During the first meeting, I learned that I was talking to a sort of affiliate marketer.  I also learned that there was a startup fee, as well as a monthly fee for the program.  Once you are in the system, you can make money in two ways.

First, by selling stuff and collecting an affiliate fee.  Secondly, you can recruit others to sell the junk and collect a referral fee.  And it’s only going to cost you a set up fee of $126 and a monthly fee of $50 to keep your website running.  I don’t know about you, but this has bad idea written all over it.  Especially when I got to the second meeting.

This time there were two people involved in selling me this system.  The same person from the previous meeting, and someone higher up the food chain came to talk to me.

They began talking, and half an hour later they were repeating themselves profusely; however, their circumlocutory speech was not the real issue.  They mentioned that setting up your business, and getting sales would pay for itself in the first month.  “Okay,” I asked, “So how do you get sales on your site?”

The two looked at each other, then at me before saying, “Well, how would YOU get sales?”

I mentioned I would find some relevant keywords and bid on them in Google Adwords to direct people to my targeted pages.

The two looked at each other, then at me.  They had no idea what I was talking about.  So I asked again what they did.

The way they get products sold from their site is to buy it themselves.  Now at 10% to 50% commission that means they are buying somewhere between $100 and $500 on their sites each month.  All this was to gain some sort of PV (or Point Value in their strange little world) witch somehow gets transformed into cash back.

The money with this is made of course once you get enough noobs under you to buy their own products.  Then you will get a small chunk of change from their sales.

I asked to see the backend of one of their sites.  I wanted to take a look at how much control the pupetmasters gave them.  But of course this must lead up to another meeting!  So I’ll let you know what happens if this meeting ever does.

I feel bad for all of the people who drink the koolaid without knowing what they are getting themselves into.  Which sounds like a lot of people are doing with their ‘pie in the sky’ wishful thinking.

Not very long ago, I listened to an audio-lecture on NPR about shopping and investing locally. This was from a man named Michael Shuman, he is the author of the book ‘ The Small-Mart Revolution.’ In this book he talks about the benefits of a locally owned and operated businesses. During his lecture he talked about these issues as well as some of the problems involved in attracting local investors in a fiscally responsible way.

Each community needs to develop its own self reliance and maximize the opportunities presented. This will help them to grow in a sustainable and reliable way.

Michael currently runs the site Smallmart.org and I found this article. About halfway down he has a list of things that will help you appear attractive to local shoppers.   This list includes…

1. Being locally owned - The most needed part of the equation!
2. Develop a local identity - Let people know that you are local and be proud of it.
3. Behave Responsibly - Respect the workforce and the environment if you want anyone to respect you.
4. Give back to the community - Let them know your business cares.
5. Maximize ‘Local value added’ - Do more than locate your headquarters here, put your factory or do your business here as well.
6. Cater to local markets - You can still sell to the rest of the world, but make sure you sell to those around you first.
7. Develop local partners - This could be contacting other businesses for one time events, or perhaps shopping in local stores for any supplies you need.
8. Grow deep - Expand your offerings to the local crowd.
9. Avoid predatory behavior - Just because you offer some of the same goods or services doesn’t mean that the other company is your enemy, just your competition.  Perhaps possibly even a local partner in the future.
10. Exit locally - When you close up shop, who will take over your business?

I really enjoyed the lecture that he gave, but I think I’ll need to pick up the book in order to extract as much of his ideas as possible.

Recently I was approached about a ‘business opportunity,’ but the guy couldn’t tell me about it right then. That didn’t seem to be to be an issue, there were a lot of people around. The guy gave me his card, and we set up a time to meet in a couple of days. I did a quick search on the company, because it occurred to me that it might be a pyramid scheme or multi-level-marketing.

I figured there were three options.

1. It was doomed to failure.
2. It was a pyramid scheme and doomed to failure.
3. It was actually legitimate.

I’d like to believe that I have a pretty good BS detector and would be able to figure out what are the pressing issues. So on the off chance that it was the third, I went to the meeting.

Nothing revolutionary happened that is of interest. It was basically a big ‘what if’ scenario. What if you didn’t have to work for the rest of your life? What if you could build equity in your sleep? What if you could get other people to make money, and it would make you money?

And then the meeting ended. He basically took half an hour to tell me that he was an affiliate marketer of sorts. The details would have to come to me at another meeting from on of his mentors.  This is starting to look more and more like a mlm (multi level mistake), but there could be a nugget of information stored in there somewhere.

A couple of days later and I find myself at another meeting…

I just wanted to share with you this post from Seth Godin’s blog. The article is basically about the tendency to keep good ideas down in favor of the current status quo. It’s a short little post, but I found it to be motivational.

There’s a myth that all you need to do is outline your vision and prove it’s right—then, quite suddenly, people will line up and support you.

In fact, the opposite is true. Remarkable visions and genuine insight are always met with resistance. And when you start to make progress, your efforts are met with even more resistance. Products, services, career paths… whatever it is, the forces for mediocrity will align to stop you, forgiving no errors and never backing down until it’s over.

The forces of mediocrity

I just saw a commercial for my idea a little while ago. The only problem was that it wasn’t mine. Over a year ago I had a million dollar idea that would take some setup time, and be only a matter of promotion from there.

One of the big issues that I face is that my programming skills in this language aren’t as high as they need to be. I have to reference books to move forward with the project.

An even bigger issue is distraction. I’m kicking myself for not working as hard and long on the project as I certainly needed to be. There is still room for more in this particular area for another player, so hopefully if I can launch within the the next four months I might have a chance.

Crossing my fingers and hoping for the best won’t produce results. Like most things, focusing and doing the work will. I need to get going before I see advertisements from another company now.

I just finished reading this article from Matt Heaton, who is the CEO of Bluehost and Hostmonster. It is called “Win at all Costs!!” It is about the competition of business, particularly the web hosting business. In case you were not aware, the business is incredibly competitive. It is extremely easy to get into the business, all you need is an old computer, an internet connection, and some free software.

Of course something being easy to do, and easy to do well are a completely different thing. If anybody can actually make a good webhosting company, they would find no shortage of customers. It looks like Matt knows a thing or two.

This may seem strange from someone who has written in the past that many of my fiercest competitors are also my friends. We talk often, share ideas, and if they are really struggling with an issue I am glad to help out where I can. I do this because I respect these people in the industry and that respect translates into help and information if they require it.

Having said that, my goal is to take ALL of their customers. They aren’t stupid. They know that is my goal and I have even mentioned it to them on several occasions, and if they were smart they would be plotting to take my customers as well. I can think of several occasions where we have gone above and beyond what any sane company would do to get an affiliate relationship with a large advertiser.

His drive to win gives me confidence in my new webhosting company. Of course only time will tell, but from this article I wouldn’t want to go up against him!

We all have dreams or plans on becoming quite wealthy. The majority of the top 20 are all self made billionaires. How long until we see your name up on that list?

It also gives information on their background and what they are up to.

20 Wealthiest People

I could only guess the top two on the list!

Then again who wouldn’t guess Bill Gates and Warren Buffet?

This morning, I didn’t have time to write my post because I had to meet the insulation installers across town. As I watched them stuff insulation into every crack and corner and saw insulation blowing around in the attic as though it were a giant snowglobe, all I could think of was

Asbestos! Vermiculite! Lung cancer! Poison! Death!

(dun dun dun)

Now I KNOW that modern companies don’t blow that stuff into our houses any more; it’s been banned for years. Yet I can’t help but wonder what IS being put into our houses and lives that we don’t know the safety of. We trust others to make the judgment call for us–usually the business itself. Of course, being interested in business and money ourselves, you and I kind of know what most businesses usually focus on–the money. How can we know who to rely on?

It’s like everything in our lives is marked “low fat”. Sometimes I feel like I’m STILL trying to convince some people that low fat doesn’t mean (1) no sugar, (2) low calorie, or (3) chalk full of nutrients. Yet the candy isle is filled with reminders of low fat content. Wouldn’t it be interesting to see “low sugar” on a hunk of cheese? So we have this idea that it’s okay if the label says its okay, and marketers and businesses know this fact and they use it against us.

The silence… the deadly silence… of American industry has been shown in Libby, Montana where asbestos was mined. From the research and personal stories I’ve had over the years, I gathered that miners were encouraged to wear breathing masks, but the masks got so clogged that the men quit. These same men were sent to company doctors when they started to hack, and when these men came home from work, wives would shake the clothes out on the porch, sending the asbestos into the air. The stuff did wonders for gardens, too (hmm, wonders), so the company often donated to community members. NOW that the town is all getting sick and losing citizens, the EPA has an entire directory that educates newcomers to the superfund of Libby. Funny thing, though, do you think anyone actually thinks of moving there any more??

I’d love to hear your thoughts on what industry REALLY tells us.

It seams like most people have a horror story they are willing to share about financial services of some sort. It could be a bank, a credit card company, or online services such as paypal. Beyond that, many more people have had bad experiences with their customer support. Which kind of makes you wonder what their end goal is. Seth Godin has been having some problems with paypal freezing his account for having a successful project.

If you do get to talk to an actual person, they are usually a gatekeeper with limited abilities beyond answering simple questions. Then you will often be transfered to another person who asks you the same questions and also has limited decision making powers.

With paypal for example if your account is frozen you will have to go through a large hassle in order to free it back up. The idea is they are doing it to stop scammers and conmen. Naturally with any data there is a balance somewhere between security and usability. Any company must make trade-offs between the two, but alienating customers as a result is never a good plan.

As Seth puts it

The question I’d be asking is, “Do people who go through process and manage to prove that they are not criminals end up doing more business with us as a result of the way we treated them?” If the answer is no, you’re probably doing it wrong.

If you would like to read more about his ideas on customer support lines as well as learn about his story, check out “Thanks for calling, please go away.“

Prepare to be bombarded with Christmas sales, decorations, endless stress, and other holiday cheer. Even though Halloween is still fresh on the mind, you need to think about the coming holidays. Of course if you run a retail shop of any kind, then you probably already have.

What kind of sales are you going to have? What products are you going to promote? How will people who don’t already know about you find out? Will you have enough of the hot products in stock?

Christmas is coming quickly, and you will need to take care of any preparations right away, because once the holiday spirit comes and everyone begins thinking about the Holidays, it might be too late!

It’s easy to anticipate the holidays equating to more traffic, more customers, and of course more sales. If you haven’t already begun your holiday campaign, you have a bit of catch up, because you can bet your competitors already have!

If you are in a business where you need to ship, get the materials to ship. If you are in the service industry, get any extra help you might need. If holidays even remotely matter to your business, then get ready.

Everyone is just like you… or are they? Have you ever noticed that people don’t always take the action or make the move that would gain them the most immediate ground, Perhaps then you might have determined that people don’t always have the same motives? Most of the time, most businesses have a similar motive, create the highest value for the shareholders.

But with individual people, victory at any cost might not be the goal. Or perhaps it is. Many people assume that everyone else is competing for the same result as themselves. Or that a majority has the same thoughts as themselves and sees things in our world in the same, or at least a similar light.

Everyone will define their own values and write their own rules. Many of them are not going to align completely with yours on all of the issues. But you won’t know that they are not on your side until the issue comes up.

Today we celebrate blog action day with 15,500 other blogs. The focus—our environment.

Many businesses say that they’d love to follow practices that are better for our environment and local community… but they say that those ideas simply cost too much. I doubt that. Most environmentally aware companies actually make MORE money through their efforts.

The immediate expenses would be higher during your implementation, sure. But in the long run? I bet your business would benefit even more. The same goes for any huge purchase like equipment and training courses. Bigger initial cost, better long-term results.

A lot of small town businesses aren’t going to make these changes on their own. You, the consumer, have to urge them. I have made it a habit to speak to managers and owners of local businesses. I tell them my concern and ask if it’s something that they’re addressing or planning on doing something about. Local produce? Locally-made foods? Recycling? Pesticide-free products? Programs that give back to the community’s development and sustainability?

Most employees just shrug me off. Mangers listen (or at least seem to pretend to!). If you keep going home miserable, complaining to yourself, nothing will change. If you start speaking out, things can start to change.

After years of Styrofoam at every function, my local church has quit purchasing Styrofoam. We spoke up. Today shouldn’t just be a day to post about the environment. Blog Action Day means we ought to be taking action, don’t you think?

The SBA (U.S. Government’s Small Business Association) even offers two environmental loan programs to (1) help engineer, manufacture, market, install, or service energy conservation measures or (2) allow the ability to plan, design, and install a pollution controlling facility. So what’s the excuse?

And how about all those local businesses that keep handing out Styrofoam…