I WILL make it!

Nothing happening

2006-06-12T01:13:00.000-04:00

Here's why:

I fell down the stairs. When that pain was 75% gone, I developped a severe toothache that took almost 3 weeks to go away. During the toothache, we discovered that my sharpei (the dog that I wanted since I was 4) has a serious liver disease/defect. This has cost over $700 to get a "probable" diagnosis, which will only be definite with more money and if it's definite, it means an expensive surgery. Had 3 teeth pulled (toothache) and 1 filled all in the space of 3 hours on Tuesday - my choice, but still hurts today, Sunday. Oh, and Eric has had a particularily nasty cold for the last 3 weeks - can you guess where this is going? Right now I have 2 blocked ears, one is particularly painful, my throat feels like it's the diameter of a quarter and I know the only reason I'm not sneezing and coughing up a fucking lung is the Nyquil which isn't helping me sleep.

So those of you that have been wondering where I am, sorry, but I REALLY haven't been in a chatty mood. Especially after we were presented with the vet bill, as we've decided I either need to pick up a ton of side work online or go get an offline job. So forgive me please if I sound bitchy right now, or if I don't post for another 3 weeks. I've done absolutely NO work pretty much since I fell because the second I start feeling somewhat ok physically, something else keeps popping up. Can someone tell me exactly why it is that if bad things happen in threes, why I'm on number 4, at least???

As for last month's total, I'm so not in the mood to go add it up right now, but it was in the vicinity of $200-300. Nothing spectacular, quite dismal actually, which is also not inspiring me to work real hard. I also haven't been really keeping up with everyone's emails and blogs or rather, I tend to be several days late, when commenting is moot. Sorry about that as well.

Ok, wow, bitch and pity fest over. Sorry about that, but I so just needed to vent. I hope everyone else's life is going a bit better right now. I know I shouldn't bitch - I'm not dying, no one around me has died (knock on wood!) but I'm just in a major funk of late. The crappy weather every weekend (the last month has brought 90% rain every fucking weekend) sure isn't helping either. Who's ever heard of daily HIGH in JUNE of 56F/13C??? Anyhoo, hopefully my next post will bring good tidings of health, happiness and good weather!

Tara :)

Howdy

2006-05-16T15:20:00.000-04:00

I'm sure everyone is wondering where I've been... Under strict orders from the hubby, I was recouperating from my fall. The strict orders came when I thought I was well enough to get some work (computer and offline work) done and set myself back a week. Holding a baby (friend's first grandchild) for an hour probably didn't help either, but what a cutie! So I've barely been at my computer for the last couple of weeks. Thank you to everyone who wished me well, I'm almost there. Still have some twinges when I actually attempt to do to much (like laundry) but I have to get things done as I'm moving down to the trailer this weekend. We brought down a bunch of stuff last weekend, but there are odds and ends that still need to be dealt with.

I still haven't done any work really since the fall. A couple of link fixes that needed to be done, but that's about it. I'm probably not going to get much done this week either, but next week with no distractions, it's back to work I go.. Hopefully I'll be almost 100% because while my desk chair is very comfy when I'm healthy, it's been VERY uncomfortable since I fell. If worse comes to worse I'll work from the lazyboy ;)

So that's been my exciting life in a nutshell. Oh, and unless I forgot something, my income for April was just slightly over $150. Depressing, but this month is going quite a bit better, and I'm on track to get an Adsense check in June for April/May, since I didn't make enough in April. Here's to everyone having a better May!

Tara :)

Since I last posted

2006-05-02T11:40:00.000-04:00

Well, got quite a bit done on Monday and Tuesday last week. Wednesday was a slacker day, but I was determined Thursday to get a bunch more done. That didn't happen though. What DID happen was on my way to my computer (after stopping for my 1st coffee of the day) I slipped a la cartoon (banana peel style, legs in the air, etc) on my basement stairs. Bounced a couple times and landed with my upper back and tail bone on the edge of 2 steps. Wind completely knocked out of me. Took about 2 full minutes to be able to breathe again and then the pain kicked in... Suffice to say that for about 5 days, breathing/talking/walking/sitting/moving/lying down/lifting/bending and all round being alive was no fun. To put it mildly. However, I'm now on a full night's sleep (couldn't sleep for very long from the pain for the first few days) so I'm on the mend. And that means (hopefully) I'll be able to get some work done again! Word to the wise - DON'T fall down the stairs! If you do, take 4 Excedrin Migraine pills, they helped alot. Just don't expect to sleep as they contain 65mg of caffeine each ;)

So, on the agenda this week (besides packing up for the trailer) is go through my links for the 2 pet sites as they are finally seeing a small trickle of SE traffic. Get some link exchanges done for them, but only quality ones. Write more for the new site, which I'm dying to get out of the way. Try not to fall down the stairs again (so far so good). Figure out how we're going to buy new trailer I want to buy. (new to us, but not brand new) And so on.. lol

I guess that's about it for now. Still a little tired and out of it, so while I'm sure there's more to tell, can't think of it right now. Have a great week!

Tara :)

Oops

2006-04-25T00:27:00.000-04:00

I really thought I'd blogged last week. The fact that I didn't in the end doesn't surprise me though, I've been totally goofing off for a while now. I've started to correct that now though tonight. I'm researching merchants (in order to research/write articles), I've written a few articles and despite the fact that I got up from my nap at 2 pm (I was up before 8, wayyyy to early for home) I'm still wide awake, so I think I may have a few more articles in me tonight. I still have between 20-30 product pages to write for the new mega site though (and several are already written, how scary is that?!), not to mention more keyword research, setting up email collection, figure out the scope of my newsletters and much, much more. So while I was hoping with a bunch of hard work I might have this site up soon, the reality is probably more likely within a couple of months.

So tell me, is anyone else having C R A P P Y sales and Adsense this month? I don't think I'll be seeing an Adsense payment next month, it's so bad. I've had 3 sales.. admittedly they've been pretty decent commissions, all 3 between $10-20, but still. Thank goodness I put some cash aside before quitting, I'll be needing it next month!

That's about it, but in case you were considering buying Keywords Results Analyzer, Dr. Andy mentioned that the new version is going to be released this week hopefully, which in turn means the price will go up from $67 to $97. I still haven't had an opportunity to play around with the new version yet, but everyone who has is raving.

Oh, and a quick little bit of link love for my buddy Chrissie who had a great time at and talks about Pubcon, the Webmaster World conference. I'm thinking from the sounds of it I'm going to have to go to the next one, especially since it's in Vegas, where I'm dying to go back to :)

That's all she wrote folks!

Tara :)

Busy busy bee

2006-04-12T00:45:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the delay in posting, but to be honest, I spent most of last week goofing off, plus I wanted that last post to be good and spidered for all potential JM customers to see in the SERPs.

So here's what I've done since yesterday, and most of this was today even:

bought an Adsense site... with losing income from my 2 pet sites (see below for more on that!) I decided to see if this will work.
bought hosting and transfered DNS to new host. got them to give me 3 months free even though I signed up without the special.
added my Adsense code to said site, managed to screw it up, tried to fix it, emailed the seller to help me.. lol now fixed.
added StatCounter code to new site to track traffic
wrote/tweaked 4 pages for the new site.. 1 product page and then the About us, Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. They are ready to publish now, though the rest of the site isn't.
bought the domain PawTails to replace a1-dog-info.com. bought it for 10 years - and look Ma, no dashes!
bought the domain Gone To The Bridge to replace pet-memorials-info.com, also bought for 10 years. (if you don't get the domain, google "rainbow bridge")
fixed templates (I LOVE "find and replace" in Front Page!) to reflect new domains and published them. hopefully I'll start seeing some traffic (and money) soon!
finally wrote out all the pages that need to be written and tasks that need to be accomplished before or right after the new site goes live.
updated my goals page to reflect the new sites and some new goals.
added up my income from last month... ok, that was last week, but here it is anyway... $425.
watched the remake of The Ten Commandments... YUCK!
blogged my boring life ;)

I think I may FINALLY be back into the working from home mindset. It bloody took long enough! I will say this though, talking to people like Andrea and Colin and Brad sure does help. Whether it's just to kvetch about you know who or to bounce business ideas off each other, talking to peers is essential.

As for this month's financials... well... let's just say that I REALLY hope the 3 "new" sites take off VERY quickly otherwise I don't think I'll get an Adsense deposit this month. Pretty much only 1 sale ($18 commission though, no complaints!) across my sites. But, if not this month, next month will be great, I have a feeling :) Of course, don't you know while I was looking through Google for inspiration for the new domain, I found my pet memorials site (with emax's info) on the 2nd page for my main keyword.. argh.. life sometimes! lol

Anyhooooo... that's all she wrote for tonight folks. Have a good hump day!

Tara :)

The last straw

2006-04-03T20:29:00.000-04:00

If you are a James Martell follower, you probably already know where this entry is going. I had heard a little while ago through the grapevine there was going to be an update of the Affiliate Marketing Handbook coming out soon, and it has arrived. I find the launch date of this update quite ironic (you'll see why in a second) - April 1st. When I saw how to get the update, I thought it might be an April Fool's joke, and then I realised it was April 2nd, so it couldn't be a joke. To "reward" (and I use this term very loosely) his loyal students, there's a tiered price structure to get the updated version of the book. If you had the misfortune to buy it over a year ago, you get a $60 "deep" discount from the original price of the book, $167 (overpriced to begin with) for the "cheap" price of $97.

A quote from his website:

"The Third Edition contains 21 "revisited" points, 7 "additional" points, and 13 new points Â in other words, the full training from 2002, the additional information added in early 2005, and all the UPDATES from January 2005 to March 2006 have been fully integrated into a logically flowing document."

Well, I doubt that it's a "logically flowing document" since the last update was anything but... you had to jump all over the place to see the updates. But maybe it is, I wouldn't know - because I sure as SHIT won't be paying $97 for outdated, useless information that the "update" no doubt contains. This of course is just my uneducated opinion, which it will remain unless the update becomes free or someone sends me a copy. And once I catch up on the Buzzes I haven't had time for (which I'm hearing HORRIBLE things about) I'll probably end up dumping that too. Because I am DONE with James Martell. I'm thoroughly disgusted with this update and it's (as the title says) last straw for me. I have removed the link in the sidebar to his book and will no longer promote him in any way, shape or form. And I'm not alone. 2 people have told me the same thing today.

So congratulations to whomever decided on this wonderful update strategy. I think you have succeeded in alienating a good chunk of your students, even those that weren't wavering already. And thank you for making it easier for me to completely write off James Martell. I was almost there, but this seals the deal. And a word to the wise - don't pay $167 for an infoproduct that doesn't promise free updates for life. For that matter, don't buy any infoproduct in the affiliate marketing industry for ANY price that doesn't include free updates for life. Both Colin's and Dr. Andy's products I mentioned the other day DO include free updates. Anyway, I've learned my very expensive lesson, I hope all JM followers have now too.

Tara :)

Got confirmation

2006-03-31T00:49:00.000-05:00

Quick note - Colin just let me know the price will be going up by Saturday, so it's your last chance to save $27 on The VEO Report.

That's it, off to bed and then off to the trailer tomorrow, but hopefully I should be online. Have a great weekend!

Tara :)

eComXpo

2006-03-29T15:24:00.000-05:00

Hey all, quick reminder that eComXpo is coming up next week, the 4th-6th (Tuesday to Thursday) and it's free for everyone to attend! I made some valuable contacts at the last one, and learned so many new things, I couldn't wait for this one. I was bummed that I might have to work through it (thankfully not a problem now!) but even if I'd had to (or you do) you can replay the presentations anytime during the 3 days.

I get no money from this, I just thought everyone would like to know about it. It's a pretty good substitute to an offline conference, so go check it out!

Tara :)

It's official!

2006-03-29T03:36:00.000-05:00

I am jobless!! Woooooooooo hoooooooooooooooooooooooo! Funny thing is, while I was off "sick" Monday, the other 4 who started with me got offered permanency. I'm happy for them since that's what they want, but as far as I'm concerned, good riddance to bad rubbish. I basically quit via voice mail. Of course, as usual, the supervisor wasn't there, so she called me back, cleared up a few details and it was over. In less than 10 minutes. Kind of anti-climactic. But it's done. No official word on Eric's new job yet, but we know the contract is being drawn up, so hopefully this week.

So, I've caught up on laundry finally (only took a week!) and mostly packed for the weekend. Going to have the phone and internet turned on tomorrow (dialup for a few weeks - have to go in to fill out paperwork to pay thru the nose for high speed) and then start making lists to get myself caught up. Because right now, I don't really know where to start. So much to do with old and upcoming sites that it's a little overwhelming. And in my time off I've done a lot of ebook reading too, so that's all swirling in my head. But now, I've got all the time in the world. And I can't wait to get back into the WAH groove.

Don't forget Colin's book will be going up soon, possibly as soon as this weekend, and there won't be much if any warning, so if you haven't got The VEO Report yet at $39.95, you should get it before it goes back to $67. It's still worth it at $67, but hey, we're all trying to save money :)

I guess that's it for now, but with more work going on there will be more blogging going on :)

Tara :)

Prices going up soon...

2006-03-27T01:32:00.000-05:00

I've heard about 2 products who's prices will be going up shortly. One is Colin's book (in the next few days) and Dr. Andy's Keywords Results Analyzersince he's releasing version 2 very shortly. I haven't spoken much about KRA but I use it all the time - it's so handy for sorting through the massive keyword lists I generate. Seriously, I end up often with 2K-5K keywords most of the time. It's $67 right now, but once you buy you get free updates for life. So if you've been thinking about picking up KRA, you'll want to do it very soon.

Not much to talk about in the last 2 weeks. We're still waiting on news about Eric's job (hopefully tomorrow) and in the meantime I've decided I'm quitting as soon as we hear he got the salary he asked for. This allows me to become a housewife, once I add my income from my sites. Other than that, I've been cleaning up the house a bit ('rents plan on visiting Easter weekend to drop off their old dryer) and getting ready to go camping. It's a smidge early (season only starts May 1st technically) but they're predicting beautiful weather for next weekend, so if it's stays the same forecast, I'M GOING CAMPING!!!! lol Can you tell I'm excited? No real work being done lately, just a few articles being written/rewritten. I'm staying home from work tomorrow though (and hopefully from now on!) so that should change shortly.

That's about it. I lead a very boring life ;) Have a great, prosperous week!

Tara :)

Latest Revenews article from Colin

2006-03-12T01:17:00.000-05:00

(This is going to be somewhat of an I heart Colin post, so if you're not into the Colin love like myself, too bad for you and just skip this one ;) )

Ok, so I've refrained from posting about Colin anywhere for a little while now. Mainly because I felt like I would be talking to a wall on the forums, but I also didn't want to burn you guys out on him either. However, with the latest (great!) VEO newsletter, the latest Allan Gardyne newsletter and a few posts in Allan's forum, (http://associateprograms.com/discus/ftopic15748-45.html, http://associateprograms.com/discus/ftopic16580.html) not to mention Colin's latest Revenews post, I felt it was time.

First and foremost, to the people who made the really dumb comment (obviously directed towards me and others who support Colin) about whether or not "i--love--colin.com" was available - you'll be happy to know it is. But you know what? I'm not about to register it. I do love Colin - he's a great guy and someone I'm happy to call a friend. I also think what he has to say about SEO and building sites and so on is on the ball - whether or not you agree is your opinion. And if you want to keep blindly following James Martell's system which MANY angry customers will tell you DOES NOT WORK ANYMORE, feel free to go register I-love-James-martell.com - that's available too. But hell, Colin will tell you that when we talk, I'm as honest with him about ideas he bounces off of me as he is with me.

And while it may SEEM like I have the same blinders on as when I first started in this business (which caused me to be a staunch follower of Martell until I learned I wasn't doing everything wrong, which is why I thought my sites weren't doing well) I most certainly don't. The VEO Report isn't perfect, nor does it offer all the answers. No one product does - in affiliate marketing or anything else in life. But I think it does address many issues that JM followers have been wondering about, and if you speak to former followers of Martell who've read the VEO Report, they'll tell you their eyes are wide open now and they thought the book was worth every penny. And most did not buy it through my affiliate link, which as I've said, I don't really care. I'd rather you bought it through someone else's link or none at all rather than not buying it - period. Because I think it has great info that we can all use. But hey, it's just my opinion, that I'm entitled to, just like you're entitled to yours.

Ok, off that soapbox for now. As I said in an earlier post, I would let you know about the work situation, which, believe it or not, has deteriorated further. As it turned out, they didn't force anyone on to the early shift or the late shift... the early one was done away with and the late one was split between 5 of us, that is until a coworker fell on the sword and took it full time - for 3 days until they decided it wasn't working. After he had just purchased a public transit pass for $63. And so, if the undecideness isn't bad enough, here's the latest in the saga of my job. I called our "helpline" (a senior coworker) to take a supervisor call. I had been given information when I first started that we weren't to refuse them, and she was polite and friendly with me until I questioned her refusing to take the call, since it wasn't a "legitimate" supervisor call. Then she turned into a real bitch. Turns out she was allowed to refuse it. Funny thing was - she was fine until I questioned her - but I got a verbal warning 2 days later because at the beginning of the call, I said the reason the client wanted a sup was because he wanted to know "why the hell" something hadn't been done. I was quoting him, and this person KNEW that. But though I was polite and she was a fucking bitch (very rude in words and tone of voice) I "set the tone" by saying "why the hell" - WTF??? Oh, and it gets worse.

So fine, after a little sit down about the fact that we ARE supposed to refuse sup calls when it's not for a good reason (fine, not what I had been told, but fine) I get another one 2 days later. I go see my team leader about the situation before it escalates, but I'm essentially told, go tell him the answer, BE FIRM, no sup call over this situation. So it escalates, he asks for a sup and I say no. Don't I get in MORE shit - for refusing to pass him on - because it involved a lot of money and because the guy asks for higher (he wanted a general manager) I should have somehow GUESSED that in this case, yes, it was to be transferred to a supervisor. (Who had JUST FUCKING TOLD ME to refuse it - and I had told her the money involved!!) But see, in this case, it was my fault for saying, I'm sorry, I can't transfer you to a supervisor who's just going to tell you the same thing. Which is what I was told to say. So people, unless you are psychic, don't go work for this company. They have offices all over the world. If you're about to apply for a company that deals with stocks and has computer in the name, email me first, I'll tell you if you should stay away or not. Because this is typical of the whole company.

Another little winner situation? They make everyone who starts later than 9 am (about 6 of us, some starting as late as noon) come in for 9:30 or 10:00 for a "town hall" meeting with the president. Big important meeting, should last for a half hour, can't miss it. (Of course, it was ok for our team leader to miss it since she started at noon, but I digress..) Said meeting which I came in a half hour early for lasted 5 MINUTES, if that. Just to tell us we bought another company, which happens more often than I change my underwear, I swear. So some people came in 2 HOURS early (not to mention screwed appointments they had made, since this was "soooooo important") for a 5 minute, useless meeting. Starting to get the picture here? Oh, and more changes coming this week, including removing our helpline (sorely needed, much info lacking on our intranet) and putting in a booth - manned from 10-3. Great. So if it wasn't bad enough that anyone who called after 5 with an usual problem had to be told to call back in the morning, now everyone outside of 10-3 will. Did I mention the call centre is open from 8:30-8? So 5 hours of 11.5 will be covered if you need help - which is multiple times per day, unless you've been there for more than 5 years. ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Ok, let's see, other than all that crap, there is a teeny bit of good news. I've caught up on some ebook reading while it's been quiet at work (not often these days) and I'm looking forward to not working to play with PPC a bit. It's still a scary concept, but not as bad as I thought. Also got a few articles written/rewritten that still have to be edited. And on the VERY good news front, Eric is interviewing on Tuesday for a job that will pay enough for me to quit my job if he gets it. His chances are pretty good - his former coworker works there and really wants Eric, plus Eric already interviewed there but turned down a different job that involved traveling 60% of the time. Really interesting place, great pay, 3 weeks vaca and stock options, which I'm now intimately familiar with and know that this is a GREAT thing ;) So, here's hoping they're just interviewing (since it's a different boss this time) for the sake of looking good and that I know by the end of next week, or better yet, by the end of the interview on Tuesday. Because I can't tell you how much I want to just grab my stuff, extend my middle finger at management and leave. It's nice to have dreams... lol If that job doesn't happen, "only" 24 days left to work. Seems like 24 years sometimes...

And on that note, hopefully your weekend is going well and you're making lotsa lotsa moolah. I've been having a good sales month so far despite losing 2 sites, but Adsense is down, of course. Such is life... one site will be replaced as soon as I have a bit of time and can decide on a domain. Anyway, that's all folks, ttys!

Tara :)

What a week, or if you're using Emax hosting - DUMP THEM NOW!!

2006-03-05T13:03:00.000-05:00

Ok, I was planning on posting my February revenue when I was done with dinner on Thursday night. No sooner did I pick up a huge knife and make the first cut into some veggies for salad, my phone rings. It's Emax. Telling me they've cancelled my account. Not to mention taken control of the 2 domains I registered for them. (Side note - I read recently on someone's blog (I can't remember whose, sorry!) to never have both domains and hosting with the same company. Believe me now when I say this is true!!) The reason? A charge back on our credit card. A little back story - about mid February, Eric said to me that there was a double charge on his credit card from Emax. So while I was looking into it, he called his credit card company and asked (ASKED!) what to do if we can't work it out. They said they'd send us some paperwork to file a charge back. (Meanwhile on March 5th we STILL don't have this paperwork.) Apparently they went and filed this charge back.

Now, it was legitimate, Emax charged me for registering a domain that was never transferred to them (we tried twice) and with the hours I work it's virtually impossible to reach them. Having had issues before and knowing their ticket system is just for technical issues I wanted to CALL them. I should mention this charge was applied in January and yes, they did credit me back, miraculously (they pointed out the date while on the phone) MARCH 2ND - THURSDAY - the email was received but not read since, HEY, I have a job to go to, I deal with email at night after work. Either way, it was too late since the chargeback had already been filed unbeknownst to us.

So after him repeating to me several times the consequences of a chargeback ($35 fee plus higher merchant fees for life) and me repeating I was unaware it had gone through and that since he had already cancelled my account I certainly wasn't going to pay the $35 (he said that I didn't have to!) our conversation degenerated into a screaming match since he would listen to me. He just kept repeating the fees without proposing any kind of solution (I honestly don't understand the point of the repeating, it was really weird) I finally got sick of trying to talk over him and told him finally to fuck off and hung up. (I was shaking at this point and we were going nowhere. The account was cancelled and he wasn't going to reactivate it.) He THEN called right back and told me his lawyer would contact me for the $35 and hung up on me.

So I rushed around like mad trying to find a new host. This time, I didn't care if I was paying more for it but I was getting 24/7 VOICE (phone) support included. When I have a problem, especially with technical stuff I don't fully understand I want to TALK to someone about it. Is that too much to ask? (It is with Emax - now even if you call their tech support they have a message that says fill out a ticket first... argh) So I finally decided on Host Gator.

So far I'm very happy with them. They have CPanel (which was another requirement since I'm used it now), shopping cart stuff (not well versed but I will be!), Fantastico (I wanted for a few apps), .htaccess access (finally starting to learn how to use it and I could never get it to work on Emax since they messed with my stuff so often), unlimited domains (you'd think I'd learn, but I like to manage everything, or almost everything in one place) , autoresponders and tons more. I probably could have gotten away with the "Baby" package, but since I plan on growing my next site to be huge and possibly have a shopping cart and database on it, I wanted ALL features available, so I went with the "Swamp" package at $14.95/month. I think I'd rather pay more for great service, and I've read good things about them from other people.

So all that said, learn your lesson from me. Dump Emax NOW. I sugarcoated a lot of the bullshit I went through with them (problems EVERY SINGLE TIME I added a new domain, to which their automatic response was "it's a FrontPage issue" unless I bugged them to actually LOOK. FYI - it was not ONCE a Front Page issue!) for the sake of playing nice. I refuse to play nice anymore. And I almost hope their lawyer contacts me... a) because what a WASTE of money, for $35! and b) my uncle is a lawyer.. I'll get free advice and perhaps file a counter claim for lost income. Since they've now stolen 2 domains I'm daily losing money on one of them. They can keep the dog domain though, I have barely paid for hosting, let alone the domain, that was a dud site from the get go.. lol (Not to mention I'm in Canada and they are in the U.S.) And btw - even if they did credit the domain registration charge, I'm still out for a month's hosting that they DID charge and I'm not getting.

And to be very honest, yes I'm PISSED about the whole thing, but if I'm philosophical about it, I have just been waiting to be out of a job to switch hosting companies anyway, since it wasn't something I really wanted to do after work, know what I mean? So anyway, if you sent an email between Thursday afternoon and Saturday afternoon to support AT a1-travel-accessories DOT com, please resend it because I didn't get it.

Ok, on to income.. well, it was a crappy month. I made a little more than last month I think, but that was from promoting 1 specific product which netted me over $120 in comissions. If it hadn't been for that I would have been very poor indeed. So here's the total: $380 (approx, as usual), which also includes doing some VA (virtual assistant) work for someone. Better than I had hoped for at the beginning of the month when I saw the awful totals, but obviously less than I would've liked. I'll just have to get working on the new site. Though to be quite honest, I've come to the conclusion if I get work done during the week, awesome, but if not I'm done with feeling guilty about it. My job is very draining due to the repetitiveness of it and the stress with dealing with a bunch of incompetent morons in management. In case this never occured to anyone else, NEVER take a job where your department has been in existence 3 years. Or maybe it's only at my company... but wow, they can't make a decision that sticks longer than a month to save their freaking lives! Frustrating to say the least!!

And at this point, I've no doubt bored you to death, so I will stop, wish everyone a GREAT week (can't be as bad as mine has been! lol) and may March be the new month to beat!!

Tara :)

I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since I blogged...

2006-02-27T00:07:00.000-05:00

Sorry about that, but honestly, I haven't had much to say, and I still don't, really... The biggest news is how I'm still struggling to make myself not quit my job, and it still may happen this week. They're forcing 2 people to change to shifts they don't want and we won't know until tomorrow (hopefully) who gets them. If I get the early one or the late one full time I'm outta there. They are both really bad for me for various reasons (some personal, some job related) and I have a bad feeling of either of them, I'll get the late one. It was mentioned that everyone doing one day a week was a possibility, but if you're a long time reader, you'll remember that I'm Queen of Murphy's kingdom, so luck is not on my side. I'll let y'all know.

In other news, I've been told to mention if you have questions about Colin's books' or if you'd like to bitch about the fact that a certain someone's system really doesn't work anymore, feel free to head over to Colin's blog and vent your little heart out. Also, Colin has dropped the price of the VEO Report by almost half - so if you've been thinking about it, now's a great time to check it out. I don't know how long the price will be so low. Also, I heard from a friend that The Positive Mind (which is free when you buy The VEO Report) that right after reading it they quit smoking cold turkey and have maintained it now for 2 weeks. If you've read either, I'd LOVE to know your thoughts!

Out of curiousity, how is everyone's income doing this month? I hope it's not as bad as mine! All of this month won't equal just my Adsense from last month. I can only pray that March is better than February! And not just for my income, but my initiative for working on my sites. I've done little bits and pieces here and there, but nothing much. Fingers crossed!

And on that note, have a great week everyone!

Tara :)

More to come this weekend, but...

2006-02-11T19:24:00.000-05:00

In the meantime, check out this great article in Revenews by Colin :)

Tara :)

Quickie

2006-02-09T21:53:00.000-05:00

Lynn Terry from Selfstarterweeklytips.com has a great deal posted on her blog, http://clicknewz.blogspot.com/ She's let everyone know about a great price reduction for Alice Seba's (the self-proclaimed Internet Marketing Sweetie) products. More than half off. So go take a look. I picked up one of the courses and so far (listening to the first audio right now) I'm enjoying what she has to say. If you already have her stuff or pickk it up, let me know what you think!

Tara :)

Back to work... somewhat

2006-02-05T12:56:00.000-05:00

I think I've discovered the trick to getting my fire back for my business. It was sorely lacking for a long time, but it seems that when this happens, the cure is simply to talk to a bunch of my AM buddies until the early morning hours. I got quite a bit (relatively) done yesterday. I've decided to scrap the idea of the 2 sites that I've been working on and combine them into 1 big one which will also have several other topics. While I know this goes against everything Martell is saying, I've come to the decision that I won't be following his methods anymore. I still think his system might be valid for someone just starting out who has no website creation/SEO knowledge, but once you move beyond that point, you just don't need him anymore. And there's an interesting thread on that topic that Martell himself answered on Allan Gardyne's forum, here's the link: http://associateprograms.com/discus/ftopic15748.html. I still stand by what I say in there - go pick up Colin's book and read it, learn it and apply it. You won't regret it! (If nothing else, sign up for his free newsletter, you'll get alot of info through that, too!)

Let's see, what else did I get done... Scouted domains for the new mega-site, non-dashed of course. Thought about all the categories that could be added. For example, let's say my original site was about patio furniture (it wasn't) so I broke it down in to tables, chairs, fireplaces, umbrellas, etc. The other site would've been cute knicknacks, plates, glasses, plants, etc. Well now, I'm going something more like, patio furniture, accessories, plants, fireplaces, tiki bars, outdoor equipment, pools, etc. I think that's a fairly good analogy, since I'm not ready to reveal the topic yet :) I'm excited about it. I've pretty much decided on a domain, it's quite catchy, and while I KNOW this will be alot of work, I'm hoping to divide it somewhat between PLR/authors/me and eventually grow it into an authority site. For now all my new sites will be like this. My existing ones will stay as is (maybe to grow out, maybe not) and I'll be honest and admit if I find a hot niche like Pet Memorials I may do a mini-site, but I agree with Colin that the mega authority site seems to be the new way to go.

I also tweaked a bit of the travel accessories home page and completely restructured the article directory. When I created the directory it was on the 2002 book advice, i.e. no more than 30 links per page, so I had it spread over 5 pages. How is that useful to the visitor? Plus they were all mixed in together with no way to easily find the topic you were looking for. This has all been changed now, if you want to see what I did, see travel articles. It really didn't take long, but what a difference! It all goes back to design and write for your visitor, NOT the search engines. We've all heard it before, but how many of us really listen to that statement? I wasn't REALLY... maybe a little, but the scale was definitely tipping in favor of the SE's. And look at where it's gotten me? I don't give a crap about the "Big Daddy" Google update because Google hates my sites anyway... and I think that's a sorry attitude. Because I know many of us are struggling to get Google to notice us, and just think about what kind of revenue we're losing every day because if we're lucky, we're on page 10 - if we're not, we're on page 100 or just don't seem to exist. If we do things right though, there doesn't seem to be a sandbox or getting "Google Whacked." There ARE other ways of doing what we do, we just have to be open to them. Which goes back to buying Colin's book.

If you're thinking about it at all, please bite the bullet and buy it. I'd gladly give to you all for free if I could, but even if you don't want to buy it through my affiliate link, that's fine, http://www.veoreport.com - I just think it will help all of us who I know have been struggling, because we've all discussed it at one time or another. It will be $67 well spent. Besides which, I'll be probably talking about it more as I'm building my sites and I'd like you all to be in the loop of what I'm saying ;)

Anyway, I guess the long "I heart Colin" post (as I'm sure that's how it feels to many of you) should end now, plus I can't think of anything else to say right now. Other than I'm slowly discovering what they say about February being the slowest month is true. I'm getting decent traffic (for my sites, nothing like in the hundreds per day) but no one's buying, and very few are clicking on Adsense even. I haven't seen CTR this low in a looooooooooooooooong time. Oh well, thankfully there's only 28 days this month! lol

Have a great week everyone!

Tara :)

Quick note

2006-02-01T22:25:00.000-05:00

Here's January's money: $392.27. Not as good as December, duh, but not horrible. Not looking good so far this month, the earnings are way down the last few days. Oh well, just means I gotta get the next sites out asap :)

Tara :)

Finally...

2006-01-31T21:39:00.000-05:00

It's only taken me about a month to write, edit and post these articles. I have been the epitome of laziness of late - even worse than usual. But, they are done, with hopefully more to come. While these articles don't directly relate to my affiliate products on the travel site, I consider them complimentary articles that I hope the visitors will enjoy. And I HAVE been thinking (thank you Colin) about making this site more about travel in general than just travel accessories, so maybe the travel insurance article will come in handy one day.

Here they are, exciting as usual:

5 Best Camping Destinations in the U.S.
5 Best U.S. Honeymoon Destinations
5 Worst Vacation Destinations
Tips for Parents to Avoid Hearing The Dreaded "Are We There Yet?"
Tips and Tricks for Your First International Trip!
Tips for A Stress Free Vacation
Do You REALLY Need Travel Insurance?

I'd like to say thanks for the lovely comments I got on my last post. While I have to say thank you Jen, I cheated - that pic is pretty old. I don't have any decent, clear pics of me in the last 5 years :) I'm probably 50 lbs heavier now than in that pic.. lol And thanks for the tip J.R. - I'm even having problems with adding 1 hour a day, but I'm trying. I'd love to do 2, but my brain is so tired at the end of the day from working (easy but repetitive and sometimes complicated dealing with numbers like 231.476598 all day long) that it's difficult to motivate myself sometimes... or actually, every day. 2.5 months to go!! lol Liz, it's so nice to hear that my 1 off rants are appreciated - I sometimes feel a little guilty about them :) And yes, the carrot cake is awesome, much better than the chocolate, but still nowhere near as good as the chocolate mousse ;)

I just wish there were more hours in the day and that in 2006 it was as easy to make a living at this as 2001/2. Hearing Colin talk about the early days and his income really made me stop and realise that those days are gone. Reading his VEO Report probably made that even worse... but in a good way. I mean, it's a given that we can all still make money, but the easy SEO manipulation days are GONE. This means for us that while we can probably still achieve the "guru" level of income now, it's going to take a lot more work and really keeping up with what people like Matt Cutts (aka GoogleGuy on some forums, at least that's what most people suspect and even if not, a high level Goog engineer) have to say, and truly building sites for our visitors, rather than the SE's. Easier said than done though when everything you learnt says the opposite. But, that said, everything that Colin says is true, at least based on what I've been reading in the last few months. You should definitely check out his VEO Report, it's worth every penny. It will give you a great new jumping off point - ESPECIALLY if you're a James Martell follower, and even if you're not.

On that note, back to do a little more work before bed. Happy hump day!

Tara :)

Congratulations Vicky!

2006-01-29T00:47:00.000-05:00

Did you call everyone you knew when you realized you'd made your first sale? I did! lol And hell, .58 or $58 - it doesn't matter, it's a SALE! Besides, better to start small and grow - my first commission was for $30 and I haven't hit that big again, I'm spoiled now! I was so happy to read that the other day, keep up the great work :)

Other than sharing Vicky's news with the world, not much has been happening around here. I have been really tired all week for no good reason. I went to bed early every night, even as early as 9:30 - and I only get up at 8:30 in the morning for goodness sakes! Maybe it's the job - I find just as I start to think I can handle 3 more months, something comes up that gets me thisclose to walking out the door right then and there. It seems that the company in general is run by monkeys (I'm being polite) and even immediate management are often pretty stupid. And the decision making process leaves a lot to be desired - if the issue requiring a decision hasn't gone through 12 different tries, it seems it's not valid. Honestly, there was one issue that changed 3 times IN AN HOUR. I'm all for adaptability (ok, no I'm not) but COME ON PEOPLE! My new mantra these days seems to be "less than 3 months to go, less than 3 months to go..." which would apply to the date the contract is up.

The reason I look forward to April 17th is based on what a former employee of this company told me... it seems that our "record of employment", which is submitted to Employment Insurance (otherwise known as unemployment insurance everywhere else) doesn't list WHY a contract ended, simply that it's over. Which is a qualifying factor to get it. They don't ask WHO didn't renew the contract (in this case MOI) so I will be able to hopefully get unemployment for a year - which of course means that I get to work on my sites for a year. Whooooooopeeeeeeeee! I have realized since going to Affiliate Summit that I will never be able to grow my empire to an income replacing level unless I work on it full time. This of course is just me - YMMV. I think this is reflected of late (or the last 3.5 months, whatever) in my "I just don't FEEL like it" attitude I've had towards my sites. I have TONS of fantastic ideas - I even registered a new domain this week, bad bad me - I just lack the energy and drive most days. This of course stems from the feeling that I ALREADY worked that day - at the stupid day job. Which doesn't advance my sites any, though I do try and get a little done at work when I can.

All of this to say, of course, I need it to be April 17th please. NOW. Because by then I should probably be able to start going camping again, which I desperately miss. Especially after visiting the trailer today, on the way to going shopping across the border for impossible to find in Canada items, like any and all Weight Watchers' foods. Which I have decided to attempt again, based on my best bud's recent success with it. Those of you who have either seen recent pictures or met me in Vegas know that I need it... lol Those of you who HAVEN'T seen pics or met me, don't expect any, anytime soon. I'm the least photogenic person you've ever met, even when I was at a decent weight. Ok, now I'm just babbling because it's 1 am, which is past my new bedtime these days. I do apologize to the 2 or 3 of you still reading this. Of course, if you've read the description of this blog you may have noticed the "rants about everyday stuff part."

Ok, I'm really really done boring you to death now. Hope your weekend is and will continue to be fabulous, I'm off to bed now!

Tara :)

Hopefully the last you'll hear about the Summit for now...

2006-01-18T22:09:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I left off Sunday night. Not much happened, I was exhausted and sore, so when I went to dump some stuff in my room after the networking and lay down to rest my back for a few minutes and woke up Monday morning, I wasn't too surprised.. lol I really needed the rest. You'd really be surprised at how even 3 hours can make a difference when it comes to jet lag!

Monday morning came around and I grabbed a bite to eat and went to the first session of the day, the Keynote speech by Corey Newhouse and a fabulous session with Anne Holland of Marketing Sherpa. Check out (there's still a day or 2 left) this link - it will show you the slides we saw and a lot of what Anne said at the session. Fascinating information about industry financials, email lists, untapped niches and more. Next up was Declan Dunn who was perhaps mis-scheduled for the first session since I think we were all still too tired for his boisterous but awesome presentation on how to create buzz marketing with blogs and podcasts.

Then it was lunch time with some lovely salads, cold cuts and cheeses (and some desserts which I didn't partake of) courtesy of the Summit. Much more networking ensued of course until the next session with James Martell. I was expecting to know quite a bit of what he was going to say already, but I was wrong. I knew all of what he said already. I found it a fairly dry session as well full of technical glitches. More useful for my friends who don't follow him than me.

That ended up being my last session of the day as the other ones weren't really useful to me. So after visiting with everyone at the Cafe Press booth, it was back to my room for a quick nap and getting ready for the Shareasale party at the Palms. It was held in the Celebration suite, and for those of you who are "The Real World" fans, this is where the Las Vegas version of the show was filmed. Also, if you've heard of the show "Inked" about a tattoo parlour (don't watch either of them myself) the Palms also houses this show and while we were waiting for everyone we got to see quite a bit of the show being filmed. Pretty cool stuff! The party was much more fun though. Seems there was some yummy food though I had just eaten downstairs so I skipped it, but the free booze was nice! We sat around and chatted for a while until I finally grabbed Colin's attention, which I've already told you about :) So after chatting and gambling for hours, most of us headed back to Bally's around 4-5 am (memory fuzzy about the time) and went to bed. Some of my new friends stayed behind to gamble till around 6:30 am so I heard - crazy shit!

I knew due to the late hour there was NO way I was making it to the first session - or the 2nd as it turns out - so I decided to sleep in a bit. After getting up to tell Eric about my night, I spotted Andrea online and sent her a huge thanks for bugging me to talk to Colin. At this point, she decided to call her friend Rob who's standing at a booth in the exhibit hall to tell him about me. HE then calls me and says, well, come meet me, John, Jim and Gary in my room. Knowing that he meant Gary ANTOSH (guru of web content, not just creating it, but buying it) and that John was someone from one of the forums I frequent, I RACED my way across the hotel to the south tower. At that point I entered an awesome, fantastic, amazing conversation with all 4 men, but mainly Gary and John (after Jim and Rob decided to go eat) that lasted probably around 2 hours. Wow, did I ever learn TONS of new ways to write articles - that will definitely help. Plus Gary gave me some great advice when it comes to hiring authors and using PLR articles (he gets 3 THOUSAND a month - see Chrissie, you're not that bad!!) that I can't wait to put into play!! Just as soon as I kick this damn infection, though I am writing this from work right now, I'm going to be getting back into my sites with full energy as I've got a BUNCH of great ideas for sites I want to get off the ground NOW.

Anyway, back to the Summit. The only session I really attended on Tuesday was one that was supposed to be with Rosalind Gardner, Super Affiliate, and the one session I REALLY wanted to attend the entire summit - but for whatever reason, she cancelled and was replaced by Joel Comm. I have to admit, I wasn't happy when I heard that, but I was pleasantly surprised by the presentation that followed. Joel was a very entertaining and informative speaker and I have to say I was impressed at his openess by picking apart both the back and front end of one of his sites. We got probably full access to everything about that site. Which of course is not to say I'm going to go out and recreate what he did, but there are certainly bits and pieces that I can apply across my own sites. Really cool stuff.

After that I headed back over to the CP booth for a while, hung out with Warren and eventually sat at the back of the ballroom with Matt, Jen and Adam (truly, check out their sites, they've got some awesome products, some of which I'm buying myself!) just discussing things we'd learned and the people we'd met. Good times. After that it was basically run and get ready for the Chocolate party at the Wynn hosted by oneNetwork and PartnerCentric (2 great companies) and then off we went. Awesome party with fantastic open bar, chocolate like I've never seen and a good band. We all got a little too drunk I think (or at least I got WAY too drunk) and when the party was over we headed to a bar in the Wynn where I stayed until the room started spinning and headed back to Bally's. All in all, I had a phenomenal time, much better than I had hoped for even! The only part I could've done without was the disastrous flights home I had (every plane I LOOKED at was delayed, even after being re-routed because I was going to miss my connection and we got home 3 hours late) but even at that, not enough of a negative to not go again... just not for a month or 2 ;)

I can tell you the thing that I look the most forward to when I start making some real money is traveling. I LOVE traveling. And I can't wait to take Eric to Vegas, with or without a reason, because I had such a great time. I can NOT stress it enough though to all of you conference noobs - start saving your money NOW. If I can I'm going to try and go to CJU in September. I don't know if I'll be able to do both the Summit in July AND CJU and if I can only do 1, that's fine. But CJU is a little cheaper and it will offer a different perspective of people and place that I'd like to experience. No matter what though, I GUARANTEE that Affiliate Summit West '06 is not my last conference, only the first of many to come. I hope I'll see all my blogging buddies at the next one, whichever/wherever that may be! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me or leave me a comment. Now this entry is quite long enough, so that's it for today, hope you've enjoyed the chronicles of my trip!

Tara :)

A little more to tell

2006-01-16T12:15:00.000-05:00

Ok, well, I'm still feeling like shit (to put it mildly I think the next time I cough my lungs may suddenly come flying through that new hole in my ribs) to the point where I stayed home today, so please don't expect anything resembling Pulitzer Prize quality. Thank you all for the well wishes, hope they start rubbing off really soon! Here goes. I thought if I went step by step it might be easier than remembering things out of order.

Other than arriving way too early at the airport everything went very smoothly in terms of the flights, though there was a hairy moment in Newark where I had to go through security again (changed gates) and I thought I might miss my flight, but other than that, we even arrived early in Vegas. For those of you who haven't been yet, I doubt you'll ever see an international airport closer to the downtown area. Honestly, I'd probably vote Las Vegas' downtown area as most likely to be crashed into -- even on the ground it's about 5-7 from the airport to the strip. Very cool! Oh, and if you end up going, check and see if your hotel allows check-in at the airport - I had my room key and got early check-in, all I had to do was go straight upstairs! (If you stay at Bally's INSIST on the rooms in the North tower. I saw both N & S tower rooms and it's very true that the North ones are much nicer.)

So upon arrival in my room, I sat down, hooked up the net, let Eric know I hadn't died or anything and called Debbie from Cafe Press. I headed down to her room where I met all those people I told you about in the first entry and we went for a champagne brunch. Bad idea on an empty stomach as you never get to see the bottom of your glass until you leave the restaurant! I think almost all of us were tipsy to outright drunk! lol Our waitress was funny also, hiding people's food on them and stuff :P

After that we hung out in a lounge for a while at which point I decided to go take a nap for a bit since I was pretty much running on fumes at that point. When I got up and got ready, it was time for a bit of a nosh, at Nosh, a sandwich joint in the hotel and then gambling time. We started by gambling at Bally's until Debbie got back from a show which is when we hit the Stratosphere hotel. This is the one with the rides on the top. Check it out - you couldn't PAY me to ride the rides or look out off the roof, but then again I'm terrified of heights :) After that we hung out at The Top Of The World (restaurant and bar) until we closed the place and then it was off to the Palms (which is where the show Inked is filmed) to gamble more. I did quite well for a while but then lost it all - but I had a blast so that's all that counts.

Sunday was get up late day (around 11 am) but after I got up we hardly stopped as we set up the Cafe Press booth for the show most of the afternoon. I had just enough time to take a quick nap, shower and eat before it was time for the conference to begin at 8 pm with Speed Networking. Now, I signed up for this and put names of people I wanted to meet like a good girl and I'm assuming others did the same with me because I had 8 names on my list. Of those 8 however, 3 showed up. I also blew one off but because I had 2 meetings set up with the same company (I did that just in case I didn't get matched with one of them) and Jen had someone interesting on her list in one of my redundant spots. I asked the 2nd guy to offer my apologies to the first at least :) Kind of annoyed me though when I SAW at another meeting one of the people I was supposed to meet and she acknowledged it and subsequently didn't show. Some people have a lot of nerve.

On the upside though, I met someone very interesting at all the no show tables and even 1 FANTASTIC contact for a new merchant that I never would've met otherwise. I mean, I met the PR guy who kept chasing me the next few days so I could properly meet the Aff Manager - which I did finally on the last day. (He was also on my plane but wasn't sitting near me.) Their stuff will fit across several of my active and upcoming sites which is awesome - plus the aff manager hinted that a better commission could be negotiated for some products where there is a better margin. So if their stuff does well for me (and it will from the sounds of it) it could pay the cost of the trip right there!

On that note, this entry is quite long enough again, so I'll leave you with, next installment will include details of Day 1 and Day 2 sessions, though by day 2 I wasn't attending much anymore.. lol Hope you're all having a better day than me!

Tara :)

A day or 2 more

2006-01-14T15:09:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the delay in posting more about the Summit, I have spent most of the last 18 hours in bed with a fever of 103 and a scary, scary cough. Needless to say, I'm in no shape to write intelligently. So please be patient!

Tara :(

Wow, I cannot wait for the next Affiliate Summit!

2006-01-12T13:48:00.000-05:00

To all my readers – start saving NOW for the next Affiliate Summit. If you can’t manage to go in June, I just read today on Affiliate Tip that there will be another one early 2007 in Vegas again. If you’re a Vegas virgin like me, make a point to go to that one – Vegas is a trip!! Except for all the flying (I’m typing this on my last plane of the day, that’s a whole other story) I would go at least once a month – now someone just needs to figure out teleporting for me.

I think if I cover even just the really high points it will still take me a few days to cover everything, but I’ll do my best. First and foremost I have to thank Deb Carney from CafePress.com who introduced me to a bunch of great people, some of whom have now become friends, like Jen, Matt and Adam – last names removed to protect the guilty ;) I spent most of my awake time with those four and honestly, I KNOW it wouldn’t have been nearly as fun without them.

What I learned at the Summit has to do a lot with who I met. I mean, there were a couple of great sessions (Joel Comm replacing Rosalind Gardner at the last minute was very cool) and some not so great sessions (James Martell’s was full of glitches and he seemed nervous and it was repetitive for a student of his) but the best stuff I learned was from informal networking. I think the best contact I made (who’s now a friend!) is Colin McDougall. If you’re a JM follower you probably know that Colin is one of James’ original live class students. Andrea who knows him quite well, as well as BJ both, have told me that Colin is a super nice guy and Andrea urged me to go say hi at the Summit.

I didn’t actually see him till the ShareaSale party Monday night and only around midnight but after he was done chatting with JM (I was 10 ft away from JM most of the night but I didn’t talk to him) I screwed up the courage to go say hi to Colin. From word one he was the friendliest, chattiest and most gracious person I’ve met in a long time. We ended up talking about the business (and other random Canadian stuff since we’re both Canucks) for somewhere around 4 hours, give or take. (Much alcohol involved also so memory slightly fuzzy.) As it turns out I now can ask Colin a question anytime – with his permission. One great thing we were talking about was his new gameplan which is to help people. And the product of that is a great ebook called the VEO report. This is not an affiliate link but still, I urge you to go pick up Colin’s stuff!

There’s so much more to tell, but at this point it’s so long and it’s almost time to start thinking about putting away the laptop. So the continuation of this will be tomorrow… or today, depending on when I get a chance to post this. Please send me any questions you might have about the Summit or anything else I’ve left out, I’ll answer them in the blog. Good night!

Tara :)

2006-01-10T07:06:00.000-05:00

It's now 4 am on day 3 of the summit and this was written before I got on my first plane... I was hoping to blog more, but I have barely been in my room but to sleep. So enjoy this and more about the summit when I get home!

By the time I post this I’ll be in Las Vegas, but it’s right now 5:33 in the morning and I’ve just gone through the security screening (with flying colours) and I’m now waiting to board – which only starts at 6:05. You may think that a half hour isn’t that long, but I’ve been at the Burlington airport since about 3:40 a.m. – 3 hours early. Oops. But when you’re driving over 2 hours to get to an airport in mostly rural-ish areas in January, you leave EARLY. So now, I figured I’d blog. Well, at least, I’m typing this entry in Word… lol No wireless ‘net here sadly. Otherwise I’d probably be playing poker ;)

So, other than being exhausted (so forgive any spelling or grammatical errors) and so very excited, there’s not much to tell. I still can’t wait to quit my job, and truly get back into this full time, hell, even part-time. This week there was just no work going on. No time between laundry, packing and shopping for the trip. But I have a bunch of great ideas and I’m sure I’ll just be bursting with more by the time I get back. So here’s what’s going on at the conference:

Saturday, meeting and hanging with Deb who I met at EcomXpo and some of her affiliates and friends. Sunday I’ll be helping her set up her booth, then there’s a speed networking session which I’m totally looking forward to. Monday and Tuesday it’s session after session with a couple of networking sessions/parties thrown in. Wednesday is fly home time. If you want to see more details, visit http://www.affiliatesummit.com – maybe it will inspire you to save your pennies and make your way to the next one. I’ve heard a few rumours that it will be in Orlando this summer. I’ll be moving heaven and earth to go again, I can already feel what a good time I’m going to have and how much I’m going to learn. I’m also REALLY hoping to attend CJU this year. We’ll see where I’m at this summer.

Well, I’m sure I’ve bored you all to death by now, so I’ll stop, but keep an eye out for some more posts from Las Vegas, I’ll try and make time to tell you a little bit about my day every night. Take care, cross your fingers for safe flights for me and have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Tara :)

Forgot to mention

2006-01-02T14:03:00.000-05:00

December's total - just under $500. Not what I was hoping for, but still my best month. Here's hoping that Dec '06 brings another zero to that total - for all of us! :)

Tara :)