Forum Moderators: skibum
I have a lot of time to go workout, and practice guitar and take some fun classes at the local community college, but geez, I only have so much initiative through the day to find things to keep me busy.
I'm not the most gregarious guy either (ok, pretty introverted) so during the day the few friends I have all work or have SO's and I'm not one to just go out and hit the bars every night... - i.e I'm becoming a hermit!... I'm actually even calling my folks to have someone to talk to!...
what to do?...should I get a talking parrot or paint a face on a volleyball?
listen to what jhood said
Rent some office space and hire an assistant.
That is the answer. You will find a person to talk to. If that assistant is "hot young female" that you are looking for, even better. You can hire anyone you like. :)
To paraphrase the caption in P. Steiner's famous NEW YORKER cartoon, "On the Internet, nobody knows your office assistant is a dog."
Stick with the canine companion, who won't demand a salary, benefits, or a Christmas bonus.
Heh, I was going to say dogs aren't very good writers, but then I remembered all the spammy, almost nonsensical sites I've crossed lately (with an Adsense banner attached). I'm sure my dog could do as well, at least as far helping the visitor is concerned... ;)
Stick with the canine companion, who won't demand a salary, benefits, or a Christmas bonus.
The canine also doesn't get any work done, meaning that you still need to do *everything* yourself. Better to outsource stuff to others, and focus on your "high return" tasks IMO.
If I could join your club($150/day) in half a year, I'll hung out with you guys.
(edited) and I have to say, none of you turned out to be a hot single female.... so so disappointed... :)
now all this talk of having free time for thyself
got me thinking. Since my eyes are opened to a whole new prospect of affiliate marketing,it got me inspired.. Maybe a little bit of change is what i need...
time to save some money.....
I mean "you CAN'T find them here... "
Oh yeah, who's this Lady_Helix? :D
You ask for noobs to leave you alone and, in the same breath, invite guru AMs to offer to mentor you.
LOL,
BAD
If I remember correctly he wasn't inviting people that he could leech off of. He was interested in talking to people that were around the same level as him. I think he would be open to chat to most people, as long as they don't bombard him with questions.
Heck, I would chat with Rfung even though I am making nothing yet, simply because I wouldn't be asking him any questions... just shooting the s%$t. I have sites to build though, so maybe another time man.
Rfung, do you have a daily routine of how long you like to work on money making things? Here are a couple principles I currently use to help me:
- When I sit down on the computer, use 90% of time to work on projects, while using 10% for fun. If something interests me while I am building a project, I can only go away from the project for so long.
- Set out to do a certain number of things each day. Since I am doing SEO right now, it is write 5 articles per day, and then do a few other things for my sites.
- Set monetary goals, and project goals. If you streamline things, you should be able to soon tell how long it will take to create a site. Have a goal of each site making at least x amount per day. You will then be able to set monetary goals.
- Pretty obvious, but always move forward.
In the end, you have to find out what motivates you, because certain things motivate me that wouldn't motivate you.
All the Best,
C.K.
As far as my day - I have to say a little bit of 'success' can be a dangerous thing. I've been slacking putting up sites that could boost me up, spending too much time here reading/replying/chatting, and generally being a bum (a bored bum at that). So I think I spend 80% of my time doing other things on the computer and 20% with actual work. I don't set financial goals (although I do expect them to happen). Things fluctuate so much on a daily basis that I can only hope 'it goes up'.
When I do actual work I will sit in front of the computer, look at my current sites and see how I can improve on them, either by adding a 'sign up for a newsletter' link to collect emails, or 'invite a friend' link in a better more visible place, or seeing if I have new products that have been reviewed positively that I can create an adwords campaign for (no sense in doing adwords to a bad product..)
Because I know web design, I try and create my sites with as minimal maintenance as possible - that means that a 'template' for the different elements (not design) should be created that will work with the current site, and the one after that. I'm talking about ssi (server side includes) so you can have a file for header/footer, navigation, and re-use this structure, etc.
And then there's "new sites" - mostly product based - because heck that's how we make money :) - an image gallery of some sort or a joke site just doesn't seem like the best choice to get into, unless that's what you're interested in. No one ever gets into credit cards or refinancing out of some misguided interest in "reviewing the best credit card offers".
How to choose a niche? well - on a simplistic view - pick any merchant on CJ - if they exist, that means that someone somewhere is buying their products, so it figures that an affiliate marketer should be able to make sales too :) That's what I do anyway. At one time I wanted to build a shoe related site- have a bunch of shoe related articles, fashion,etc - so I signed up for a bunch of shoe merchants on CJ. Someone feel free ot take up that idea...
I think i totally went out of topic on this message...
Rfung, I think you may benefit from getting a whiteboard. I have one by my computer that I list my weekly, monthly, and 3 month goals. I don't use it as much now because I have stuff written down that will be used for weeks, but everything is organized on there.
You can also write down ideas on it for your next sites. I have like 5 ideas on there. They are not definite, but just quick ideas that popped into my head.
Thoughts?
To my Success (err I mean your :),
C.K.
I thought of the whiteboard and even bought one a few years back when I had only my textbook site. I drew this little cartoon that represented my site, and wrote "Have you done your site today?" I've left it like that ever since... :)
no "please help me" messages from newbies please :) ultra-pros feel free to message me "hey I'd like to help you"
Guitarzan: This statement was amusing to me, it's tinged with more than a hint of irony and a smattering of hypocrisy. My comment was a good-natured jibe at rfung. There was no malice intended.
I'm not here to piss people off but if I do it by accident..... :-)
Cheers,
BAD
no "please help me" messages from newbies please ultra-pros feel free to message me "hey I'd like to help you"
Guitarzan: This statement was amusing to me, it's tinged with more than a hint of irony and a smattering of hypocrisy. My comment was a good-natured jibe at rfung. There was no malice intended.
Not that your comment got to me or anything.
I'm just shooting the breeze here, but for argument's sake, the likelihood of the newbie asking for help seemed(and i'd say it's been) greater than the pro coming forward to volunteer assistance :)
Not that your comment got to me or anything.
Didn't think it would. Let's move on.
Cheers,
BAD
I recommend you pack up your stuff and move to.........Thailand! I done it about 2 years ago and i havent looked back! Loadsa people run Internet Business' from here and the cost is extremely low.
Advantages:
High Speed Internet at low Cost (even though it takes 6 months to get connected)
Extremely Cheap 2 hour Thai Massages (10 USD) perfect for eating up the afternoon.
Excellent Cuisine that dosent make you fat.
Cheap Labour (u can get that sexy assistant at a bargain rate)
last but not least............ASIAN WOMEN!
Think about it! :-)
Go to SEM next week in NYC if you can swing it. It's something to do, you'll meet people, possibly learn something new. It's also not a bad write off... just a thought.
I think i totally went out of topic on this message...
This whole thread is off topic and smacks of braggartry and condescension. There is nothing wrong with wanting to chat about the successes and (minor) pitfalls of your life, but one would hope that these sorts of exchanges on WebmasterWorld would take place behind the scenes (you can swap screen names in Sticky Mail, if you must), not out in an open forum with womanizing innuendo sprinkled liberally throughout.
Very unprofessional.
cEM
I guess we can go back to talking theory and data, but I think I've learned more in this thread than most of the threads in WebmasterWorld so far.
womanizing innuendo sprinkled liberally throughout.
Give me a break.
Yes this whole thread is off guys, being about affiliate marketing and all.
Some people need to start making money, and stop whining. At least I learned something from this post.
C.K.
1) Someone point to me the entry in the TOS where it says someone has to be professional all the time.
2) Being bored from working at home and its consequences IS part of affiliate marketing.
3) Don't like it, don't read it.
4) ... the list could go on, but no sensible argument will do anything if someone's got a chip on their shoulder and wants to complain.
The nice thing is, like you said, it's an "open forum" and barring some very clear "not to do" things, shooting the breeze and trading screen names doesn't seem to fall into it.
[edited by: rfung at 7:09 pm (utc) on Feb. 26, 2005]
I think boredom and trying to constantly stay motivated can be a real problem when you're self employed. I usually go through the same thing about once a quarter, myself.
Rachel (hot, but not single) ;)
Please Lighten Up man!
I think this Thread is extremely interesting and points out the aspects of the real world rather than cyber space and how each can have an effect on each other.
Being Professional does not mean we have to lose our sense of humour.
Also i think this Thread has give me an Insight into the Personalities behind the Screen Names.
2 Baht!
