by shannon on October 23, 2008
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My friend Lynn Terry has repeatedly had great things to say about the 30 Day Challenge that is held every year. It is put on by Ed Dale and Dan Raine and they teach you how to go from knowing nothing to making your first $1 online. Having been out of the loop and with my daughter back in preschool 5 mornings a week, I decided to check it out.
This is really a step by step program for selecting a niche, building a website, promoting it, and making money online. They do so via videos and recommendations for various services to utilize in order to make things easier. I am currently on day 19 and I have learned so many things about choosing a niche and a much easier way of doing keyword research than I have ever used before. I have been working on the course since the end of September (there are multiple pre-season videos that I highly recommend) and really spending time on it in the last week or so. For the main keyword phrase I have chosen, I am already ranking #11 on Google. I am hoping I will end up on the main page soon with my efforts.
The bigger plus is that I am learning things to use with my existing websites and it is really changing how I look at things in the Internet marketing world. The best thing about it all is the 30 Day Challenge is free and if you don’t want to (or can’t) spend a dime, you don’t need to. They present free options for everything. I once heard a quote that in order to be successful, you must teach others to be successful. That is definitely what the guys behind the 30 Day Challenge are about. Very cool stuff and I highly recommend that you check it out.
by shannon on October 15, 2008
I was fortunate enough to be Invited to Shareasale’s ThinkTank 2008 event. It was held this past weekend in San Diego at a beautiful hotel. The Grand Del Mar was absolutely fabulous from the service, to the room, and the food. I don’t think I ever passed an employee without them smiling and saying hello. I also loved how the valet parkers always seemed to color coordinate the cars parked in front of the hotel.
The first night was a welcome reception with food and drinks. I spent a little time sizing up the room and hoping for a familiar face. When one did not present themselves I did the next best thing. Scanned the room for a person by themselves and just started talking. That led to another person and then another. I met quite a few people that night and was very thankful everyone had nametags on.
The next morning was breakfast and then meetings with the merchants. I met with three different merchants and offered feedback on everything from their affliate program to their website from a consumer standpoint. I spent a few hours working on each and it really helped me as an affiliate look for things that mark a great program versus an okay one.
The afternoon was spent on roundtables. We talked about everything from PR campaigns to selling to the demographics of men and women. Very interesting conversations and they gave me a few ideas for my business. I even picked up some cool swag. My daughter has already claimed the lollipop from Birthday in a Box and the stainless steel water bottle from Shareasale.
Breakfast on Sunday was served on the lawn. It was kind of sad knowing in a few hours I would have to leave. I would have loved the chance to talk to certain people more and meet some others. Breakfast was awesome and indulged a bit with a croissant, lemon curd, and cream. Yum! The omelettes looked fab too but alas I had no more room for one.
We then had a feedback session with Brian Littleton. He wanted to know what we thought of the event and Shareasale in general. I have heard that he is great in implementing suggestions and really listens to what people have to say. I found him super approachable and enjoyed chatting about our common backgrounds. I will definitely make his company my first stop in searching for an affiliate program to fit a niche.
Overall I am very happy that I went and I can’t wait to go back next year. I already have a brand new site up and running from a tip I received. It should be a very busy next few weeks working on things 
by shannon on October 9, 2008
Early tomorrow morning I am flying to the Shareasale ThinkTank 2008. I’m pretty honored to have been asked to attend and I can’t wait to go. I’m looking forward to networking and meeting with a few of the Affiliate Managers I have been working with. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.
by shannon on October 9, 2008
Dan Reinhold of WAHumor is currently seeking donations for Autism Research. His son has Autism, so this is a cause near and dear to his heart. In exchange for your $25 donation he has rounded up some lovely gifts from the likes of Lynn Terry, Alice Seba, Jeremy Palmer, and more. The whole package is valued at $400. Check out the Wonderful WAHumor Giveaway
For Autism Research and make a donation today.
by shannon on August 29, 2008
Where in the heck did I go? Summer sure flew by fast. My daughter started preschool in January which gave me time to work during the day. Well for summer there was supposed to be a daycamp and it was cancelled at the last minute. So I decided to pretty much take the summer off. I did some work here and there for various clients, but nothing too stressful.
Then in July my husband was offered a position in Germany. A “life’s dream, how could we say no, even if the timing was off” offer. Full panic mode ensued in arranging all of the things that needed to be done in order to move by September-October. And then a clause appeared in the offer we were not comfortable with and we called it off. After all that I decided we needed a vacation and I was going to take August off. Which I very successfully did. I took a leave of absence and didn’t spend much time focusing on work at all. I did however watch a few videos and read a few ebooks.
Here we are almost September and the start of school is just around the corner. There is orientation on Wednesday and then the first day of school is September 8th. My daughter is very excited. She will have the same teacher and the same classroom and I think the continuity will be great for her. I will get three mornings a week to focus on work and I am very happy about that.
I’m kind of taking a leap here and leaning toward not going back to work for any clients. I have all of these ideas and more education lined up that I want to make time for. Plus implementing all that I have learned into my own websites. I think that if I spend a little time pinching the budget and devoting the time I was spending working for others on my own things, that the return in the future will be great. That is what I am going to be contemplating over the next week or so.
Have you taken this sort of leap? How did it turn out for you?
-Shannon
