community that each person on your list will be worth $1.00 per month over time.

For example, a couple of the products I recommend to use to build your list would be

I am using these as an example simply because they are something all business’s need.

Lets say you only get 1 new person on your list each day, that would be 30/month. Continue doing this and the next month your list has grown to 60.  Continue to advertise consistantly and before you know it you may have built a list of 100, 500, 1000 or more.  Based on industry averages, just think build your list to 100 and thats approximately $100 a month potential.  Now you have your own list to promote any of your products.

Now if you have just one person from your list purchase each of the products above, you would earn approximately $22.00.  Now think as your list grows, you have 1 person a week take advantage of joining these programs.  That would be $88 without even counting potential sales from your other main product. Add some great content to your emails and offer good products, and slowly your business will grow. People will get to know you and trust you, so when they see other products you recommend, they will want to get them from you. Win-Win

Can you see how taking the time to stand out from the crowd and build your list can pay off and help to make an income that could really start to make a difference in your life versus hours and hours of blindly surfing with only pennies or a few dollars to show for it?

I hope after seeing this, you will also want to build YOUR list and take advantage of the credits you earn.  I get excited at each new goal reached for my list building.  Let’s do this!

I look forward to hearing what you think!

Carla

 

Posted in entrepreneurship, goals, Income Opportunity, list building | Tagged , , | 10 Comments

Are you getting ready to get ready?

Revive Your Dreams

Lately I have been working on some ideas to help my business grow. I’ve spent hours researching and taking online classes to prepare myself.  You see.. I got caught in the trap of wanting everything to be “perfect” and kept getting ready to get ready.  I’m not sure if you have been there,  but I sure have.  I had to get out of the trap as well as stop being complacent about the urgency of my goals.

Friends and family say, get a real job, something you can count on and as much as I hate to admit, I almost took a job again for the “security”.  I went to the interview and really didn’t want to get the job…then I was offered the position. But when it came down to it, I knew that IF I went back to a job working for someone else now… my dreams and goals would wither and die.  So, I took a deep breath and jumped in.  No backup plans…just lots of action.

Yes, it will be a challenge but by declining the offer, I made myself have to succeed.  Commit or quit and quitting is NOT an option for me.  The funny thing is, as soon as I declined the offer, my mind starting thinking of positive actions I could start taking to make headway on my goal.  The fire inside me has roared back to life.

What about you… have any of you had this happen and how did you react?  I’d love to hear.

Posted in entrepreneurship, goals, personal development | 6 Comments

So Now That I Made a Decision…Where Do I Start?

Hello again friends.. Yesterday I told you about the despair and frustration that took hold of me when life got in the way and the dreams of making a real living using online methods faded to a distant gleam.  But I have a little spark deep inside me that won’t let me give up on my goals.  I know in my soul there is more to accomplish in my life.

So now that I climbed back into the saddle so to speak, I am basically starting over.  My next question is where to start?  What do you do when you are in your 50’s and don’t quite know what you want to be when you grow up…:)  I have heard you should do what you love.  For me, that is travel and helping people.  So how, may I combine these two loves into a viable business?

Stay tuned for the story to unfold….and for those out there reading this, I’d love to hear your suggestions and comments.  Be sure to subscribe to follow my adventures.

To the adventure and our success!  Sunshine and smiles….

Carla

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments

Starting Over… Again…YES I almost gave up.

Hello my friends..I’m back.  Yes, I don’t like to admit it but I almost let life and its challenges cause me to give up.  The last few years have taken a toll on me and to be honest I was feeling very jaded about the possibility of making not only a living but a joyful, and fulfilled life of freedom and prosperity.  But now I’m back and more determined than ever to make this “freedom and prosperity” a reality.  

I have a lot to accomplish since I am basically starting completely over. I will be talking about many subjects and I hope you will enjoy them.  Leave comments, tell me what you want to know about.

You may notice lots of things are pretty old, but I am getting things set up to start updating and reporting my results.

Looking forward to getting to know you!

Carla

Posted in goals | Leave a comment

Over the flu and back to work

Hello everyone.  I hope you are all doing well today.  I have been under the weather for a few weeks, but am getting back to normal slowly.  I have been slowly going through my computer to see what files I have that I had downloaded over time and then just didn’t quite get around to checking them out… have you checked whats actually on YOUR computer lately.

Instead of the next shiny new object, perhaps you should check out what you have waiting there for you.  I am finding all kinds of helpful goodies I will be using over the next several months.

As some of you may know, I am not the most technical person in the world.  I wanted to work on building a new website for an idea I am working on, but couldn’t remember all the steps I took to build this one. (I had a great mentor at the time, but he is no longer available to me) . After looking around and doing some research I decided to join Wealthy Affiliate.  I have heard good things about it.  I joined for free with just a Starter account and have already set up the bones for a new site.  So far, I am impressed with the step by step instructions (video and text) and plan on upgrading in the next couple of days to the Premium level.  I will write a full review after I have got further into the system.

I hope you are having a productive year so far!

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment