Doing It

Getting brave, now!  Recently signed up for a very useful site that provides a FREE website - great for newbies! - which can actually earn money: pre-loaded with 3 affiliate links, using Clickbank for payments.  I also took the rash decision - perhaps prematurely? (time will tell) to opt into the paid version, which is a total of another 10 such sites.  Will be doing a review (see Reviews Page) about this set-up shortly.

Partly as a result of signing for this site, I’ve also signed up with Squidoo - a free site that’s not unlike a blogging site, if a little more sophisticated.  More on this later, when I’ve got under the skin of Squidoo better.  The aim is to attract traffic here - so the content needs beefing-up smartish, which also gives me an incentive to update this blog more frequently.  This is important!  Fresh material encourages visitors to return regularly.  It also needs to be informative.  So here’s the info:

The site I signed up to is run by YourBiz.

Visit http://www.yourbizwebsites.com/peterpj

to have a decco, and the chance to sign up for your own free site.  The plus points are: you get a professionally-prepared site up and running very quickly, with the potential to earn from the ready-installed links to 3 other sites.  The downside is you won’t be building your own list of visitors.  However, it’s a great starting-point for newbies who need to build an income-stream.

You will need a free Clickbank account for this site.  You can either follow the link on the YourBiz sign-up page, or go straight to: http://www.clickbank.com

Clickbank itself is a fabulous source of affiliate material.  Newbies might find it a bit daunting to plunge in there!  I know I do.  But I will be doing!  Watch this space!

In the meantime, I am preparing the review of the free site, to be followed later by a more extensive review of the paid-for sites.  Come back soon!

Take care

Peter

Boy, have I ever found a couple of brilliant sites!
The first is a forum for Internet Marketers: HowToCorp (the link’s also in the Blogroll).  If ever newbies needed a forum for help and assistance, and to promote their own web-sites, this has to be it!  A wealth of information, including free downloads, thousands of threads, plus an option to get your sales letter critiqued by experts, web-design help, you name it.  Not to be missed!

The second is an on-line school where you can learn all you need to know about setting up your own e-business.  This has to be essential for all newbies!  It’s a mind-blowing facility and a superb resource whether you’re a newbie or experienced.

Charlie Williams’ Our Internet School has it all: free downloads, products, and bonuses, helpdesk,  affiliate links for earning money, promotional tools, even a chill-out page just for laughs (the Playground) plus a school Library where you can download and read classic literature!  The man himself, on his own admission, comes from where I was at.  Been there, done that, bought the… you know what I mean.  He talks my language - and hopefully yours, as well.  Go have a look.  I mean, how much more do you need?  On short acquaintance, I can heartily recommend this site!

I have also taken the bold step of investing in some ready-made sites.  There will be more news on this coming soon.  If it takes off as promised in the hype, I will be recommending it, don’t worry!

Catch you later

Peter

Time to cease faffing about and get stuck in.  I started this blog with such wonderful intentions, yet done very little to push it forward.  In this, I guess I’m probably much like many other newbies.  “What do I do next?”

 I’ve started my own off-line journal, to log my activities and progress (of which, so far, there has been very little!).  In this journal, I am making useful notes to myself, summarising information I have gleaned from elsewhere, as well as any insights I have realised for myself.  One day (not too far away), this may become a useful resource for others currently in my situation.

The main point at the moment is to devise a simple set-up that includes all I want to achieve as a start-up enterprise: a working website that is easy to maintain, and a back-up system to enable me to keep accurate records of progress.  I think of it as a ‘turn-key’ project: almost idiot-proof, yet fully working.  Such a system could form the basis of a profitable income=builder later on - there is going to be a market among other newbies looking for help to get going.

The point here is that this idea is in line with my avowed intention to help others to help themselves.  Team-work and coaching; a built-in training system for other new starters.  Wish I had exactly that!  One thing I do know: many successful entrepreneurs got to where they are by helping others.  And it’s something I believe in.

 So lets do it!
Peter

Well, that’s the vacation over.  Back to work.  We visited Lanzarote, in the Canary Islands.  Our first visit there.  Great resort, great weather, great company, plenty of chilling out.

But, you know what?  Something really bugged me, the whole time we were there.  It was having to watch what we spent.  And I hated it!  You work hard all year, to be able to afford a decent vacation, and you still have to watch what you spend!

I really hate this!  And now we’re home, and my car has failed it’s MOT test (the annual mechanical check).  So this morning we took it to the breaker’s yard and parted company after 11 years, which leaves me desperately seeking ways to afford a replacement when I’m already in debt to my eyeballs!

I really hate this!  Hence this online venture.  I will turn my life around!  The time for stalling is over - this means war!

Look out for all kinds of stuff within this blog - I spent a lot of time (and money) acquiring knowledge and information.  It will appear within this site over the following weeks.

 See you later…

Peter

Well, it’s taking longer than I wanted - but with limited spare time, I half expected that.

 I’ve learned 2 important lessons:

1. Backups are essential: I already messed up the Reviews page, which I now have to edit back to the original layout.  A backup would have meant a simple replacement solved that problem.
2. Staying focussed is every bit as hard as I thought it would be.  Too easy to be distracted - I want this blog to be perfect, but the important thing is to get it running!  The tweaking can wait.
3. Oh - and a third point: for my own benefit, I’m making notes about what I’m doing, and how I’m doing it.  With these for reference, I’ll save time later when I come to improve or expand this site, instead of fumbling through the menus looking for which option does what.  I could even turn these into a reference manual for others to use.

Onward, then, on this voyage of discovery.  First, I have to fix the Reviews page…

This is an online record of my e-business progress.  I don’t know if anyone else has done anything like this, but here I go anyway.  This is not a carefully-prepared rehash of progress already made - this is it, as it happens!

I have spent a lot of time getting to this point.

I’ve done a lot of reading - stuff written by successful internet entrepreneurs (I’ll tell you who they are as we progress).  I’ve downloaded hundreds of articles, e-books, software etc, etc, over several years.  I’ve spent several hundred (possibly thousands) pounds sterling on courses and information CDs.  I even have resell rights to lot of this stuff.  Until now, I’ve done nothing constructive with any of it.  You know why?

I’m scared!  Sound familiar?  I bet it does!

I know I can do it.  I WILL do it!  But that first step is scary.  That’s why I titled this blog ‘Just Do It’.  Now is the time to do it, so here goes.  Travel with me, and learn as I learn - I promise it’ll be an interesting, educational, and ultimately very rewarding trip!

First off, I even have to learn this blogging software.  I’m using WordPress, supplied by my webhost, 1&1.  If you want to know more, follow the link  on the left.  They’re good, and not expensive - I’ve been with them for a couple of years.

You will find a growing list of links: I intend to build a comprehensive set of affiliate links to information I know is good, as well as develop my own websites as time goes on.  I will be promoting and selling primarily Information Products, but there will be quirky, personal additions as well - watch this space!

Let’s introduce some structure here.  I want you to benefit from this as much as I do.  Eventually I’ll probably edit it into a course or an ebook that I can sell.  Why not?  Plenty do, and while a lot of it is barely worth the money, the good stuff keeps selling, because it’s still relevant.  I can do that!  In the meantime, you can benefit from my learning curve, for free!

So I’m scared, right?  What of?  Failure, definitely.  Getting it wrong.  Letting customers down - I’m very customer-oriented, partly because of my job, and partly because of the way I am: I’m a customer, too, and I like to be treated with courtesy and respect - which is how I try to treat the customers I meet.  Do unto others…

So Stage One is getting your head right. You’ll find my ideas on the Easy Stages page.

Tell you what - WordPress may be a great blogging tool, but I don’t find it intuitive to use. It’s a steep learning curve! After one false start (deleted the whole blog and re-started from scratch), I’m getting there (I hope!). Please let me know I’m not alone…