Today I had the Safe Systems security system installed. And I feel so much better, even though we accidentally did set if off a couple of times. And the response time from the service was amazing. It didn’t take them more than 15 seconds to call about the alarm!

They called me in the morning to let me know when they were coming. Jen, the sales rep, came with the tech and stayed the entire time.  First they explained what exactly they were going to do to make sure I was okay with everything and that all of my concerns were addressed. Then the tech installed the system and tested it. They walked with me through the house to let me know exactly what was where and answered any questions I had. Then they showed my how the system worked and how to arm and disarm it in every way possible (and there are a few of them!). They would not leave until they were certain I understood the system and could operate it. And just as were done, AJ came home and Jen spent even more time explaining everything to her and make sure that she understood everything. They spent most of the day here and just generally were absolutely wonderful.

I feel much safer now and hope that I finally will be able to sleep again. Just knowing that I am protected helped me immensely. I may live in a safe neighborhood where people still watch out for each other, but that does not guarantee that nothing ever happens. I just found out that my neighbor noticed that my curtains were closed (they never are), but thought I was just trying to keep the heat out. So often people will notice little things that are off, but rationalize it because burglaries just don’t enter your mind in a neighborhood like this.Well, I and the neighbors know differently now. And I have the feeling that a few of them might just get their own security system!

And I know that for the rest of my life, I will never again be without a security system! I know that, tomorrow, I will be able to go back to work without having to wonder all day what I will find when I get home in the evening. I won’t have to walk around the house looking for anything out of order. I am beginning to feel safe again.

Have a good night, everyone, I intend to. And if you don’t have a security system, get one!

No, this is not a blog about some stupid rip-off! We’ve actually been robbed! This is one of those things you read about in the paper or see on the news and think “That really sucks!”, but you don’t ever expect it to happen to you! I mean, after all, we live in a nice neighborhood and people around here are watching out for each other. And yet, it did happen!

My friend/roommate and I came home from work and found a bunch of paper spread out in the living room. Wondering what it was I looked at it and discovered it was paper from a lunch meat bag. Now, I have some smart dogs, but could for the life of me not figure out how they got in the refrigerator! AJ opened up the fridge and the empty package was in the fridge! Now that was just really weird and I got this really bad feeling. I walked around the corner where my laptop sits and sure enough – it was gone! I raced to my office. The door was open (it never is) and I screamed! I keep a safe in my office with valuables – cash, coins, papers, etc. The safe was there – in the middle of the room, busted wide open and empty! The room was a mess, stuff spread everywhere! I raced to my bedroom, AJ to hers. Drawers wide open and rifled through in both rooms, the same in the closets. Jewelry, digital camera, etc. – gone!

I called 911. They told us to get out and don’t touch anything. We went outside. I went to one neighbor, she to the other. Nobody had seen a thing! We walked around the house and found a broken basement window. Then the police showed up. We went back in the house and showed them what happened. They called CSI in. By now I am feeling like I’m in a movie. Except in the movies they always find evidence. Here – nothing! No fingerprints, no DNA – absolutely nothing! The officer said as long as she’s been on this beat (a long time), she never had to come in this street for anything. It’s a nice, quiet neighborhood. Other than the hit-and-run a few month ago, nothing ever happens here! And now this! She took the report, asked for suspects, the usual stuff. Apparently they broke a window in the basement and went upstairs, past the dogs (still trying to figure that one out), and spent several hours breaking into that safe with a crowbar and a big screwdriver which they left behind and going through every closet and dresser in the house.

That night I hardly slept at all. Every little noise has you sitting up straight, listening, wondering if they are back! At 1:30 in the morning I was on my desktop, changing user names and passwords! I called my boss and let him know I wouldn’t be in. There were lists to make and stuff to clean up.

Now, I am the type of person who deals with stuff and moves on. However, this one is a lot harder to “just get over”. The next day I tried to get the receipts together for the stolen items. I didn’t get very far. I felt like I was in the haze. It felt so unreal, like a bad dream I’d wake up from. I did not get much done that day. So I let the boss know I needed another day. Didn’t sleep much that night either. The next day wasn’t bad and I got everything together that I needed for the police and the insurance. Of course, the insurance is a joke. When I told them, the safe contained cash and coins, they informed me that this was covered for a total of $200! And that is not $200 per item, it is for the entire contents! Can someone tell me why I pay for insurance every month if that is all they cover?!?!

The next day I did some work for my office from home – thanks to remote access – and I felt okay. Until I had to leave the house to take care of some errands. It’s bad enough being at home and constantly listening to every little noise (did you ever notice how many noises there are in a house, especially with cats and dogs?), worried that someone is going to break in again. But when I returned I caught myself walking around the house looking for broken windows or anything suspicious before I entered it! And then I went through the whole house checking for anything out of order. When I locked the doors I went back and double and triple checked to make sure everything is locked! You begin to feel like a prisoner in your own house. You are afraid to be there and you’re afraid to leave. I never thought I’d feel that way, but I did!

If you have never been in this situation – and I hope you haven’t and never will be – it is the most intense and sickening feeling I have ever had! You feel so violated, powerless, and helpless! And you go through all those emotions, ranging from being angry to being mad, or sad or scared or helpless, and everything in between. I looked at that closet where everything is thrown on the floor and I just shut the door. I couldn’t deal with it. And I always deal with everything! This thing has brought me to tears more than once and I hated it and the bastards who did this to me! My home has always been my castle, a safe place, and now it’s not safe anymore. The castle was crumbling! And I couldn’t let this happen! My husband even offered to give up truck driving which he loves. Was I really letting these bastards change my life like that? No!!!

I was sick and tired of living in fear, constantly being in tears, and feeling paralyzed! So, I went and checked out several security companies with the BBB. I called a few of them, finally settled on Safe Systems and had them come out for an evaluation. Tomorrow they will install the new system. I will take all the stuff that the thieves went through and threw around and wash it (just the idea of them touching everything gives me the creeps)! And then hopefully my life will return to more normal. I don’t know if I ever will get over these feelings, but I sure as hell will give it my best shot. I am not going to let these bastards win and spend the rest of my life in fear! People tell me it will take quite a while before I’ll feel safe again, that I won’t feel quite so violated. I do know, that in the future when I hear about a break-in or a burglary, I won’t be thinking “That sucks, get over it”. I now know how you feel after something like that. Instead I will send a prayer to them.

I hope it never happens to any of you, that you will never have to go through this experience.

Oh, and don’t forget – check your insurance policy now!

For many Internet Marketers the most important past of their business is the list of e-mail subscribers that they have built over the years. Some marketers will tell you that the money is in the list, others will tell you that the money is in the relationship with the list.

Whichever of those two trails of thought that you want to believe, the common theme is that if you want to be a success in Internet Marketing, list building is essential. Here, David Walker presents five tips that you can use to build your own mailing list.

1. Give an Incentive to Join the List

It may seem like common sense but you have to give prospects a reason to join your list. Consider giving away a free report or ebook in exchange for an e-mail address.

Make sure that whatever you’re giving away is a quality product so the prospect understands the benefit of remaining on your list. You can additionally make money online from this free report by adding your affiliate links to it.

2. Create a Squeeze Page

A squeeze page is a page designed purely for the purpose of obtaining the e-mail address of a prospect. If you have a free report or ebook, then you should create a squeeze page for the purpose of giving it away.

A squeeze page will outline the benefits of the free report or ebook and ask for a name and e-mail address is exchange.

3. Get Traffic to Your Squeeze Page

It may sound obvious but unless you’re getting traffic to your squeeze page then you’re not going to build a list. Use all of the typical traffic building methods to get eyeballs on the page. Blog Commenting, Article Writing, JV Giveaways, Link Building, Directory Listings and Forum Signatures will all help bring visitors to your free offer.

4. Get Your List to Tell a Friend

If you are providing value to your list why not get list members to tell a friend? Tell a friend scripts are very common these days, so implementing this tactic isn’t difficult.

List members will be happy to recommend your list to their friends providing you are supplying quality information. Why not offer a prize such as advertising space on your blog (free for you) to the list member who tells most friends.

5. Keep Your Subscribers on Board

Don’t just sell, sell, sell to your list. You must give away quality information to your list. This will establish your own credibility in the eyes of the subscribers, which means when you do inevitably try to sell something to them, they will trust your recommendation.

Always make sure that every product you sell to your list, your own or that of an affiliate, is quality and has value to them. These steps will ensure you don’t have a high rate of readers unsubscribing.

It’s been a while since my last post. Life just got in the way.  I’m sure you know how that is (if not, lucky you!).

Anyhow, I had left off with Week 9 of the Masterclass. In Week 10 we finalized the niche selection. It took me a while to catch up to that week since I had a really hard time trying to decide what to write about. Practically everything I know about or am interested in is apparently not very profitable or anything a lot of people are interested in. Looking at some of the other blogs, it seems I’m not the only one with that problem. In a way this is a good thing since I began to really feel bad about it and thought about throwing in the towel.  My guess is that’s one of the reasons John had us look at other blogs and the forum. The Forum really is a big help! You just write a post about your problem and you get all kinds of helpful answers! And you’ll see posts from other students that have a problem and you might just have an answer for them. So yeah, the forum really does help out.

I did finally find something I knew about and I’m sure a lot of “newbies” will be able to use my eBook that I am about to write! So look forward to it, it’s coming!

Week 11 consisted of the initial product creation. Here we picked and ordered a domain name (again the forum was a big help here, thanks!), ordered the graphics for the website, and arranged the chapters for the book. And John even covered the “But I can’t write” dilemma!

In Week 12 John covered software to write the book with, had us set up different folders for items pertaining to the book like graphics, salespage, etc. and even showed us how to actually use a word processor like Microsoft Office or Open Office (good thing I know how to use those). Most teachers wouldn’t go that far! Then he informed us about disclaimers, contents, and introduction. And he answered the always asked question “How long should my eBook be?“. The answer? As long as it takes to get your message across!

Now we start to actually write the book. I’m sure Paula Brett’s Operation eBook, which was recommended by John, is going to be a great help with that! Wish me luck!

Til next time,

Waltraud

Why You’ll Never Succeed Online is a report written by John Thornhill (get your free copy here). The title itself is an attention grabber! Who wouldn’t want to know what the report says when you see that title. I know I did – and I didn’t stop until I had finished it!

In this report, John lists a number of reasons people claim are responsible for their online failures. Some of these John calls “excuses”. That right there should get a few people going!

In one of the first few paragraphs John says “I want you to get angry as you read”. And I bet a lot of people will be! First he talks about having the “wrong mindset” (apparently I have the right one), then he goes on to “it’s too technical” , and continues with “If You Want To Earn Money For Doing Nothing“. Now that last one is almost a guarantee to make people mad! He then brings up being “part of the herd” and “quit at the first hurdle“. After that he discusses the well being of his customers and subscribers. Then comes “the list” (I’m working on mine!). The next two again are sure to upset a few readers: “if you always moan about your current situation” and “if you think the world owes you something“!  Right after that, the report talks about “not having enough time and money” and then continues with “being afraid of failure“. “Everything online is a scam” is next, followed by “Jump from product to product“. “All you think about is making money” is another reason. After all of that he hits you over the head with “You’re not willing to help others“, only to upset you with “poor quality work“. John finishes the report with the need for a mentor.

On the upside, with every reason or excuse he throws at you comes the advise of what to do about it and how to do it.  And considering how successful John is, I know, I am going to take his advise on the subjects that fit me. Good thing it’s not all of them, otherwise I’d really have my job cut out for me! Either way, I think it’s a great report and many people will see themselves described to a T in one or more of the subjects. If you are one of them, take John’s advise to heart!

Til next time!

Waltraud

In late February, I mentioned that I was starting the IM Mentors class (Adam Spiel and Jit Uppal)  in March. And so I did!

IM Mentors consists of six webinars that were supposed to last about an hour each with another half hour for Q&A. So far, almost every session was about an hour and a half or more and another hour for Q&A. Neither Adam nor Jit seem to mind the additional time they spend teaching us what they promised. They also set up a forum where you can ask questions and find answers from either Jit or Adam or the classmates. The forum also has a section dedicated to the different sessions and/or assignments. I have found the forum extremely helpful.

IM Mentors is a very fast-paced program. In Session 1 we first were told about popular ways to get traffic:

• Pay Per Click (PPC)
• JV Giveaways
• Articles
• Social Media
• SEO
• Adswaps

Then we learned everything there is to know about opt-in (squeeze) pages, thank you pages, and download pages. They taught us how to set them up, how to use them, and then gave us the templates to get started. How is that for service?

Then came the Warrior Forum (WSO). The WSO has been around since 1997 and is a great place to find support for all kinds of internet marketing subjects (i.e. Joint Ventures, Articles, ebooks, even events). The reason they introduced us to the WSO is for future Adswaps (more about those later) since they also can be done on the WSO and are another way of getting subscribers. One even can advertise their own products on the WSO (provided you have one – I’m still working on that).

BudURL manages all of your links in one easy interface, tracks statistics (i.e., clicks, opt-ins, $, etc.).  You can even see which cities, states, and countries drive your traffic. BudURL has a lot more to offer, but I’m not writing an infomercial here, so I leave it at that.

JV Giveaways were one of the first things in this course. JV Giveaways are the best way to start when you don’t have a list. My list consisted of myself when I started the course which is not exactly profitable! But I had absolutely no idea on how to grow that list before I started this class. There is a lot of information out there about list building (which gets met back to Information Overload), but Jit & Adam’s program is simple, straightforward, and easy to follow. In Giveaways you sign up as a contributor and give away a free gift in exchange for someone’s email address. If you upgrade (the cost for this can be anywhere from $7 to $97), you generally can submit 3 gifts as well as a one-time-offer (OTO). Generally that will get you higher on the list and you have a better chance of getting subscribers. Also, sometimes upgrading will get you better commissions.

As part of the homework, we had to set up an squeeze page, thank you page, and a download page for Email Marketing Genius (you can grab your free copy here), upload it to our website, and enter a Giveaway. Talk about fast-paced! Three hours earlier I knew nothing about Giveaways and now I was supposed to be participating in one! But I did and actually managed to get a few subscribers. So apparently, the program works!

Til next time!

It’s been awhile that I mentioned John’s Masterclass. I’ve just been too busy implementing everything he’s taught us, talking the IM Mentors class, and working a full-time job. So, here’s my update:

In Week 3 we registered with Adsense, added new themes to our blog, added Adsense to the themes, and uploaded them. Sounds real easy, doesn’t it? It is if you know what you’re doing! However, John does make it easy with his step-by-step instructions – otherwise I might still be at it! And as homework, we are still checking out other well-known blogs and posting to our own.

In Week 4 we learned how to upload header and footer graphics to the blog  to make it more our own; how to resize banners, and how to back up our blog data (very important, that one!).  Some of this is easy, but again, the step-by-step instructions really do help a lot!

Week 5 taught us how to to remove Adsense and how to add video to our blog. It also showed us how to replace Adsense with banners, how to add CB Ad Rotator, and how to edit and add sidebar widgets. Now we are at a point where we learn things that make the blog unique (other than the posts). We can decide what goes on and what doesn’t! That’s much more my style!

It got really interesting in Week 6 (List Building Campaign)! We created an Aweber account, registered as Masterclass affiliate, got the affiliate link, and created our first list! Then we loaded the campain, downloaded and uploaded opt-in templates, and added the opt-in code to the blog. Without the explicit directions from John, I’d have been completely lost and confused! Thanks, John!

Week 7 was the first webinar, teaching us about advanced blogging tactics. This class taught us a lot about Clickbank and Clickbank affiliates, as well as plugins, keywords, and blog content. And we finally get to enter the Forum! Yeah! The webinar also covered Dave Nicholson and his Total Web Traffic course.

In Weeks 8 and 9 we are getting down to business! This is the preparation to creating our own product. This is the part I’ve been anticipating and dreading at the same time! You have to make lists about things you’re good at, things you like, etc. Then you have to narrow it down to your niche selection. After that you have to research the subjects to see if they make money (Clickbank is a very good place to help you with that).  Another good place to help with the product selection is the Masterclass forum. Once you have selected a niche, you start your research.

Week 10: Haven’t gotten to that yet. I’m still working on the niche selection and research.

While we’re doing all of that, we are still posting to our blogs, checking out classmates’ blogs, and leave comments. I don’t know about anyone else, but it keeps me pretty darn busy (and out of trouble).

See ya next time!

One of the new things I learned about in the IM Mentors class are JV Giveaways.  JV Giveaways are a good way to start building or expanding your opt-in lists. You can sign up either as Contributor (if you have a product such as an eBook or a video your want to give away) or a Member (if you just want to download lots of free items). Either way, you’ll win!

Here are some Giveaway Events where you can download thousands of really cool free gifts! Just click on any of the featured items and it will take you straight to the Giveaway Event where you can find all of the gifts being given away. Have fun and enjoy!

Information Overload – that’s something I’d heard about, but didn’t really know what it meant. Until recently.

In the first week of John Thornhill’s Master Class (which by the way is coming along quite nicely) he asked us to study several other blogs which I did. For hours! I got completely sidetracked with everything contained on those blogs (wondering if I’d ever be able to create something like that) and signed up as a subscriber on a few of them. Being new to this whole thing, I didn’t realize (even though I should have!) that every time I signed up as a subscriber I’d end up on a list! Of course, everybody gives you a free gift for signing up which I collected in a separate folder.

Then the emails started coming! Of course, almost every email contains an offer for more stuff – some free, some not. And every time you click on a link for a free item, you’re asked again for your email. And that leads to more emails and more offers! And so the circle begins – and it never ends! By now I have a whole collection of reports (traffic blueprints, website advertising, resale rights, SEO, etc.) that I have absolutely no idea what to do with! It’s just too much information and not knowing what is good and what isn’t doesn’t help either!

Had I gone into the Master Class forum more often, maybe I’d have seen the question where somebody asked if it is okay to get other materials while attending the Master Class and the answer was, John discourages that. That, if he feels we need something, he will get it for us either for free or at a discounted price. Ooooops! Really need to get into the forum more often!

So I filed everything neatly in a folder and won’t look at any of it until after the class, when I have a better idea what to do with all of those reports, which to keep and which to get rid of. And I will unsubscribe from most of those lists except for the ones that John recommended.

Once again, I had to learn the hard way (I seem to have a tendency of doing that)!

Looking forward to Week 7 of the Master Class.

That’s it for today – til next time!

I live on a small residential dead-end street. It is barely wide enough to accommodate two vehicles passing each other. At the end of the street there is a high school. There are only four properties on one side and six on the other. Heck, the street doesn’t even have sidewalks! Now, one should think it would be a safe place to live and that children would be able to play outside in the street. Think again!

Since we moved here over twelve years ago, on and off we’ve been having problems with people speeding up and down the street. On weekends when there are ball games at the high school, people will park along the street on both sides which narrows the street down to one lane. And even under these conditions people still speed up and down that street! After several calls to the City we finally got 25 mph speed limit signs.

Over the past few months another problem has materialized.  Apparently, now some teenagers and young adults started to consider this street to be their personal race track!  I have seen them coming down in cars and on motorcycles with speeds a lot higher than the posted 25 mph.

When I got home this afternoon, there were police cars, a fire truck, and an ambulance in the street, in front of my neighbor’s house. And a man laying on the side of the street! First I thought maybe a heart attack or something, but that just didn’t feel right.  After talking to my neighbor Chris, I found out that the thing that the neighborhood was worried about, finally happened! Two cars (neither of them had license plates!) were speeding down the road. The neighbor, trying to slow them down, threw a big piece of wood in the street when they turned around at the end of the street and came back. Instead of slowing down, they went around the wood – one on the right and the other on the left! The vehicle on the left hit the neighbor’s friend which was standing next to the street on private property. He was thrown on the hood of the speeding car (just like in the movies according to Chris!) and then fell off when the vehicle swerved back into the street. Neither of the cars even bothered to slow down much less stop! We don’t know yet the extent of the injuries the friend sustained, but he was taken to the hospital by the ambulance. So, when exactly did this street become a race track?

Chris was extremely upset. Not only did his friend get seriously injured, but it could have been his six-year old daughter or any of the other neighborhood kids! We (Chris, myself, and hopefully the rest of the neighborhood) are now petitioning the City to install some sort of traffic calming measure, like warning signs or speed bumps. Personally, I don’t think the warning signs will do any good since apparently the 25 mph speed limit sign isn’t slowing anybody down! But getting the City to install speed bumps is going to be an uphill battle!  Chris said if the City won’t install any, he’ll pour concrete on the street and create his own speed bump!

More on this after our battle with the City!