Did anyone else wake up this morning and almost have a heart attack? I received an e-mail from Paypal overnight which said:

As required by the IRS, we’ve prepared a Form 1099-K for you. This form summarizes the gross payments you received through PayPal for the sales of goods or services during 2011. This form is available on PayPal.com.

I’ve seen notices on Paypal’s website for awhile now talking about this.. But since this form was only going out to people who processed over $20,000 in goods and services sales and completed 200 transactions, I figured I was in the clear.

Boy was I wrong!

It turns out I received over $50,000 through Paypal over the course of 2011.. Most of this was from advertisers who had moved away from paper checks and bank wires. I loved getting paid via Paypal because it saved me a trip to the bank. But the 1099-K has me frustrated. For one thing, there are some companies that issued me a paper 1099, but since they paid me via Paypal, I’m getting hit twice. According to my accountant (who I saw early this morning), he’ll have to file those instances as valid deductions. Sounds complicated..

Let’s face it, the IRS wants their money, and there are probably lots of “part-time” people who never report their side income. So I understand the motiviation behind it. But had this been communicated to us better last year, many of us wouldn’t be scrambling for receipts and invoices now.

And to those people out there who feel like this income doesn’t need to be reported because the 1040 form tells you to enter -0- in the line asking for the 1099-K amount, don’t be stupid! The IRS knows what you funneled through Paypal, and you’re responsible for reporting that amount on your return. (This from the mouth of my accountant) Choose to do otherwise, and you’re likely to get flagged for an audit.

Want to learn more? Etsy.com has more on this topic, as a lot of their members are now dealing with this nightmare..

From: Business MBA

In case you missed it, popular Cyberlocker site MegaUpload was shut down by the Feds just one day after the Internet united in protest of SOPA and PIPA. The founder of the site was arrested, and the US government said that it seized $50 million in assets, including his exotic car collection. This despite the fact that Kim Dotcom doesn’t reside in the US..

Was this legal? Regardless, the government got the desired effect they were after. Dozens of other cyberlocker services quickly closed up shop to avoid getting nabbed. So while we celebrated a perceived victory, in truth it didn’t slow anyone down.

While I was never a fan of these sites, I still feel for some of their users. Many people used the service for legitimate reasons, and now they’re unable to access their files. Others paid money to gain faster download speeds, money which they’ll never see again. What happened to “innocent until proven guilty”?

Definitely a weird story, and it should be interesting to see how things play out in court next month.

LinkLift is a fantastic service that I’ve been using for the past 6 months or so to generate some additional income for some of my blogs.

LinkLift is an online marketing service provider specializing in link development, and they’re constantly on the hunt for quality publishers. They came to me with a specific advertiser in mind, and my blog’s niche was a perfect fit for them. They wanted me to write a short piece about the company, which was completely relevant to my readers.

I got paid, my readers learned about a new site that might interest them, and the advertiser got additional exposure and SEO benefits from that backlink. Everyone wins!

All you have to do is register your blog with LinkLift. When they find a campaign for your site, they’ll contact you with the details. There’s no obligation to you – If you don’t like the terms of the deal for any reason, you’re free to pass on it.

What have you got to lose?

Most people’s eyes light up when I tell them that I work from home!

Think about it.. No hour-long commute to work, no dress-code to follow. You’re your own boss, so anything goes. But there’s a downside for sure.

If you don’t perform, you don’t get paid!

If you decide to be lazy, you won’t generate any income. If you sleep in until 10am, take a 2 hour lunch, and then quit at 4pm to play Xbox, you’re probably going to fail. Truth be told, I probably put in more hours now than when I was working “for the man”.

It takes a certain amount of discipline to do what we do, and even I have days where I just can’t get motivated for whatever reason. Yesterday, I found every excuse in the book to procrastinate, but I finally got my work done.. (At 7pm)

The other big adjustment is the lack of social interaction. Sure, you can chat with folks on Twitter and Facebook, but it’s not really the same. I tried meeting up with my old co-workers for lunch from time to time, but eventually we grew apart. It’s hard because they don’t really get what I’m doing, and there’s a bit of a disconnect.

On the flip side, there are TONS of benefits to working from home. Freedom is my biggie. I can do what I want, when I want. If I want to jump on a plane and go to Miami for a week or two, I can do that. No worries about vacation time and coverage back at work.

At the end of the day, you really need to think about it and decide if working from home is right for you.

It’s a great lifestyle, but it’s not for everyone.

I never thought it would happen to me, but I became the victim of a phishing scam the other day. Most phishing scams require you to click a link in a spoofed e-mail, which then takes you to a fake site that’s designed to look like the actual site.

In my case, it was quite a different scenario. I opened up IE and typed in www.paypal.com. I logged into my account, and everything looked normal. But then it redirected me to another page where it said my credit card info needed to be updated.

Since my credit card on file was expiring at the end of the month, this wasn’t a cause for concern. What did bother me was that it wanted my SSN. But because I had received an e-mail from Paypal just a few weeks ago talking about new IRS requirements for power users, I figured that was legit as well.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case at all..

A piece of malware on my computer had hijacked my browsers, and pulled off the ultimate phishing scam. As an IT professional for the past 15+ years, I couldn’t believe that this was happening to me. But as I learned, all it takes is one malicious website to potentially infect your computer with malware.

Scan your computer often and make sure everything’s clean.

Now the nightmare begins. Consider yourself warned!

What was the issue that they all shared in common?

A lackluster booth!

I thought it was fairly obvious, but apparently some people just don’t get it. You’re righting with 400 other exhibitors for people’s attention. Some people offer free shirts, others offer candy. There was even one company which gave out free beer!

But you’ve got to start off with the basic fundamentals. You need professional Trade Show Displays in order to let the person know what it is you’re promoting. If you’re just starting out and can’t afford a flashy display, at least pony up for a few Vinyl Banners.

I walked by so many booths without ANY indication of who they were or what they were doing. If you didn’t grab my attention, I didn’t bother stopping. It’s nothing personal, I just had limited time to browse the exhibits before going to my scheduled sessions.

So if any ASE exhibitors are planning on exhibiting at Blog World in Los Angeles, don’t make the same mistake twice! Jazz up your booth display and increase traffic to your table.

All it takes is a single good performing affiliate joining your network as a result of visiting your booth in order to pay for the initial expendature. And it’s something you’ll be able to use at show after show, so it’s an investment in your future.

Food for thought!

When I went to Affiliate Summit East, I got a chance to sit down and talk with Omri from INTENTclick and learn more about their network.

INTENTclick is an exclusive performance network by Kontera Technologies, distinct from Kontera’s premier brand network. INTENTclick contains content rich sites in specific performance driven categories, and is able to deliver to these sites the highest monetization levels available in the market. They use advanced algorithmic yield optimizations, unique in-text ad formats, and the best semantic content analysis from Kontera.

Why choose INTENTclick?

• Thousands of Offers
• Exclusive In-Text Placements
• Yield Optimization Technology
• Easy To Implement
• Incremental Monetization

Here is an example of a site using the INTENTclick Publishing system:

 
If your site focuses on Better Income or Saving Money, then you definitely must check out INTENTclick! Need more motivation to sign up? How about a $5 CPM guarantee until the end of September?

The first weekend that I was out of town we had a big storm and a large branch broke my bedroom window. The security company called and I alerted my neighbor. I was glad to know that the house hadn’t been broken into. I got the window fixed before I got home! Always being in the know about my home when I am away puts me at ease and makes for more relaxing travel during a hectic schedule.

The Author of this post is Solomon Dejesus