As some of you may have heard, John Reese is releasing his new course “Traffic Secrets 2.0” today.  It was supposed to go up at 9am PST (Noon EST), but the servers were so overloaded they had to bump it to 10am PST (1pm EST).

The course will cover things like:

• Social Media Marketing & Strategy
• Advanced Content Syndication
• Cutting-Edge Video Marketing & SEO
• Leveraging Software & Widgets
• Setting Up Automatic ‘Content Factories’
• Building An Affiliate Army
• And a Lot More

This is pretty much exactly what I need to take InspiredMoneyMaker.com to the next level by building even more traffic to this site.  However, I’m somewhat hesitant to order it because I’ve got like 4 other courses on my desk right now that I’m going through and two online membership sites I’m going through as well.  It’s a bit of information overload, but then again John’s course is probably going to be better than all the ones I’ve got sitting here.

I’ve been watching his videos ( see here ) and he definitely strikes me as a very giving guy.  I like his style a lot, even though I’ve never bought anything from him before.

The other cool thing about his course is that it includes LIFETIME UPDATES to the course, which is pretty insane, as well as private coaching & mastermind community, some sort of web based “action tracker” learning system and more.  These types of things make it so very tempting for me to buy this thing, even if nothing else just to review it for my site here as building traffic is definitely on the minds of my audience.

While I ponder what to do, if you guys want to check it out, you can see more about the course here:

John Reese’s Traffic Secrets 2.0

What do you guys think?

*** 11:47am Update: I just bought the course.  See comments below.

I’m super excited to announce my new contest this month sponsored by the awesome folks at MarketLeverage.  They were nice enough to sponsor this contest and offer three great prizes up for grabs.  Before I talk about the contest and the prizes involved, I just want to say a couple of words about MarketLeverage.

As many of you know, I’ve been working on learning the whole Affiliate Marketing side of Internet Marketing in the recent months.  Although there is so much to learn, and I still feel like a complete noob compared to some of the great marketers out there, I am definitely starting to get a really good handle on how things work and who the players are in this market.  It’s a totally different playing field compared to Blogging, so there is definitely a lot to learn.

If you’re thinking of getting into affiliate marketing, one of the decisions you’re going to have to make is which affiliate networks you’re going to work with for finding and promoting offers.  When I was first looking into this, I wasn’t sure who to go with and while doing some research I found a couple of Blog posts about some of the care packages that MarketLeverage was sending out to affiliates and to Bloggers.  I’m not going to go into detail about the specifics, but lets just say that after seeing what they sent out to people I was pretty sure I was looking at a company that has a very positive, giving (lightworker) business philosophy.  Without hesitation I signed up for an account with them and have enjoyed working with them ever since.

What’s cool about them is their hands-on approach to customer service and how much they value Bloggers.  I was assigned an account rep who doesn’t hesitate to answer any of my noobie questions on Affiliate Marketing and their Marketing Manager has been awesome to work with for placing ads on my Blog as well as sponsoring this contest.

What may shock you is that I’ve promoted less than $50 worth of goods through their program so far (I’m just getting started), and they treat me like a king.  I definitely give them 10/10 marks for awesome customer service, way ahead of any other affiliate network I’ve signed up for so far.  Maybe the others start to treat you well once you’re making them a few hundred thousands dollars a year, but MarketLeverage has been there for me even when I’m just an infant Affiliate Marketer.

Here’s one final thing I’d like to say for Bloggers and then I’ll get onto the contest details.

If you’re a Blogger, here’s why you should sign up for Market Leverage ( click this link ) right now even if you’re not fully committed to become a professional Affiliate Marketer yet (or ever). MarketLeverage pays out a full 5% commission of everything that anyone you refer to them earns FOR LIFE.  So, even if you’re not too sure about the whole Affiliate Marketing thing yet, get signed up for an account, then as an account holder you’ll be able to promote them on your Blog as an affiliate, and at least put up some of their banner ads on your site promoting them as an affiliate.

Then, if someone that visits your site happens to create an account with them through your link and become the next Super Affiliate, you’ll get paid 5% of their earnings FOR LIFE.  Of course MarketLeverage discloses this point to everyone registering for an account, just as they’ll disclose that I’ll make 5% of anything you earn through them if you choose to sign up for an account with them through my links, but the 5% doesn’t come out of your affiliates commissions so I don’t see why anyone would ever have a problem with it.

So anyways, that’s my mini-review of MarketLeverage.  I really like working with them, and as I get better at this whole Affiliate Marketing game I’m sure I’ll be working with them even closer.

Ok, onto the contest details.  Here’s what’s up for grabs.

Unlike my last contest where I only had one winner, this contest will have three prizes going to three winners, hence the “Three Times the Prizes” title of this post.  Here’s the prize details:

1st Place Winner Will Receive the prize pack pictured on the left which includes a Flip Mino and a 2GB USB Pen.

I’m actually quite jealous of whoever wins the Mino because I’ve been wanting one myself for a while now, but they don’t sell them here in Canada (yet).

I’ve entered some contests on some other Blogs that MarketLeverage sponsored hoping to win, but nothing so far.

Obviously I’m not eligible to win in my own contest otherwise I’d be entering myself since I’m making it really easy to enter.

The Flip Mino makes it really easy to do video on your Blog and everyone who’s got one has good things to say about them.

2nd Place Winner will receive this $50 MarketLeverage Rewards Card, which is basically a pre-loaded American Express gift card that you can use any place that accepts American Express.

Not a bad deal, considering it doesn’t really cost you anything to enter the contest besides a few minutes of your time, and your odds of winning the prize are probably a lot better than winning the same amount on a scratch and win.

3rd Place Winner will receive a 2GB USB pen.  Perfect for keeping your files with you as you travel between your home and office, or for backing up 2GB’s worth of data.

Ok, now lets get into the details of how to enter to win.

For this contest, I’m going to do things a bit different from the last contest.  I’m going to use a ticket system and reward people based on effort.  Basically, there are some things you can do which only take a few seconds and earn you one ticket and if that’s all the time you have to enter then that’s fine and you can still have a chance to win.  However, if you really want to maximize your chances of winning there are additional things you can do to earn extra tickets.  Every ticket you earn gives you an extra chance to win.  The more tickets you have, the higher chances you have of winning.

So, lets get into the details of how to earn tickets.

How to Earn Tickets:

+1 Ticket: You can earn your first ticket by leaving a comment on this Blog post.  It’s one ticket maximum, no matter how many comments you leave however.  Before you leave a comment, take a look at the other ways to earn tickets and let me know how many tickets you’ve earned in your comment.

+5 Tickets: Write a Blog post on your Blog which talks about this contest and link to it.
+5 Tickets: Sign up for a MarketLeverage Account using my link.
(***) +5 Tickets: Take my Membership Site Survey here:Click Here to take the survey
+1 Ticket: Digg this contest.
+1 Ticket: Stumble or Stumble Review this contest.
+1 Ticket: Twitter about this contest & Follow me on Twitter.
+1 Ticket: Favorite this contest on Technorati.

If you participated in my last contest, read the next paragraph.  If you did not, just skip to contest rules.

Everyone who participated in my last contest who didn’t win, will automatically get 6 Tickets towards this contest as outlined in my previous contest rules on top of whatever you earn here.  Please note that after careful consideration I will not be offering the “carry tickets forward” promotion in this or my future contests, so if you participated in my last contest you get your tickets for this one plus 3 more contests, but for everyone else I am no longer doing that.

*** UPDATE: I’m offering 5 more tickets to anyone who fills out the survey for my upcoming membership site I’m building, as well as a chance to win a free membership to the site for the person who provides me with the best feedback.   Click Here to take the survey

(** Keep an eye out, I might add other ways to earn tickets throughout the contest.)

Contest Rules

Contest runs from July 14th to August 14th, 2008.  Winners will be drawn and announced shortly thereafter.

Although I have no intention of doing so, I reserve the right to make changes to the contest at any time.

On your path towards living a more purpose-driven life, and your journey to learn to do what you love for a living, do you sometimes feel like you’re going backwards?  Does it feel like the world you’ve built around you is falling apart?  Does every step forward seem like it’s also coupled with three steps back?

The journey towards living your purpose-driven life can definitely seem like that, especially in the initial stages of your awakening towards living a life of passion.  You finally figure out what you truly want to do with your life and you start making progress towards it, but at the same time things start to fall apart in your life which felt like they were previously secure or “taken care of”.

Perhaps it’s your finances that start to suffer, or maybe your relationships, or maybe even your health.  Don’t let this discourage you.  When you make a shift in your life to pursue your true passion, things are going to change.  Sometimes during that change there are things that need to “fall apart” to make room for new things.

A coach I worked with last year told me once that “There’s always breakdown before breakthrough.”  This “breakdown” can manifest itself in many different ways.  As I mentioned in my post ( “Follow Your True Purpose in 2008 or Suffer” ) a few days ago, there seems to be a lot of “breaking down” going on right now with people.  In the United States there’s all these foreclosures and people losing their homes for example.

Just last year, TV shows used to show how supposedly it’s so easy to just buy a property for $200,000, put in $20,000 in renovations (that someone else does for you), and “flip” it for $350,000 making a hefty $130,000 profit in 2 months.  Every Joe, Dick and Harry was getting into the “house flipping” game after watching an episode of “Flip That House”.  No real estate experience, no renovating experience, no sales experience, no business experience, nothing.  Common sense was replaced by the dollar signs in people’s eyes.  Then the market fell apart.

Now when I turn on the TV I see “Holmes on Homes” ripping apart homes that were slapped together by people who really didn’t know what they were doing and were just out to make a quick buck.  In one episode I saw an incorrectly installed heating system that took almost $100,000 to fix!  On another home, the kitchen floor was sinking on one side due to improper construction to the point where if you put a marble on the counter-top it would roll totally to one side.

What’s happening is that people are starting to awaken to the fact that they don’t want to be going to work at a job they hate doing.  So they’re looking for alternatives, but instead of taking the time to figure out their purpose and passion in life they are chasing the mighty $$$$ signs.  They think that they’ll follow this path:

Leave Work > Make Lots of $$$$ Doing Something That’s Highly Profitable > Then “Retire” and Do What I Love

This path is an illusion.  People get seduced by it all the time.  I’ve been there.  There’s also this path:

Stay at Work Doing What You Hate > Play the Lottery / Casino / Stock Market > Instant Millions > Then “Retire” and Do What I Love

This path is also an illusion.  A lot of people play this game as well.

The path that I advocate following is:

Find Your Purpose / Passion > Follow your Purpose / Passion > Find Ways to Make $ Doing What You Love > Retire from “Work” but Keep Doing What You Love

The great news about this path is that if you’re working at a job right now that you make $3,000/month from, but you’re not doing what you love, all you have to do is figure out how to make $3,000/month by doing what you love and YOU’RE RETIRED!  No, you’re not retired in the sense that you sit around on a lawn chair watching the grass grow, but you’re “retired” in the sense that you no longer “work for money”.  You’re now working on projects that you enjoy working on and you just happen to make money from them as well… what could be more fulfilling!?

You don’t need to have a Million Dollars to do that!  When I look at people like Steve Pavlina and John Chow, who clearly love what they do with their Blogs and they make more than $25,000/month each from their Blogs I totally see them as “Retired” people.  They never have to wake up in the morning feeling like they have to “go to work”.  They just wake up, do what they love, and get paid for it.  Isn’t that awesome?

The challenge is that sometimes when we pursue this path, it may feel like we’re going backwards.  Why?  Well, because you may not be as good at making money doing what you love as you are at making money doing what you “don’t love”.  For example, let’s say that your true passion is working with animals.  You enjoy training dogs, grooming them, playing with them, taking care of them etc.

Let’s say that your dream is to open up a dog training/grooming business where you help people build better relationships with their dogs.  However, right now you work full time at a retail store where you are a manager making $48,000/year.  You begin to work on your dog school business, but you’re only making $250/m from it so far with just a few clients.  Because you’re working both full time and on your business, some things start falling apart in your personal life though because you no longer have as much time to spend time with your friends going out to movies or out for dinner.

You start to feel discouraged.  Maybe one of the clients ends up moving and you’re now down to only making $200/m from your business.  Also, because you’re not so excited about your management job anymore you missed your quarterly bonus and lost $600 you normally get extra every quarter.  Things start to feel gloomy.

However, let me illustrate what’s really happening here because you may be too close to the situation to see it from an objective standpoint.

Imagine yourself before you embarked on your journey to purpose you passion of working with animals.

Before:

“Working” for a Living: $4,000/month
“Doing What You Love” for a Living: $0/month
Total Income: $4,000/month
Total Expenses: ~$4,000/month (Most people live paycheck to paycheck)
Percentage of Work vs. Play: 100% Working / 0% Doing What You Love

After:

“Working” for a Living: $4,000/month
“Doing What You Love” for a Living: $200/month
Total Income: $4,200/month
Total Expenses: ~$4,000/month
Percentage of Work vs. Play: 95% Working / 5% Doing What You Love

See what’s happening here?  As a percentage of your total income, you’re making 95% of your income still “working” and 5% doing what you love.  That’s a great start!  Remember that it probably took you +10 years to get to the point where you’re making that $4,000/month from your “job”, so don’t expect to replace that income in one week.  It might take a bit of time.  Chances are, however that it probably won’t take anywhere near as long as it took you to make the money you make doing “work” because we are always WAY more productive and valuable when we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing, following our purpose.

Also, keep in mind that as long as you don’t increase your expenses every month, your “Doing What You Love” income just needs to match your “Working” income (50/50).  Meaning, if you’re making $200 doing what you love, you just need to grow that to $4,000 to technically be able to “retire”.  So, if you get to $400/month, you’re already 10% of the way there.

Now, here’s what you might start to see happening as you do this.  As your income grows doing what you love, you may find that through a series of strange co-incidences you may all of a sudden start making less money doing your job.  A lot of times this may be through no fault of your own.  Meaning, that $4,000/month management job might all of a sudden end, because the owner decides to shut down the store and re-open up another one in a different mall but because it’s a new store he can’t afford to pay you $4,000/month so he either offers to lay you off, or give you the option of taking the new position for $3,000/month to start with performance bonuses.

This typically happens as soon as you take a few steps forward following your own dream.  It’s like the Universe begins to “disassemble” your previous “security blanket” as soon as you start moving in the right direction.  It’s doing this to help you, but most of us freak out and take a defensive stance during this time.  In this fictitious example the person might decide to “buckle down” and try to get their “work” back to the $4,000/month income level they were accustomed to.  To do this they might need to put more energy back into “work” and that takes away time from pursuing their dream business.  Don’t allow yourself to get distracted like that.

Expect that things are going to “disassemble” themselves in your “previous life” as you begin to pursue your new life.  That’s just the Universe showing you support.

Here’s what that support (breakdown) might look like:

• Loss or decrease in income at your current work / employment
• Feeling more and more disconnected from “friends” and people who don’t have the courage to pursue their dreams, so they try to protect discourage you from making a mistake following your dream
• Growing more and more tired and drained at your current work
• Lack of patience
• Self doubt creeps in. “Who am I to think I can do this?”

Understand that these feelings are all normal.  It’s a transition phase.  Don’t be scared.  You’re not going through all of this because you had a brain fart and decided to pursue your dream and the Universe is trying to punish you for trying to follow your dream.  You’re going through this because it’s a necessary process of “letting go” of your past self/identity.  You are essentially becoming a new person, a totally new identity that no longer “works” for a living and now does what you love.  This WILL take some adjustment.

Don’t get discouraged, just keep moving forward.  Keep focusing on what you truly are passionate about doing and know that the Universe will support you.  Sometimes the best way it will do that is by disassembling things that you currently are clinging onto.  The reason this happens is because in your limited little mind you might be thinking that it might take 2 years for you to move into doing what you love, but the Universe knows that it might only take 3 months, so it starts “disassembling” things at a much quicker pace than your mind feels comfortable with.  You start to panic and think “Oh my God, what’s happening!?”

Don’t worry…everything is ok… just keep trusting and keep moving forward.

You might go through a little bit of temporary discomfort but you’re going to emerge a totally new person on the other side.  It’s kind of like going through bootcamp in the Army.  You need to go through that process to get “re-shaped” into a new identity that’s a lot stronger on the other side.

As I mentioned before, it seems like 2008 is really pushing a lot of people forward.  The Universe is busy at “disassembling” things for everyone.  Those that are moving forward are going to emerge on the other side as strong, independant and fulfilled people, while those who are dearly trying to cling onto their “old selves” are going to suffer needlessly.

I don’t mean this to sound like a doom-and-gloom post, but I’m just reporting what I’ve been witnessing when I look around.  If it’s not happening in your life, then that’s great, perhaps you’re already on your true path and that’s awesome, but for those that are feeling fear right now due to this transition process, know that you’re being supported.  The only direction to go in is forward.  Don’t look back.

When you feel like every step you take forward results in a couple steps back being taken in other parts of your life, know that you’re probably on the right track and the Universe is probably just lending you a helping hand and “gently” pushing you along.

As some of you have probably noticed, my posting rate has dropped slightly in the last few weeks.  This is mostly due to the insane amounts of time and energy I’ve been devoting to research, planning, setting up, testing, and tweaking the upcoming membership site I’ll be releasing soon.

One of the advantages I have while putting this membership site together is that I’ve got a lot of experience being a mentoree, and I’ve worked with a number of coaches in my life which has given me first hand experience in what works and what doesn’t work in coaching / mentoring situations.  Of course I’ve also done a bit of coaching / mentoring myself as well, and am currently mentoring someone one-on-one in the exact same thing my site will focus on, but I really think the biggest advantage is having been on the receiving end of mentoring advice.

Besides Blogging I am also learning all kinds of other Internet marketing systems out there, such as for example ones related to PPC Affiliate Marketing.  There are so many membership sites, home study courses, multimedia programs, video programs, eBooks etc. that I’ve gone through and I’m paying attention to what works and what doesn’t when it comes to “transfering wisdom” from one person to the next.

One of the shortcomings of most packages out there that I see is that they only focus on what I consider to be one of the three pillars to a great mentoring package.  Most packages focus on the skills, techniques and tactics involved and that’s it.

For example, here are a few of the skills, techniques and tactics I will be teaching in the program:

• How to register a domain
• How to get setup with a great hosting partner
• How to install Wordpress
• Which Plugins to install and run in Wordpress
• How to get traffic from social media sites
• etc.

Of course this is just a very short sample list, but I think you get the point of what i mean by “skills, techniques and tactics”.

This part of mentoring is very important and provides a lot of value.  For every “tip” you can get from a mentor, chances are they’ve already spent dozens if not hundreds of hours in research just to provide you that tip.

For example, in a PPC Affiliate marketing course I purchased and read through today I learned that when it comes to Google AdWords Ad Positioning the formula is Ad Position = Max CPC x CTR. What that means isn’t important, but what is important is that this simple little formula that took half a second for me to read and understand has probably saved me hudreds if not thousands of dollars in AdWords “experimentation” before I figure it out myself.

What’s deceiving about these little “tips” is that it can take a lot of time and resources to take things down to a simple answer like that.  For example, when I was setting up AMember to get the membership site going, I was getting stuck on one part.  Instead of spending a week trying to figure out how to get it to work, I found and joined a membership site on how to setup membership sites (I know, funny eh?).  Once I got access to the information inside the course, I was able to answer my question in a matter of minutes instead of wasting a week looking for the answer.

This is where mentoring can really help.  It can give you answers to questions that would normally take you forever to figure out on your own.  This is especially true for making money online.  There’s just so much information to sort through, it’s so easy to get lost.

These tips and tricks can be invaluable, but I don’t think they are enough by themselves.  To be fully inclusive I think a mentoring package needs these three components:

1. Techniques, Strategies, Tips and Tricks - This is all the tried and tested strategies that are being given to you in order to save you a lot of time and energy trying to figure them out on your own.  These are very important.  This is where most programs focus 100% of their attention.
2. Philosophy, Beliefs & Attitudes - This is a super important part of mentoring.  You not only need to know WHAT do do, but you also have to understand how to go about doing it, and you need to understand why you’re doing it.  Using Blogging as an example, you don’t just need to know how to setup a Blog with which plugins and how to write Blog posts, but you also have to understand the philosophy behind it all.  You need to adopt certain philosophies, beliefs and attitudes in order to be successful at Blogging and no amount of tips, tricks, strategies and techniques will help you succeed if these aren’t in place.  This, I believe, is missing in a lot of “programs” out there.
3. Support & Mentorship - This third element is also of paramount importance.  There have been hundreds of times when I’ve purchased an eBook, course, CD, or “program” of some sort and gone through it excited to see results only to get “stuck” on one little point that didn’t make sense to me.  Half the time, it’s not even me making a mistake but simply that one of the tools being talked about in the “program” doesn’t work anymore, or is outdated, or has been changed, or moved somewhere.  It can be so frustrating having 98% of the information you need to succeed.  Sometimes you just need to ask a mentor a question directly.  This is where forums can be an awesome help.  Also, the other part is encouragement.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten discouraged in a certain situation and only by working with a coach/mentor was I able to get the support I needed to keep going.  This part is also very often missing from most “programs” out there.

These three pillars of a successful mentorship program are what I’m building into my course.  Just today I got a forum setup for the mentorship program and I plan on being very active in there providing support, mentoring, encouragement and answering any questions my members might have about moving forward.  Even though I know I have a LOT to offer in terms of “Techniques, Strategies, Tips and Tricks” I really think the greatest part of the program will come to those who leverage the ability to “use me” in the forums to help them move forward.

I’ve very excited to work on this project.  Just wanted to give you guys an update on how things were moving along.  More to come soon.

I have worked in a variety of jobs and businesses throughout my life ranging from mopping the floors at McDonalds to owning and running a multi-million dollar technology company.  I’ve worked within many different types of business models and had first-hand experience with the benefits and pitfalls of each.  I’ve worked within sole proprietorships, partnerships, private companies, public companies, MLM companies and franchises.

I’m always studying business models and looking for the “perfect” one.  Of course the term “perfect” is completely subjective as everyone has different tastes and preferences when it comes to business.  Today I just wanted to briefly discuss Blogging as a Business model to see if perhaps it sparks an interest for you.

From my two years of Blogging experience, I’ve been able to identify the following benefits of this model:

• Very low startup costs. Whereas a typical business requires anywhere from $5,000 - $10,000 in startup capital, and a typical franchise upwards of $250,000 to start, starting a Blog can be easily achieved by scrounging up the loose change you have in your couch, and returning the pop cans in your garage.  Although there are free blogging platforms available out there, I am referring to the “Blogging as  Business” model which in my opinion does require a domain (Less than $10/year) and good hosting (Less than $9/month).
• Scalable Income. Blogging can provide you with a scalable income stream that grows almost immediately.  Meaning, you can technically start making money from your Blog within minutes of launching it using something like Google Adwords.  It’s not going to be much at first but the point is that you can technically be producing an income right away.  The income is then scalable as time goes on and you build your Blog.  This is in contrast to some business models out there in which you don’t make any money for a certain period of time (if ever) and then all of a sudden if everything goes well you make millions of dollars.
• Establishing Authority. Blogging can help you establish authority.  In the “old days” people used to establish authority by getting Ph.D’s and/or by writing books and getting published, or by becoming celebrities.  Now, with a Blog you can start writing on a topic you know about and over time you can establish yourself as an expert in the field.
• Road to Get Published. If one day you’d love to write your own book and get it published by a major publisher, Blogging can help you get there.  Not only does writing help you become a better writer, it also establishes your authority and writing style in the marketplace and “proves” to the publisher that you’ve got an audience.  Publishers are starting to really take notice of Professional Bloggers and to offer them book deals.  Blogging could be your ticket to get published if that’s what you’re looking for down the line.
• Selling your Services. Even if your intention is not to make money from your Blog in the traditional sense by having advertising etc., you can still use your Blog to establish an audience for your services.  For example, lets say that you are a life coach.  You could write a Blog and build an audience and then simply use the Blog as a way to get more clients for your coaching business.  You don’t need to make money from Blogging to make money WITH your Blog.
• Feedback. Blogging can provide you with a feedback forum for your ideas.  People will read your Blog posts, comment on them, provide feedback and it helps you to grow and evolve your ideas.  This can be an invaluable resource for you.
• Master of Your Own Domain. Everything you need to build a six-figure Blogging business is at your fingertips.  You can do it without any employees, not a lot of startup capital, and no other major resources needed besides your own energy and time.  You live and die by your own sword and whether your Blog is a success or a dud is completely up to you.  Your fate is in your hands alone.
• No Competition. When I talk to people about Blogging, inevitably if they start to research the path and consider starting their own Blog they generally get overwhelmed by all the “competition” out there because there are already so many Blogs out there.  This is a complete illusion.  You can never have any competition because there is only one of you, and your uniqueness and the uniqueness of your opinion makes it impossible for anyone else to compete.
• Planet Friendly. Blogging saves the planet. :)  Instead of printing books on paper we write articles in digital format.  You can Blog from home so it saves on all the gas burned driving to a job.  It’s probably not very expensive to offset the carbon footprint of a Blog.
• First Mover Advantage. I remember not so long ago people used to ask “Do you have an email address?” and not everyone did.  Then everyone had an email address and the question changed to “What’s your email address?”  Then, things changed again and now the question is “Which email address do you want me to send this to?” since now everyone has multiple email addresses.  I totally believe that just like with email addresses, pretty soon everyone will have an online website/blog.  Right now people are still in that stage of “Do you have a website / Blog?” but it’s just a matter of time before the tipping point changes that to “What’s your website?”  If you get started on yours now, you’ll have an advantage over others.
• You Don’t Have to be a Programmer. Unlike traditional website design and programming, you can create and setup a Wordpress Blog and learn how to run it effectively even if you’re not a computer programmer.  I think it’s even going to get easier as time goes on.
• Rewarding. Blogging can be really rewarding.  Knowing that you’ve helped out some stranger in another country you’ve never even met can be very fulfilling.  I’ve personally received many emails from people thanking me for helping them in their lives and I’ve even connected and built friendships with people I would have never met if it wasn’t for launching this Blog.
• Overcome Your Fears. Building a Blog can help you to overcome personal fears of getting your opinion out there into the public.  This can have a huge positive impact in your personal and business life.  It helps you to establish your “voice”, build authority and gain confidence.
• Freedom over Your Schedule. You are free to work when you’re most productive.  If that’s from 2am to 4am, or 3pm to 10pm, it’s entirely up to you.  You can use the Wordpress scheduled Post feature to post your articles whenever you want, regardless when you write them.
• Eventual Passive Income. Although in the beginning the whole “Passive Income Stream” idea in Blogging is a bit of a myth, as time goes on and you build your Blog up it really does become a semi-passive income stream.  Every article you write can continue to produce income for you many years into the future.  It’s entirely possible that a Blog post you write today can still be making income for you 50 years from now and beyond.

This list is far from all-inclusive.  There are many other benefits, but I just wanted to give you a sampling of what Blogging brings to the table in case it sparks at interest in you as a possible business path.  Of course there are some disadvantages to the model as well which I didn’t go into because for today I just wanted to highlight some of the advantages.

I am currently working on a Membership Site which will teach people how to start and build a “Blogging For Money” online business.

Stay tuned!