My sister works for a local company here in the New Orleans area. This company is in the process of opening up some new restaurants and cafes. They are new to this kind of endeavor, having gained success and money in a totally different arena.

I don’t mean to criticize just to be a jerk. But this company sure does things in a haphazard and disorganized fashion.

They opened up a bakery cafe about 6 months ago, with plans to open up a few more restaurants. They hired dozens of managers for the four or five different eateries before they all opened. So from the very beginning at her new job in the bakery, at least a dozen or more managers are all arguing over how things should be done, though most won’t even be staying at the bakery but are waiting for their restuaraunt to open. Employees have come and gone. The menu has been changed a few times. Prices have been raised. It’s very chaotic.

Just last week, the second restaurant opened. And while the food was mostly good, it was mass confusion. There’s a wok station. A pizza station. A salad station, and the regular menu. It was overwhelming. They are trying to offer too many varieties of food, like a cafeteria, but more upscale. Is it a restaurant or a cafeteria or a Whole Foods? Can good pizza and good noodles be made in the same place? How do you order your food? I am sure they have a few kinks to work out since this place just opened.

But when it comes to running a business, it really is better to be a master than a jack-of-all-trades. Focus your energies and efforts. Find your niche. Be a Master in your trade. You will develop a stronger business sense and avoid unnecessary confusion and wasted time and money. Be the best at what you do in your particular craft, not some handyman who does a little of this and a little of that.

Then after you are established and things are running smoothly, then consider expanding into other areas or even another business. But trying to do too much too soon will only serve to overwhelm you.

Build momentum. Focus. Succeed.

Ok. So we moved back to the New Orleans area after living in Minnesota for 2 years, thanks to Hurricane Katrina.

And when we got back, I started dabbling in real estate investing. So it’s been about 6 months and I’ve made a few bucks here and there. At first, I read a book called “Earning Without Owning” and I did what the authors described and IT WORKED! Yeah, I made a few dollars.

But I wanted to make more money with each deal and I was also a little apprehensive about making huge financial mistakes. Lo and behold, a solution came. I had joined my local REIA and gone to a few meetings. I am a novice and know I need all the help I can get. I availed myself of the e-mail “Circle of Support” (where people can ask questions and get answers from other real local investors) and through that met a seasoned investor who asked me to partner with him. Why did he ask me???? He said it was because he saw that I was out there pounding the pavement and actively looking for deals. It benefits both of us because he is my money partner and an experienced investor who is my mentor; and I find deals that make us both money. This arrangement suits us both. And you will find that no matter what field you are in, many of those who have made it already are happy to help the new kid on the block.

It’s always a good idea to find someone else who has been-there-done-that when you are starting out in a new enterprise. You’ll avoid costly mistakes. You’ll make valuable contacts. You’ll have the benefit of knowledge and experience when making decisions. You’ll be in the fast lane to success.

Just make sure when you’ve “made it,” that you return the favor.

First of all, I have to say I am a Ron Paul supporter. Wholeheartedly. Did you see him on Leno last night? I hope you did - because it was a nice surprise to see him finally get a fair shake: Jay brought some attention to the fact that Dr. Paul has been snubbed by FoxNews without good reason, and Jay also allowed Dr. Paul to clarify a couple of things being said about him.

Hopefully, more people will hear about him and they’ll like him. If that happens, they won’t like him for an idiotic reason, such as his race, his looks, his sex, or his party affiliation. They’ll like him (i.e. support him) for better reasons.

I like Ron Paul for a few (good) reasons. I’m not a political analyst and I’m not a political science super-genius, but I consider myself a good judge of character and I am a believer in justice as well as a guy who wants what’s best for my country. (Oh yeah and I’m a guy who is open to others’ opinions, which means I’m not blindly loyal to a political party.)

So why do people like Ron Paul? If most Paul supporters think the way I think, there will be a few basic criteria. Here are my quick reasons for liking Ron Paul:

1. He is honest and open. How do I know that? Well…it might sound foolish, but you can just tell by listening to him and watching him. He’s a person who looks honest and who looks like he has nothing to hide. But let’s say you need evidence that he’s open and honest: in that case, do a little Googling (and YouTube-ing) and you’ll find that he really IS exactly who he says he is - he’s consistent, he’s been very plain and open, and there’s no evidence he’s been hiding things from the American people.
   Now, contrast that with the other top five candidates in both parties. Tell me of who else this can be said. So yeah, I like Ron Paul because essentially I feel I can trust him to tell me the truth.
2. He shows wisdom coupled with character. I’ll not get into specifics (again just Google and read for yourself) but the guy is not only smart (that’s one thing) but he’s wise. (There’s a difference by the way. Intelligence can be exclusive of wisdom.) He reminds me of a lot of older people I’ve known in my life who just…know stuff. Older people know stuff because they’ve lived longer, done more, made more mistakes, observed more things, and experienced more events than us young folks. So they’re worth listening to. But listening to him speak about issues such as health care, the economy, the war, and our national debt has shown me that not only does he understand the issues at stake but he understands them with greater depth than I’ve seen from the other candidates. Is it because he better understands the principles behind the way things work? Is it because he’s being truthful, while they are not? No, those aren’t necessarily the reasons. I think what he says rings more true because he has solutions that aren’t always easy. That’s where the character comes in: instead of telling me everything is just gonna be all right, he tells me I’m gonna have to buckle down and get out of debt and we can’t just keep printing worthless paper money. (Am I just crazy, or isn’t that actually the right thing to do???) He seems to think he has some kind of….responsibility to me, as well.
3. He doesn’t just follow the crowd. He doesn’t seem to be the kinda guy that can easily be fooled. He doesn’t go with the latest winds of change. No, he is a person who consistently abides by set principles. When he makes a decision, he gives solid reasons for doing so (reasons you can understand when he’s done talking, by the way).  He holds unpopular positions when the situation calls for it, whether the vast sea of sheeple oppose him or not (our awesomely successful war in Iraq comes to mind as well as those heartwarming Patriot Acts). It’s not that he’s a “maverick” or a “rebel” that I like about Ron Paul - it’s the fact that he’s willing to fight for the right thing even it is means he has to stand alone. Isn’t that what LEADERS are supposed to do?
4. He represents my interests. He’s not a Washington career politician who’s on the payroll of the lobbyists - right now Google the terms “ron paul lobbyists” and see what you get? If you don’t read some of those excellent articles just look at the headlines and you get the message right away: “Why Lobbyists Hate Ron Paul”, “DC Lobbyists Can’t Stand Ron Paul”. Sentences like “lobbyists don’t even bother to visit his office anymore” make me smile. Charts like this make me trust the guy more. So if he’s not busy taking handouts, what’s he doing? Well, he’s always talking about stuff like a “free society“, “liberty“, “individual rights“, and keeping government in check. It almost sounds like he’s still one of “us” - a regular American who wants what’s best for his family and country - and not a DC Robot who no longer cares about us common folks. (Hmmm…) Maybe it’s because he values our Constitution and is aware enough to realize that once our Constitution is done away with, so are we. Heck, when I read what this guy stands for I know he’s actually doing his job.

Is he a politician who’s trying to impress people? Is he a politician who, when asked a question, just talks and talks - without ever actually answering the question? Is he a slick performer who’s all sizzle (and no steak)? There’s ample evidence that he’s NOT that guy. He’s the guy we all want to have, and the guy the Average American will think he’s getting (regardless of who Average American votes for).

No one wants the “slick politician”. Everyone wants the leader who will do what’s right and actually help our nation. And overwhelmingly, that’s the leader I see when I examine Dr. Paul - genuine, good person who will be a strong leader and do what is right.

And that’s why people like Ron Paul.

To a certain degree, we are all subject to fate from the time we’re born. The Bible says a leopard can’t change it’s spots - which means there are some things that are just meant to be and no matter what they will happen. But the good Book also says a lot of things about money, about wisdom, and about hard work. Specifically, it speaks favorably about them.

Now, I look for wisdom wherever it presents itself. I listen to good advice whenever it’s given to me. And one thing I keep hearing (and I see demonstrated) over and over is that if you strive for something, you can get it.

So while there are certain things in your life that are unchangeable, there are probably MORE things that you CAN change. You can achieve far more than you might imagine, but to do so you need to expand your mind and remove the limits you’ve placed on yourself. You need to imagine new possibilities for yourself and you must maintain within yourself an attitude of strength and victory.

The people who “make it” aren’t the ones who got lucky. They’re not the ones who had their dream job handed to them out of the blue. They usually aren’t people who were privileged from birth.

The 1% of the richest people in your town aren’t the top 1% smartest people in your town - I promise.

Successful people usually are people who simply saw what they wanted, and seized it. They liked what they imagined and decided to make it happen. They dreamed about something and it never occurred to them that it couldn’t be real.

Do you want to be a success in 2008?  Sure you do. And I have good news: there’s nothing stopping you.

What I love about the internet are the limitless opportunities that present themselves to me each week - enough opportunities to make me a millionaire if do things right. And we all can do it - at least, we all have the capabilities to do it. What an amazing thing.

I don’t know what my fate is for this year. But I don’t care: I can’t know my fate. All I can know for SURE are the possibilities that my life holds. So I plan on striving for my goals during this next year and doing better than I did in 2007.

For you, I wish the same: that you are more successful than you were last year, and that you focus on the possibilities open to you. If you look forward to what you can achieve and determine to be a success at it, nothing can stop you.

Here’s to 2008, and here’s to all of us making more money!

If you’re a marketer-in-the-making, you need a product to sell. Successful marketers find something to sell and they do it the right way. So what does it take to find the right product? How do you know if something totally sucks, or if it’s great? Where do you find products? How many jellybeans are in the jar at the county fair? Lotsa questions.

PRODUCTS ARE EVERYWHERE

You, as an upstanding IM with the same internet that I use and at least as much brain power, can find stuff to sell. It’s everywhere. Every website you visit either has an affiliate program or there’s a competing/similar website with an affiliate program. So get in the habit of scrolling to the bottom of websites and looking for words like “Affiliates” or “Webmasters” and there ya go. Sign up and put your login details into a spreadsheet named “affiliate_accounts.xls” and have fields like “Program”, “Aff. URL”, “Username”, “Password”, “Payout”, “# Prods”, “Tools”. In the Payout field, list the percentage or dollar amount. In the Tools field, list the types of tools they offer (if any).

So that’s one way. Another way (the way I find most convenient) is to sign up with MaxBounty, CJ, ShareaSale, etc. where you can get a ton of links from one place and do it easy. Why is this so good? Well, think about the fact that it COULD take months to accrue enough affiliate sales with an individual website or for one particular product. Usually, in order to receive your first payout you need $50 or $100. See what I mean? You could be waiting forever to get your money when dealing with onesies. With a company that aggregates a whole bunch of products from different places, you can get paid much easier much faster because you are selling one or two items from a LOT of companies all at once.

EVERY MARKET IS SATURATED

Learn that right now. There is simply NO market that isn’t saturated, where no one is selling a particular product, and where you won’t have to actually do some work in order to make some money at it.

Now you know I’m all for newbies and you know I consider myself a student of all things at all times and not some kind of know-it-all, but I’m sick of seeing newbies on forums and in blog comments asking about stupid things like “niches that are unsaturated”. If you look up just about ANYTHING you’re going to have thousands of links to compete with, on some level. Even if I decided I wanted to purchase something bizarre and I entered “buy rancid snacks” in Google, there’s 24,000+ search results. And for real things people want to buy, there’s always a bunch of existing pages people have built for that product.

But you know what?? 95% of all aff. marketers either just suck, or they get bored, or they get a real job or they get a girlfriend - so they end up quitting. (And 2% don’t suck, but they move on to other products.) So if you are going to actually build a bunch of pages/sites for your product and so ACTUAL promotion & link building then guess what? You’re in the elite minority of people selling that product.

Every market is saturated. Every niche is saturated. Just accept that as a tenet of affiliate marketing faith, and then move on because you don’t care. You’re gonna do a better marketing job than over 95% of all the other players in that niche - so whether the market is saturated or not is really a moot point, isn’t it?

THERE’S SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE WHO WILL BUY NOW 

The hard part of affiliate marketing isn’t related to the “best” niche. The ultimate question isn’t even which merchant “converts” the best. Which affiliate network you use isn’t the most important thing. Why? Because for any product, at any time of day, any time of year - someone will buy it.  So if you really were to ask the ultimate question of affiliate marketing it won’t have as much to do with the choice of product or niche - the challenge lies in how you pair the right buyer with the right product.

No matter what product you pick - a cell phone for elderly people, a beer-making kit, a maternity bra, absinthe, bachelorette party supplies - someone is looking for it right now at this very moment so they can buy it. Your job is to pick a product and present it to enough potential buyers enough times so that someone buys. It really is that simple.

So what am I saying about the “Product” part of Internet Marketing Success? I’m saying a few simple things, here they are restated:

1. Get yourself a bunch of products to sell. If you join affiliate networks you can make the task a little easier. Stay organized; spreadsheets can help with this.
2. Don’t obsess over which niche is least competitive or which one is less saturated with other sellers. Just make sure you do your best and you focus on the task at hand.
3. Whatever products you pick, know this: there’s a buyer out there, right now. How will you get them to see your product? That’s your job.

So pick your products, stay organized, and start selling. You wanna know how to sell? Who to sell to? What to do?

Step-by-step?

Oh…OK. But I’m saving that for next time…in Part 3.