Wednesday, June 20, 2007

"Getting Ready To Dump Google's Adsense" - Don't Do It!

I actually saw somebody post that they were actually thinking of getting rid of their Adsense Ads! I couldn't believe that! They weren't making much money using it so I'm guessing that that is why they are feeling so frustrated.

There is NO WAY IN THE WORLD! that I would consider dumping the Adsense ads on my blog here! Keeping adsense seems to be quite a chore for some people but as long as you follow Adsense's Terms Of Service then you should be fine!

Now getting back to the person that was thinking of getting rid of their adsense ads - I have this to say to you. Almost any blog has the potential to make money using Adsense. Ask people to give you their opinions about your blog. You might also want to consider getting some professional help with your blog. There are professionals out there who can help optimize your blog or website for Adsense, they can provide you with content-rich information for your website or blog to help increase your Adsense earnings.

Getting Rid of Adsense has got to be one of the most ridiculous ideas I have ever heard of!

Monday, June 18, 2007

Poetry?

It may be hard to believe that people that write poetry are making a good living at it. Have you ever heard of songwriters? There will always be a need for great songwriters!

What about grants? There are a number of grant programs relating to poetry that are sponsored by very legitimate and respectable organizations.

What about poetry contests? Even here there are some very legitmate poetry contests out there but you have to be very careful when you decide whether or not you are going to enter them. Be sure to read the fine print very carefully so that you know what you are getting yourself into!

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Becoming A WebCam Model

I saw a question posted by a young woman (she was of legal age) asking about sites where you could be a webcam model and receive at least 50% of the money that you generated. My first thought was to answer back and ask whether or not it would be possible for her to start such a business on her own. Why? Because if you start this kind of business on your own you make more money by cutting out the middleman. And of course I always think it a good idea to start a business of one's own as compared to working for someone else.

But I visited one of these webcam model sites and I can see why women (and men) would be interested in them. The one site I visited said that one of their webcam models can make as much as $25,000 a month and that some of their webcam models have made over $200,000 a year! Plus they do most of the work for you already. They take care of the billing and they take care of the traffic.

I still say that it would be better to start your own webcam model business as opposed to working for a company - but hey - I see why some people would much rather have the security of working for a company.

Friday, June 15, 2007

I Have My Own Podcast Now!

My podcast is very (very) new! I have put up a test message that I called in from my cellphone just to see if it would work and it did! I have also added a few public service announcements. Now I think adding music is going to be tricky because that involves copyrights.

I haven't figured out what the theme of my podcast will be yet. (However I do have my Nailbiter's Message Board Podcast up and ready.

I did have one other post about having a podcast and I have learned a little bit more about them since then. The process seems simple enough. Its providing the content that I am having trouble with - so I'm working on that for now - but enough about me!

As I mentioned in my first post about podcasting, having your very own podcast is like having your very own talk show. I think about the only hindrance you will discover is the ethical "no-no" of playing copyrighted music. But you can have other things on your podcast - most importantly - YOU! You can talk about almost any subject that you want (as long as those subjects fit in with the terms of your hosting site). In essence you can have your very own talk show. You can include commercials and interviews and phone conversations and that is only the beginning.

Basically what you need to have your own podcast is the ability to record your content and then upload it (preferably in mp3 format) to a hosted site. There are some free hosting sites on the internet and all you have to do is use one of the major serch engines to find some of them.

I would give you a link to my other podcast but it just isn't ready yet

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Desire!

The one thing that I think that one truly needs to start their own business is desire! Desire will help you see through many things including lack of self esteem, confidence and frustrations.

Desire continues you to go on in spite of things looking bad.

And actually I think that having the desire first is more important than having the money first. As long as you have desire you'll have a hint of what it is you want to do.

My desire came from my hating my job and my love of working at the computer. I thought that there had to be a way to take something that I love and turn it into a business and I did it!

Another good force to have would be motivation. The motivation is the "why" of what you are doing. Examples can include that you just hate your job and you want to do something else, you want to become financially independent or you just want to do something that you love and be able to earn an income from it.

Desire and Motivation - two very good places to start when you want to start a business of your own.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Longhand

I was watching Dr. Wayne Dyer on PBS this past weekend and one of the things that he said really stood out to me. Dr. Dyer has written many books and interestingly enough I found out that he still does all his writing long-hand. It's hard for me to believe that he doesn't use a computer but anyhow I thought the whole thing kind of cute and it reminded me that I, myself have written articles first by long-hand and then typed them into the computer.

I guess one of the reasons why I am posting this is because I know that there are a lot of aspiring writers out there. Maybe it would help a lot of them to know that even the most famous of writers still do their work by long-hand.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Adsense!

Yes I am mentioning Adsense again because I just got finished suggesting Adsense to someone that wanted to start an online business but they didn't have any specific business in mind. I know that there are many people that want the security of working for someone else and that's why a lot of them are looking for these kinds of businesses that they can work from home from. With the exception of a couple of businesses, the rest of them I am not comfortable with. I think it is a much better idea to a business of one's own!

Now that's why I mentioned Adsense (again). What can be more simple than starting a blog and putting ads on it? Since you know that you will get paid everytime someone clicks on an ad then that should motivate you to work on your blog/site more! I mean there have been examples of people who have put up sites and never work on them but they still make money on them using Adsense's program - I still say the best way to make money using Adsense is to develope a them for your site. Once you sign up for Adsense and start reviewing your stats you will see what is and what isn't working and you can work on improving it.

Google's Adsense is one of the most easiest ways of making money online that I have ever seen!

Sunday, June 10, 2007

You Never Know Where Your Customers or Clients Will Be Coming From

I have a client that pays me to find the cheapest airline ticket prices for her. Mind you she is a customer who uses my services only a few times but for the point of this blog she is a customer. She doesn't have a computer of her own.

How did she become my customer? (actually I think of her as a client) She worked at the same store that I did and of course word got around that I was a "computer nut"!

You never know where your clients or customers will be coming from! As I have said many times before my very first client was a neighbor of mine who also heard that I was "into computers". He became my very first web page design client! As a matter of fact I have my very first client before I had even thought to do this as a business.

So you never know where your clients and/or customers will be coming from.

Friday, June 08, 2007

Yes, Even A Teenage Can Become A Millionaire!

Here is yet another story - hopefully inspiring - about a teenage who has became a millionaire! All by starting a website that has grown!

They have even received some venture funding for their business! I'm always telling people that there are still investors - even angel investors that are still around - and I'm talking about legitmate investors!

Hopefully this story will inspire you and motivate you!

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

I Have REALLY Got To Get Back To My Design Work

I'm currently reading one of the Bryce 3d message boards. Just in case you don't know Bryce is a 3d program that lets you make 3d objects and landscapes. I don't have an example to post here which is exactly my point!

I have been so busy doing other things that I haven't had a chance to play around with my graphics programs. There's a lot of potential associated with these programs. I read an article about jewelery makers who use 3d programs to design their jewelery. And of course hopefully you have heard about those cgi created animations that they use in today's movies. But beside that its just a lot of fun. Don't get me wrong making 3d graphics involves a lot of detailed work but it is fun to do. It can also be a profitable thing to do as well if you're proficient enough at it.

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

"I Can't"

I hear a lot of people who say "I can't" do this or that. What about the things that you CAN do? I see a lot of posts on message boards saying this exact thing and the first thought that comes to my mind is that the one thing that they all seem to do have is access to a computer. Now I can't tell sometimes whether or not the computer they are using is their own or whether they are using a public access computer like those that can be used from a public library or such.

If you're using a public access computer that doesn't mean that there isn't no hope for you. Your resources and opportunities are decreased but they are not gone. I'm thinking that you can save up enough money to buy a computer so that you will be able to have one of your own which you can work on at any time of the day and when you feel like it. A good starting computer can be had for under $1000. Now that may seem like a lot of money to some people but you have to look at it as an investment.

If you're working in a job that you hate stick with it until you can save up enough money to buy your own computer so that you can start a business of your own. The fact that you know that you are saving to "invest" in a computer of your own will help ease the hate and stress that you feel from your job.

What if you're not working now? What is it that you want to do? What is your dream job?

There is this sage piece of advice that says that everyone was put on this planet for a reason. What if you don't know your reason? Another piece of sage advice says to "make it up". What does that mean? It means that if you don't know what it is that you want to do - then that is your job for now - finding out what it is that you want to do. What do you do in the meantime? Well its quite obvious that you are going to have to make a living unless you marry someone rich or get some kind of big inheritance. You may have to "buckle down" and get a "normal" job but remember this isn't something that you have to tie yourself too forever. It could be that while working this "normal" job you will find what it is that you want to do.

What if you don't want a "normal" job or you're having a hard time finding a job. Here's another piece of sage advice - Make One Up! What does that mean? It means that if you can't find a job make one of your own! As I have said many times before there are two ways of making money. The fastest way is to find a need and fill it. Many millionaires have been made because they used this exact method! Look around you. Is there a need that needs to be filled? Can you do yardwork, run errands, walk dogs, babysit?

The second way (which I think is the best way) is to take something that you love and turn that into a business. Again, many millionaires have been made because they followed this advice.

I'll use myself as an example. One of the many services that I provide is grant research. What made me go into that field? Because of my work with helping people to realize their dream job(s) the subject of grants came up. There were two sets of people and their views concerning grants. One group said that they were no grants and the second group said there were. Since this was so confusing to me I decided to find out on my own (not realizing that I had already been doing this kind of thing for years) and what I found out was just amazing! The bottom line is that I found out that there were such programs everywhere! And since people didn't believe me when I told them so another career was born! This would be a very good thing for you to remember also and that is just because someone says that it isn't possible doesn't make it true. What's so surprising to me is that a lot of the so-called experts in this field don't know the things that I do. Social service agencies that are supposed to know about these programs don't and will tell anybody that asks that they don't exist. They just don't know about them that's all.

So I decided to take it upon myself and find out for myself and I'm glad that I did that. It takes a lot to go against the norm but if your will and desire are strong enough you can do almost anything!

Monday, June 04, 2007

Another Dot.com Millionaire!

It's so fascinating what one can do if they really put their minds to it! This man is a millionaire many times over! Imagine being able to write a check for $650,000!

Teachers Becoming Part-time Entrepreneurs

Very interesting article about how teachers can earn money part-time. This isn't a scam because you work for yourself and not for a company. You start your own business tutoring others. And who better to tutor than teachers!

MySpace and You

I was watching a rerun episode of Dr. Phil and it was a show about people seeking fame and fortune. One of the guests was a woman who's an actress and model who has a MySpace page with over 2,000 "friends". On her myspace page she has pictures from her modeling sessions and I mention that to say that those pictures aren't as explicit as some of the other MySpace members' pictures are - they look tastefully and professionally done.

The reason why I am mentioning this is because you never know where opportunities lie. A lot of people have used their MySpace pages as a networking resource and the group that comes most to mind are the musicians and their groups. They can have samples of music on their site as well as a list of tour dates and of course MySpace lets you have a blog as well.

I have also seen record companies have a page on MySpace as well as a number of well-known celebrities.

So another good tool to have in your pool of resources is to have a MySpace page. To go to MySpace's main page just click here, take a look around at some of the other members' pages just to see how their pages (and how your page could) look.

Friday, June 01, 2007

Sex!

Let's face it - there is a lot of sex on the internet! The online sex industry makes millions of dollars per year! So it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that a lot of people want to get in on it. One of the ways that they think that they can do this is with having their own webcam website. You can see my previous posts about using a webcam for your business by clicking here and you can also read about some of the information relating to starting a webcam business on my consultation page.

Even I could do it if I had the nerve but really I don't.

What would you need to start such a business? Well the first question I would ask is how are you going to make money with it? Usually the most popular way is to charge for access to your website with your webcam pictures. This means that you should first have a website that is accessible to all but then in order for them to view your special pages they would have to sign up and pay for membership. Lots of sex sites operate this way. And just as other business-related websites do you can have different options of payment. You can accept checks, credit cards and the like. I have even seen such sites accept cash.

Of course you're going to need a webcam and a website (unless you're doing "personal" pictures or requests only. I have talked many times about the number of free hosted websites that are on the Internet but in this case you'll have to check and see if they will allow such content in their terms of agreement. There are a few free web-hosted sites that will let you have an adult-oriented website for free.

I have also talked a lot about affiliate ads and there are some that are specifically targeted to mature adult material - however Google's Adsense is not one of them - but there are others.

Once you have your site up you'll have to start letting people know that your site is up and ready for business - which means that you have to generate a "buzz" for your site. Doing this requires doing the same methods for generation traffic to any site. There are free ways of generating traffic to your site as well as using methods or products or services that you have to pay for to generate traffic to your site.

Although sex sites are not for everybody you do have to admit that they generate a lot of revenue! - and some people want to be able to get some of that money!

Monday, May 28, 2007

Is Having A Business Plan Important?

I think that having a business plan is very important. It isn't mandatory but I think that it would be a good idea to have one! Even if you're dream job is to be an actress or a singer I still think that you should have a plan in place.

How much monthly income would be your goal? What amount of money do you spend on expenses on a monthly basis? What about your business identity? Does your business have a logo? These are just a few questions that should be answered and those answers should go directly into your business plan.

Now one of the services that I provide is customized business plans but if you want to do this on your own there are tons of resources on the Internet that will help you with making and creating your own business plan. Some of these websites also offer general business plan templates that you can download and customize to your own business information.

Some people think that business plans are so complicated but it has been my experience that you can start out with a simple line on a blank piece of paper that says "I Want My Business To Be............." and then you go on from there.

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Having An Internet Radio Station

I don't know if I mentioned it before but I do have an Internet Radio Station:

LaMott Radio

LaMott Radio


Now the reason why I mention this is because like almost everything else this has the possibilities for another work at home thing that one can do.

I have a background in radio as I used to be a DJ for a number of years at a number of different radio stations with different music formats. I have worked for big band stations, stations that played classic rock and roll and stations that played gospel music! As you can guess a lot of this work was fun and I did miss it. So when I saw Live 365.com I was very interested! Live 365.com is a website that hosts your own internet radio station. You can do a live broadcast or you can do a "canned" broadcast. Your station (as the website's name says) will be live 365 days a year!

If you visit the site you will see a list of the many different Internet radio stations that are out there and the many different types of formats that they have. My Internet Radio Station's format is music to put you in the mood - whatever that mood might be .....

But anyway back to the subject of how this relates to working from home............

Live365's policy is that you can't have paid advertising on your broadcast but you CAN have it on a webpage that you use as your Internet Radio Station's webpage - so just think of all the possibilities that that presents............you can accept advertising, start a newsletter that corresponds to your station and just so many other things that relate to it.

Work At Home Resources

For those of you that are looking for "work at home" opportunities (as opposed to working for yourself or starting your own business" there are a number of websites that list "work at home" opportunities. You should be very careful in making a decision as to whether or not you want to sign up for these kinds of sites.

I realize that a lot of people just want to be able to work from home but they want the security of working for an already established company. But be forewarned there are many posts from others who have been scammed from "working at home" opportunities and you don't want to be one of them.

There are some legitimate "work from home" opportunities out there that I know of and trust.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

A High School Education

I have seen a lot of postings that say "I only have a high school education...... You can do a lot with "only a high school education. In fact just because you have just a high school education doesn't mean that you still can't go to get more.

You have to look at what you DO have as opposed to what you don't have. And I think that a very important part of the answer is the answer to "What do you want?"

Do you want to become an actor? It's never too late! Do you want to become a singer? It's not too late for that either! Do you want to be able to work at home making enough money to support yourself. That is not impossible! And with the new and legitimate resources that are out there like Adsense, making money at home is becoming more and more possible! (and profitable)

There are many millionaires out there who have had far less than a high school education!

Look inside yourself! What is it that you really want to do? What is your bliss? Would it surprise (or shock) you to know that there is probably someone already out there who is doing exactly what it is that YOU want to do? - And that they are making money at it!