Income via the internet part 2

Last time we talked about being an affiliate and having the ability to generate income by marketing products for others. If your site is pretty popular or has a solid niche viewer-ship, this can be very lucrative for you as a website owner. And with no start-up cost.

Today we look at being your own retailer and selling your own stuff. But more specifically at how you can generate revenue and do your part to save the planet. One word – recycle!

Join the movement. People are selling everything online now. Even some things that in my estimation they really should just give away. Antique, right… Anyway, that garage full of old furniture, toys and tools could very well be your goldmine. And there are several avenues available to you to hawk your wares. Craigslist and Ebay and two examples. I mention these two because they are already very popular but there are tons of other sites. Including some if you simply want to give the items away or swap with someone for something you might be looking for. I’m always on the lookout for solid wood furniture that can easily be re-finished. I save money and I save the landfill. That’s priceless.

Of course you can sell new items on the internet and make money too. So what you sell is up to you. Make sure you understand what goes into shipping of items in your local area. Your seller reputation is very important and nothing gets you bad ratings faster than long shipping delays or damaged goods. Also sales taxes if applicable. In other words, do your homework.

Never thought you could be a retailer? On the internet, it’s easy!

 

Income via the internet Part 1

This is the first installment in our quest for multiple streams of income. As I mentioned in my last post, we’ll explore some possibilities together. Feel free to post your comments as we help each other. Today we’re looking at the internet.

Affiliate Marketing

Do you own a website, blog or subscribe to myspace or facebook. Then you’re already in a good position to earn money via the internet. One such way is through affiliate marketing. This is the practice in which a business will reward a website owner, for example, for each visitor or customer that the he/she generates. We’re all familiar with this practice as there is hardly any popular page we visit without seeing a banner ad of some kind. So if we can generate income for a business through ads placed on our site, they will pay for the customer or lead as its sometimes called.

Seems simple enough right. So

1. Do you have the real estate? Is there space on your site to accommodate links or picture ads? Look at other sites. The ads tend to be along the sides or at the top but they really can be anywhere. You certainly don’t want your site looking cluttered either.

2. How do you become an affiliate. There are several affiliate networks that you can sign up for. This is certainly the easiest way to go as you have one account and one central place to get all ads and handle reporting. Keep in mind however that the network owners take a cut of your commission. If you prefer, you can reach out to specific sellers like your favorite brands and sign up to be an affiliate. It works in the same way.

3. How do you choose the ads. That’s entirely up to you. So as not to aggravate your existing viewers, include ads that are relevant to your site or your blog discussion. So if you’re traveling around the world and blogging then ads related to travel, example air lines or hotels, would be appropriate.

Scour the web, there is lots of information out there.

 

Multiple streams of income

This is now a new and immediate goal. Multiple streams of income is something I’ve heard about for sometime now and always thought it was a wise way to improve my financial situation.

It’s nothing new so why didn’t I implement it much sooner? Probably laziness which is not a habit of highly successful people. Also I’m not motivated by money, believe it or not. So what has changed? The volatility of the US economy forces me to consider my options and to use wisdom and my skills to ensure that I’ll be able to continuously meet my obligations and help a few people along the way. That’s important to me.

So I’m doing my research to see what’s available that’s inline with my skill set. The next few weeks I will post the various opportunities that I explore – pros and cons. If you have any ideas, please share. Stay tuned…

 

Change they believed in

With history in the making I figure I better write something about it.

I’m glad the campaigning is finally over and that the US has a new president. Its exciting! Its almost akin to other things in history I witnessed such as watching the Berlin wall being torn down. And like then, the excitement is being felt around the world. I spoke with my mom in Jamaica this morning and people there are excited. The European markets are up as the world is optimistic about the change that has taken place. Very exciting!

With the overwhelming turn-out of the electorate, which was as much a nod to Obama as it was to ‘no more Bush’, the new president has a great responsibility. And fair or not fair, expectations are very high. The mood of the country has changed also. People are again hopeful of what the future holds for this great nation.

God bless the USA!

 

Change we can believe in

I know that my title is a political campaign slogan but politics is not what I’m talking about today. It’s change on a more personal level.

I was in the store last weekend looking for a sweater. A good friend had hers stolen when they broke into her car and I had promised to replace it. I had another friend who was traveling back to Jamaica the following day and wanted to send it with her. While there, I observed a woman talking very loudly on her cell phone. There was no way to avoid her conversation as it could be heard several isles over.

Her story was that she had been laid off her job and while this was devastating, she was embracing the change as something she had been pining to do. She had wanted to leave badly but because of the uncertainty in the economy had decided to stick it out for a while longer. Well then the decision was made for her and she was now updating her resume. One positive she told her friend on the other end was that her son was excited at the prospect of having her home more and her availability to attend his sporting events. It of course reminded her what she had been missing and how her son had been feeling all along while she labored at a job she didn’t even like getting out of the house and going to.

The interesting thing was that I could totally identify with her. It’s happened to me before. Want to leave, see all the signs that you should leave but somehow convince yourself to stay a little longer. Then you get let go anyway. Oh the irony. The fact that I’m not alone and knowing that someone else has experienced the very same thing does not make it any easier to accept. To accept that you allowed yourself to be so passive and long-suffering when you should have been just the opposite.

Well its water under the bridge, I’ve learned that lesson and moved on. I try not to limit myself and get caught up in maintaining a status quo. Life is to be lived and that requires change – growth not regression. My Pastor gave a cool analogy of why a soldier in a battle has to keep moving. The Bible talks about the fiery darts of the enemy. So if we think of a soldier back in the day that had to dodge arrows he had to keep moving. If he stood still he had a much greater chance of being hit and killed.

So in life if we stay still, stagnant, apathetic, languid then we stand a greater chance of being picked off by the enemy. But if we are moving, growing, learning, increasing, passionate, fearless we’ve increased our chance for success.

 

Big Salaries

I haven’t written in a while. The dreaded writers block maybe. And it doesn’t help that all thats in the news is doom and gloom. Not inspirational at all!

I did get a kick out of the news last night though from the executive from Lehman brothers trying to explain or justify why he took home half billion dollars (thats billion with a ‘b’) over a three year period. Which includes while the company was failing.

I’m a career focused woman. I expect to be duly compensated for my experience and expertise. I want to climb the proverbial ladder. One of the benefits being an increase in salary. So I don’t hate on executives who get good salaries and enjoy some perks. If they deserve it. What happens if I stop doing my work correctly and start loosing my company money. I might have the opportunity to reverse the problem but if nothing changes I’m likely to get fired.

Now these folks are employees, just like me, right?!. One of the perks once you attain this level is that you don’t get fired. You can be asked to leave but very rarely are you fired. You got to do something worse that running a company into bankruptcy. Also at this level is a very generous severance package. So once you leave, you leave a very wealthy person. And this again is even if you run the company into bankruptcy.

What I want to know is how do I get one of these contracts?

The question asked of the Lehman brothers executive was whether he thought his compensation was ‘fair’? Hello!, life ain’t fair! Didn’t your mother teach you that? While he didn’t answer it directly he pretty much said yes. And why shouldn’t he? Those figures are obviously standard on Wall Street and nothing was keeping it in check during the times of plenty. So it all comes to light during times of lack.

Clearly there needs to be more oversight into these publicly traded companies to protect ‘main street’ (A term I cringe when I hear but that’s for another discussion). And oversight to make sure the bailout doesn’t fund executive severance packages. As usual ‘main street’ will be kept in the dark about all that and left to trust the government to do its job.

 

Corporate Poli-tricks

What do you do when you find out that your manager, the person you report to directly, has been plotting and planning your demise?

People lie. Anyone who watches the TV series house knows that this is one of the fundamental believes Dr House employs to solve the mystery. Why one would lie to a doctor when he is trying to save your life is insane but the truth remains – people lie. And in the corporate setting this is no different. There are many reasons why people choose to lie. They want to cover up a mistake or to build a false perception so they can impress others on their way up the ladder or maybe they just want to be liked or they embellish actual accomplishments to make themselves look better or make another look worse. There probably are as many reason as there are people who lie.

But you rarely see the plotting and planning on the level I’ve recently experienced. And with a primary that played the wolf in sheep’s clothing to academy award proportions. What his ultimate goal was I’ll never know. And I don’t think I want to know all the lies he told. There’s a lot to be said for consistently displaying strong work ethic as it was my past reputation that made it difficult for him sully my present. But he tried and even seemed to have made some inroads as my work started to be questioned in ways it hadn’t before. His plan ultimately failed as I think he was being too ambitious in trying to throw multiple persons under the bus at one time.

But I’ve learned much through this experience.

 

Remembering

Today the US remembers the day hijackers slammed airplanes into the World Trade Center. Has it been seven years already? I can still remember that day, where I was and what I was doing. I was working in Denver, CO at the time and watching the news as I got ready to go to work. I watched in utter amazement as an airplane flew into a building. The first thing I thought of was those people on the airplane. Knowing that you’re going to die, the terror that must have gripped them. I cried.

But even with all that emotion the event still wasn’t real to me. It was on TV and looked like countless other explosions I had seen in movies. People didn’t really die in movies but the stories told by them could sometimes bring tears to your eyes too. And like watching a movie, the emotion passed as quickly. I continued to get ready for work and went about my daily tasks as usual. The reality of it hit me later, much later. I had one friend who was worried that morning when he couldn’t get a hold of his dad who worked in the Pentagon (he eventually did). I met people who had family in New York that they were worried about and I met people who suffered loss. Knowing actual people made it real. Traveling for work and meeting people who were fearful to fly and dealing with the stress and panic that was ripe in those first few weeks after the incident made it real.

Years from now when no one who experienced it is around, 9/11 will only be a chapter in a history book. Young students will debate whether there was anything we could have done to prevent it. Whether the conspiracy theories were true or not and what lessons were learned from it. They’ll be forced to study what changes took place in government, national security and what wars stemmed from that day. They’ll watch footage of the incident and try to imagine what it must have been like. It would be idealistic to think that the country will never be attacked with this magnitude again but the next chapters in that history book will tell.

 

The Hypocrisy that is Politics

Politics! A topic I try to stay away from but who can ignore it!

Its not surprising to me that the same folks who just a few months ago were excited at the prospect of a woman president of the USA are now the same ones viciously opposing the choice of Palin as McCain’s running mate. They spare no punches as they attack this civil servant on every front. Nothing is off limits. Where is their belief in pro-choice as they attack her teenage daughter for choosing to have her baby. Since when do we blame the mother for a daughter’s sexual indiscretion. Are these liberals or conservatives attacking. I believe it is the liberals, what a twist. What a double standard. What hypocrisy!

Well I’m happy that there is a woman on the republican ticket and I’m happy that there is a black man on the democrat ticket. These coming elections were being touted as being historic and historic they will be. This is changing the landscape and breaking the glass ceiling for many who felt limited in what they could achieve. This is good for the country people.

Folks need to stop being naive. Politicians will say what they need to say to win. All of them. Yes some will be better qualified, some will be more eloquent, some will have more experience and some even want to serve. But all want to win. Examine more than how they sound and how they look, examine what they say and the substance of it. Require more from your politicians. Challenge them and their campaign strategies. Force them to stop thinking of us in demographic groups. Force them to give us substance. Thats the only way there will be change. When the people require the change. Change and hope is not in one man (not anymore) or one woman but comes from the collective strength of the people of this country. So if you can, vote!

November is just around the corner. Exciting times ahead with mudslinging from the pundits, criticisms from the candidates and jokes from the night time comedians. Should be fun…

 

Degrees to Death

Isn’t it strange how we form these personal connections to people we don’t even know. We think we know them but we really only know of them. You don’t get to know someone until you have a relationship with them. I know of Brad Pitt but I don’t know him. The same way I know of Bernie Mac but I don’t know him. Yet because of their public persona and in some cases their tv persona we form this unnatural connection to them.

I’m saddened when I hear someone has died. And quite naturally the feelings are deeper the closer the person is to you. And even if the person is not close but close to someone you’re close to, the emotions vary there too. Lets call it sadness based on degrees of separation to the one who died. Yet for a public figure like Bernie Mac or Heath Ledger or any of the actors we grow up on, the sadness is deep. It’s as if we knew them. We feel as if we’ve lost someone close to us. Bernie Mac and I have exponential degrees of separation so why the deep sadness?

Bernie Mac

I read a few things on Bernie Mac today that I didn’t know about. I’m not a reality tv junkie, so its not strange for me not to have known that he was married and had a daughter. The fact that I now know a little more did not change the level of sadness. Which shows me that my only link is to Bernie Mac the actor that made me laugh. So is it a selfish sadness that prevails, one born out of the fact that he will no longer be around to entertain me. I wonder.