Network Marketing Leads

In these tough economic times you need a recession proof business and strategy in business to make sure you and your family are secure.

But hope is not a strategy, you need a solid well-crafted plan.

I know. I only realized after being a firefighter for an entire decade and then getting hurt and being disabled and unemployed the dangers of depending upon a job to take care of you. Id given all my time, and effort to build a career that I thought was going to last a lifetime but once I was hurt it was over. I was lucky though because the education Id attained over the years gave me the options to start my own recession proof business and gave me the strategy in business to look for opportunities when they arose. I was lucky, but many are not. Thats why you need to look for the right network and strategies to protect yourself during these strance economic times. 50 years ago the American dream was based on spending your life working for a living these days its about acquiring the freedoms to get you the time money and freedom to do more with your time, and more with your energy. Leverage is what you need, and that is what we offer you.
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1. Generating Network Marketing Leads
So I got a question today about generating network marketing leads by creating web content, and building your own leads funnel for no cost or minimal cost.

This network marketer had been in the industry for several years and had had a hard time putting her mind around how exactly sho could generate leads simply by giving away the information she had in her head.

I told her that generating leads really starts in her head, either she should begin trying to really decrease the size of the roadblock she'd set up for herself, or she should get out of network marketing all together.

Can you see why it's so important to put you mind into a success/problem solving mindset? It's because as a lead generation consultant you ARE simply a problem solver, that's it nothing more, nothing less. You need to help your prospects and leads solve their problem, you do this by giving away relevant pertinant information.

These techniques were new to my new lead. Sh e had been schooled in the "old way" of building an MLM business, she thought that she needed to pitch people on her products and opportunity. I told her my story and how I'd found the "old school" method had been a veyr innefficiant way for me to build a business, and that the new way was a whole lot easier. She sounded skeptical when I hung up the phone with her, I wonder if she'll take the next step?

I kind of doubt it. Some people can't handle the truth. If you'd like some really quality information on building your network marketing leads funnel, here's a good article, written by yours truly.

Modestly,
Be well,
Jesse Boland

Nurturing Network Marketing Lead to MLM Success

2. Network Marketing Leads
If you've been frustrated trying to generate network marketing leads for your business here are some really good tips to help you get started generating more leads and well on your path to MLM success.

When you first start trying to market using the Internet it's almost natural to start hyping whatever it is you're selling. I know I did when I first got started. I know better now, but when I look back to how I was going about trying to build my business it makes me cringe a little.

The first step is really getting right in your head about helping your prospects discover a solution to a problem they're having. Say you're a rep for a company that sells nutritional supplements, starting from a point of offering advice about nutrition and how your products have helped get you healthy is a great starting point.

So as you flesh out what your personal story is you should definitely start documenting it on a blog, like this one. You'll naturally begin "attracting" people to you who are looking for a solution much like you're offering.

The next step is optimizing what you're writing. Finding a good set of "keywords" to optimize your content for is the best way to begin targeting specific groups of people based on what they're looking for. I like to add these words to my Veretekk marketing system. What this allows me to do is broadcast my content from 42 different places all over the web, and allows me to optimize my content to help my blog rank higher in the search engines naturally.

Plus the Veretekk system is also a network marketing leads generation system at the same time, so it brings prospects to me and helps me build my email leads list just by blogging and connecting my traffic portals together. If you need some free MLM success training, I suggest getting on one of about 10 free trainings Veretekk does everyday.

Thanks for reading this,
Be well,
Jesse Boland

3. New Network Marketing Leads and MLM Success Site
If you've been looking for a good solution to discover exactly how you can generate network marketing leads and achieve MLM success, I've created a new authority website on building your network marketing business the right way.

Here's the site: Network marketing leads and MLM Success Please check it out if you're really serious about building good traffic and generating amazing quality leads for your MLM business.

Thanks for checking it out,
Be well,
Jesse Boland

Generate Network Marketing Leads

4. Network Marketing Leads Blog
Hello everyone, because I like to stuff 100 pounds of shit in a ten pound bag, I've started another blog on wordpress to supplement what I have here. Obviously since I haven't posted to this one in over a month and a half, I've got too many irons in the fire.

Please check out my other blog when you get a chance. I like the Wordpress' setup a little more than Blogger's, what do you think? Here's the Network Marketing Leads Blog

Come over and visit when you get the chance, also make sure to check out the resources on the right hand of this page too if you're looking for some no hype information that will help you build an excellent business. Thanks and I'll be posting on this blog in the near future.

5. Why Lead Generation and Network Marketing are Kissing Cousins. . .
The relationship of lead generation to your online business seems self-evident.

However, to many people I talk to in my own network and many of my prospects, generating enough leads to keep their business afloat is THE #1 challenge they have in making their business run.

It's true, generating enough high quality leads is probably the hardest thing to learn in online business. . . everything comes after you generate a lead (ie. sale, service, ongoing consumption) is the ultimate goal of your business. However, many people get wrapped up in making sales rather than focusing their energy on the really hard part, finding the right section of their market to make their offering to, and turning prospective buyers (suspects) into prospective customers (prospects).

This idea is key. You can use the shotgun approach, spend a lot of extra energy, time, and money trying to get "everyone" or you can laser-focus your target and pick and choose exactly who you want to work with. It's your decision.

6. Tax Time in LaLa Land
I don't like doing taxes, not that that makes me unique. I don't think I hate them as much as some people, but for the small home-based business owner, I can't quite justify hiring an accountant (yet), but my taxes trend toward a little confusing.

Multiple streams of income from different places, accounts that generate income, expense accounts, payments, online payment processors, and on and on. It's hard for me to keep it all straight, and I, being a little too right-brained for my own good at times, like to procrastinate. I despise all those lucky souls that come to me all chipper at the beginning of February, "Oh, I just got my tax refund, so I'm headed out shopping."

For the independent business owner a refund is not in my future, since I don't have an accountant (yet), I like to wallow in my profits until it's time to give a lot of them back to their rightful owner, yes, the IRS. There must be better things to do with my money than spending them fighting this war, or funding these ridiculous presidential campaigns. . . I just don't know what right now.

7. Secrets of Network Marketing Lead Generation
Good information about the secrets of network marketing lead generation. How to find your target market, brand yourself online, use social marketing sites to find "like-minded" people to network with. No hype information about gaining position and leverage online. How to set up a no cost social network marketing lead generation campaign.

read more digg story

8. Why Money is So Easy to Talk About. . . and Why You Shouldn't
Sales is about trading value for value. When you give someone something of value, you can expect to receive something in return, right?

It's a real simple equation to figure out, it's so simple in fact we sometimes do it without even thinking about it.

So, when you see an advertisement "Make $20,000 in a Month," and then you see the price tag of $3,000 for the product or service, your mind (working on autopilot) automatically says $20,000 > $3,000. . . and thinks "Hey that's a smoking deal because I'm going to receive more value than I expend!"

It's then your rational side gets involved in the equation and starts thinking about "what if it's a scam," "what if they're not telling the whole story," and goes through your whole bag of reasons why it won't work for them.

All the red flags (natural defenses) your prospect has built start screaming at them "STOP!"

Your prospect puts up barriers automatically, the decision is no longer easy, it has to be processed by the mind, benefits must be weighed, risks, doubts, insecurities, and past experiences all come rushing to the surface. Even if they do take the risk, 99% of the time they're doomed to failbecause there are too many internal roadblocks to overcome.

You've opened up a cornucopia of crap inside your prospect and all you've done is present them with an offering. Why do you want to make it so bloody hard for yourself?

Many times people who advertise with $ signs, have $ issues themselves (and not good money issues).

They don't understand that value and money are rarely equal . . . often knowledge, willingness to help, and yes "FREE" really will help you grease the slide toward generating more leads and making more sales and yes making more money.

But that doesn't mean that your aren't giving away more than you're making. Napolean Hill wrote "determine exactly what your intend to give in return for the money you desire (There is no such reality as something for nothing). When all you're giving away is the empty promise of more money than someone is spending to acquire it, what you're really giving away is nothing. And that's exactly what you can expect to get back. Does that make sense?

Make your prospect feel like you're heaping on the value. That you're giving and willing to give tham far more than you'll take from them. This is the magic of sales, lead generation, and building good relationships. If you'd like more tips on generating more leads for your network marketing business check out Renegade University - they've certainly given me more than my fair share.

Thanks,
With a servant's heart,
Jesse Boland

Check me out on Digg. . . sign up for a free account and learn more network marketing lead generation tips

9. Why Don't They Call? Why Generating Leads Seems So Hard and How You Can Make It Easy.
We've all been there. . . wondering why it is that your marketing just doesn't seem to be drawing people to it. You've followed the advice, you've spent the time tweaking, but the leads just don't start developing like you want them to. What do you do?

Do you start scrapping your plans? Reorganize your office. Search for better keywords to target? Spend more money on new products? Spend more money on advertising? QUit your business entirely? It's a pretty scary proposition for the new business owner to start thinking of spending more. . . money, time, energy, they're all precious and for the business owner who is struggling to find a balance, you know something is wrong with your marketing, but what?

I know for me it took me three months of diligent honest-to-goodness hard work to start generating leads for my network marketing business.

Day after day with no results, it took all the will I had to really trust the process would actually work for me. Was I doing everything right? No, but I also wasn't doing everything wrong either. I didn't know what worked so I was just acting in the dark, it was tough to keep going, and I felt like giving up many times. I'm so glad I stuck it out.

It is easy to think that I had to prime the marketing pump. But the truth is, I didn't know what worked so I was marketing in the dark, I didn't know what my "target audience" was. In fact I didn't even know what a target audience was.

But as I've begun seeing results from my marketing efforts I realize that "target audience" is not the best route to take in targeting my marketing. You need a target profile. One person you market to exactly. You stop taking the shotgun approach to marketing, you are more of a marketing sniper.

You are talking to one person who has one problem. But the fact is their are many many "one person" people out there experiencing the same problem and searching for your solution. If you're looking to boost your network marketing lead generation, you have to create a target profile of exactly whom you're looking for.

So how do you create a "target profile"? You have to figure out how to appeal to your exact prospect, get into their head, talk to them, and find out which of your target market's problems you can engineer your business around. As you do this you'll really begin to appeal to your exact target and your business will grow quicker than you've ever imagined.

So there you have it,
With a servant's heart,

Jesse Boland

Network Marketing Lead Generation
Team Building

10. Network Marketing Lead Generation Secrets:
What kind of impact do we have on others' lives? It's a good question. I've been wondering this for a long time and things are moving in the right direction for my business, and for my team.

I was watching this video today by Wayne Dyer, he talks about how the true key to getting what you want, whether that be $100,000 or 1 person to talk to for your business is realizing that you have everything you need in your life right now. Going at things by realizing you have enough in your life right now takes the pressure off you to get more done. The real self-actualizing people are flexible enough to handle anything in their life. They make the best of things. They don't look at their life as being empty, their lives are full. Here's the video I watched it's great:

I talk with a lot of network marketers struggling to attain "success," they're stressed out because they're spending money, they expend energy in pursuit of some intangible goal called "success". They don't understand how every roadblock they're faced with in their life and business is really a blessing. The good and the bad are what you need right now. As you process through these hardships in your life and business you become better.

Dyer talks about how when you squeeze an orange you get orange juice. . . it is much the same with people. The true measure of what you are comes out when you're squeezed a little. I know in my life it's been true. The worst times of my life have proven to me that I could deal with almost anything. Business doesn't seem so hard when you're sitting in complete dispair.

Here is the key information for me to become successful in my own business: Marketing Merge

Lead generation is the key to making money in the network marketing industry, but you must visualize your success. One of my teachers called this visualization marketing. . . visualize the types of people you want to talk to in your business and act in accordance with your vision and those people will begin coming to you almost magnetically.

I hope you'll listen to Dyer's words and realize that if you're struggling in your business it is only a matter of changing your perception that you need to turn things around.

Thanks,
With a servant's heart,
Jesse Boland

Network Marketing Lead Generation

11. Simple Business Strategy: Are Two Minds Sabotaging Your Effectiveness?
Trust is the core of performance. I was reading Timothy Gallwey's The Inner Game of Tennis last night before bed. He talks about how real personal performance happens when the "self-talk" between Self 1 (ego mind) and Self 2 (body) quiets down and the two work in harmony together.

This is easily applied to business, especially for a one-man-army like mine. The pressure of running all aspects of a business can become overwhelming at times, especially when you're performing new tasks. Everything takes more time and energy than you really seem to have. New tasks take longer than you plan for, your sales-letter isn't written perfectly, your website template isn't just right. . . and on and on. You get trapped in the self-defeat of having to be perfect, perform perfectly, and pretty soon you can be bound up - tight as a tick.

Self 1 gets into the mode of feeling like it must control Self 2. When this happens, either your work is strained or nothing gets done, because you're paralysed be self-doubt and perfectionism. It's a vicious circle. Less and less gets done until something gives. Usually at these times it's good to take a break from your work, allow self 1 a little time to calm it's nerves, stimulate it in some way other than control. Take a walk and force it to let go of it's grip of Self 2.

One way I've found that helps combat the tyrant, is building systems that work regardless of whether you're in the throes of a Self 1 panic attack, these are ways I've found that lesson my need to control all aspects of my business at all times. Leverage is an easy way to build a business that will perform well regardless of you. Lead generation campaigns are similar, you do the initial work up front then you reap the rewards of the good work on the backend.

I use the Veretekk system for my network marketing lead generation it works really well and once the work is done once, the hub of your system is in place, which frees you up to get more done without the constant need to control all the aspects of your business. It's truly hands-off marketing. Which allows you piece of mind to move onto different aspects of your business.

Thanks,
With a servant's heart,
Jesse Boland

Team Building
Join my new Renegade Disciples Social Marketing Group

12. The Network Marketing Secret of Like Minds
I'm often asked by folks and prospects how they can generate more leads from their activities.

I ask them who their target market is, and it's like I can hear the crickets chirping in the background. Of course they haven't targeted a market, or a group of people who they have an affinity with, and thus are having a hard time generating leads because they don't know what to say and who to say it to. But we've all been there, I know I have.

When you take your ques from the generic network marketing advertising circulating all over the Internet it would seem like everyone has to compete in what I call "Make all the money as fast as you can!" market. This is business suicide.

Not only will you come off sounding like a complete dill-weed to any good prospects who might actually see your offer, but you're going to brand yourself as "one of those money guys."

Everyday on my Facebook someone invites me to check out their newest money making scheme, and these are people I know who're struggling to make any money at all, yet they're pitching me to join their latest and greatest deal. I just want to tell them: "Hey instead of pitching your friends on your latest deal, why don't you try and figure out a hungery market that wants you, and go talk to it?"

But I guess this sounds like too much work. Too much trouble. It's the people who realize they have an affinity with a certain small gorup of people on the Internet and then they talk only to those folks that really learn to succeed. Of course they also use social networking sites like facebook, digg, squidoo, and hubpages, but they use their friends on those sites as insulation and proof that you have something to say that other well respected business people enjoy.

They build relationships with people strategically, but also to help those other people get ahead too. That's really the secret of network marketing lead generation: be willing to suceed by helping others get ahead. If you're looking for a great way to learn the network marketing secret ~ please check out Renegade University.

Thanks,
With a servant's heart,
Jesse Boland

Team Building

13. Network Marketing Lead Generation and the Renegade Network Marketer
Do you want to know the secret to network marketing lead generation? and how to apply it to your business today without expense? It's a question I've heard a lot while prospecting and working with my downline.

"How do you put the amazing principles of Ann Sieg's Renegade Network Marketer together in a way that will generate more leads, generate a profit for me on the front end, and build my business in an ethical way, without making me or my prospects uncomfortable?"

Okay maybe there are three parts to that question, but that's all right. They all dovetail into one real answer that neatly ties up the lead generation question: "Let your prospects know you care about their success."

People looking for a home business are often in uncomfortable situations in their lives. Maybe they've lost a job, maybe they just got divorced, maybe they've been working in a dead-end-job for 25 years and they wake up screaming "NO NOT ANOTHER DAY OF WORK AT THAT PLACE!"

I don't know everyone's situation, but what I do know is people who are actively looking for a way to earn an income, leave their job, or find a way to feel successful in their life are uncomfortable in one or more ways in their everyday life.

So why do so many people prospect with "Make $10,000 in Two Weeks!" when what your ideal prospect wants to hear is how they can earn a real reliable income from the comfort of their own home just following directions, and you are willing to guide him or her.

Meeting your prospect where they're at is not as hard as you think. It takes a little more work for you to position how you're going to find your target market, and how you're going to persuade, but in the end network marketing lead generation becomes a science of following your formula for finding your ideal customer and client.

For more tips on network marketing lead generation

Thanks,
With a servant's heart,
Jesse Boland

Renegade University
Renegade Disciples Social Community

14. The Secret of Lead Generation
Being yourself is under-rated, especially online. The best bloggers, the best webmasters, and businesses know the power of presenting a well-crafted and honed personality to represent their online presence.

Who would you rather buy from or work with? A friend with a sarcastic sense of humor, opinionated, wry, but someone you tend to agree with 100% and you know they have your best interests in mind. Or would you rather buy from someone you can't personally stand, but their offer just sounds too good to be true? For my money, I'd always go with the person I trust. What about you?

If there is a misconception online it's the power of being yourself, being impeccable with your word and opinion, giving advice only because it's important to you, not because you stand to profit from it (even if you do). We should always treat our readers witht he resepct we'd hope to receive from them. For me, the simplest truths almost always are the real truths.

Thanks,
With a servant's heart,
Jesse Boland

15. Lead Generation and The Art of Willingness
I was listening the other day about attraction marketing and had a little bit of a revelation as far as when I feel best about my business. I feel best about my business when I'm totally clear about exactly what and how I'm going to do that day. Let's say one day I produce 10 leads through my network marketing lead generation system.

Usually this comes after I begin seeing results, I see something is working and I'll double my efforts to make it work more. But when I get down is when a plan or strategy doesn;t come together, or I'm not seeing the results of my actions as quickly as I'd like.

As a pretty high-strung person I have to admit I tend toward the zealot side when it comes to my business. And I've been in business long enough to know what works for me personally and what doesn't, but sometimes I find myself down-hearted about something that didn't work out perfectly, and I let it get me in a funk. Do you do this too?

I'm realizing that it's not so much what you do with your time when you're on a roll, it's what you do with your time when you're struggling. Are you willing to put in that extra effort to make yourself successful. Success begets success as they'd say. If you strat seeing routine successes you'll be lifted up toward doing more effective processes and you'll see more success.

Thanks,
It's late yet still, with a servant's heart,

Jesse Boland
Team Building
Network Marketing Lead Generation

16. Network Marketing Secret ~ Is There One?
I spent a long time looking for the magic button. . . magic button you ask? Yep, I thought there was a network marketing secret that would make me successful in my business.

What have I learned? I've discovered that the real secret to network marketing success is consistant action, using the right tools, and constant actions toward a goal is the only real successful strategy you need to become successful in you business.

As you act consistantly, you'll naturally produce results ==> as you see results you focus more and more on those actions, becoming better and better at what you're doing ==> producing more results. At first you don't see the results of your actions, and it makes it really hard to keep acting. This is where trust comes in. . . and I've struggled with this trust more than most people.

You have to visualize exactly what kind of results you want to see from your business, the types of people you want to attract to your business, and ultimately what lecel of success you'd like to see from your business. It doesn't happen overnight.

So what are the most focused actions you can take today:

Start a new focused blog or website, with your exact target audience in mind. Focus every post on that exact audience. If you're having problems figuring out the exact market you'd like to target check out Renegade University ~ we'll help you.
Open a facebook account, update your profile and request to become 10 people's friends, send each one a personal invitation describing who you are.
Open a Squidoo account and look at building a lens on any topic that interests you.
If you'd like to get a little more complex check out my network marketing secret weapon: Veretekk, to really get targeted leads coming to you for free. But this is only for the more advanced folks.

So there is is, my post for today. I hope this helps you get into action for your business' well-being.

Thank you,

With a servant's heart,

Jesse Boland

http://www.teambuildinginformation.com/

17. My Shiny New Blog - Network Marketing Lead Generation Secrets
Welcome,

Not that there's any really needed since nobody is going to be reading this post for a really long time. But there is hope and optimism in the air, and there's just something kind of nice about starting a new blog.

As the title suggests this blog is about network marketing and lead generation secrets that can help you build a bigger, more profitable business. There's no real "secret" about what generates good leads for your network marketing business. It's content, pure and simple. Content is the motor that drives the Internet.

Sure you can generate leads in the "old" style of network marketing, getting large groups of people together in the "party plan" harassing your friends, neighbors, and family, all of that good stuff. . .
. . . but with the rise of social media, and the power of the Internet, I personally have to admit, don't feel real comfortable building my business any other way than utilizing the Internet. I guess you could say I'm a bit of an introvert. Not that that's a bad thing, I just feel much more comfortable being myself, by myself.

So there it is, my first post,
Thanks for reading,
An introvert with a servant's heart,

Jesse Boland

Support my blog:
Check out these great resources:
Renegade University
Team Building

Copyright © 2007 Sohomatic.com.

Feeds for The SOHO Quest [ ]

1. Move on from "Making Money Online" Blogging Myth
MoneyMashup Updates for Auto-pilot Income

If you have been blogging for any length of time you will come to find it to be a lousy money making proposition. I continue to blog essentially for three or four reasons now. Ultimately you need several blogs to use for building links. You also need niche specific blogs to promote your niche websites.

Other things that keep me blogging are the social aspects, the fact I can use blogs to voice my opinions unedited by others, and blogging allows me to practice my writing skills. Heck, I might even pass on some of the valuable lessons I have learned, and save some people on their learning curve time.

This post started out as an update on my Affiliate Mashup Sites as part of a beta program being developed by Mark Wielgus at 45n5.com, so here goes. I now have 11 "mashupmony" websites in the hopper.

The two newest being HDTV411.info and MiniPConline.info. Since we all have a fat chance of making any money blogging, you might as well avoid all of the Internet tripe, and learn how to market online. These beta sites are not too pretty, but I did build ten in less than a week.

2. Mashups for Money - Marketing on The Internets with The Google
I have learned that blogging is critical to marketing online, but not a means to an end. Learning the ropes of Internet marketing is far more important. There are only a few ways to make money in the off line world, and so it is the same in the online world, according to the prophecy.

It's always going to be trading time for money (labor), buy something that appreciates and then sell it for a gain (investments), or sell something (products and services). Most people can't get their heads wrapped around these simple concepts. BTW, the virtual world offers all three of the same opportunities.

The other part of the equation is learning how to automate each step of the process. This is where the Internet gurus get you, and most of them are not even making money in a traditional monetizing scheme. They are just selling you a load of crap about how to write blogs, get traffic, and sell ads, paid posting, or sell stupid Get Rich Quick schemes, software, CDs, ebooks, and other materials.

Well, what are you going to do with that traffic? Sell your readers and visitors another load of the same money making BS with rehashed information and How-to-Guides? Those that can "do", and those that can't "teach". This is why there are no big secrets. You have to learn how to "market something" online. It's going to be your time for cash, a gain on an investment, or selling a product or service, period.

This is where mashup websites come into play. Fully automated...find a niche...load up some keywords...and presto you have a viable selling site using the power of the Internets, The Google, and tried and true affiliate marketing.

Here are a few of my first mashup sites. Some of these may not yet be indexed, as I have just built these sites in the last two days.

Best Laptop Cases
Wind Power Products
Best Water Filters
Gas Motor Scooter Info
Electric Power Scooters
Best Rugged Laptops
Online Solar Power
Wi-Fi Tech and Gadgets
Unlocked Cell Phones ETC

Stay in touch, come back to this blog and leave comments, and let me know if you want to learn how to do this. My SOHO blogging has been way light...but then there is a reason.

3. SpiderWeb Will Rock the Web
Whoa Baby! This blog is getting whiskers. Anyone that has followed my path will know that I now have been heavy into educating myself about Internet marketing. Thus, the reason for no posts.

But I have been busy and on assignment. One of the keepers is a beta program known as The SpideWeb Marketing System. If you have seen it in passing, but did not consider it...time to time warp for a reconsider. I think this is going to be the next big monetizing scheme for the web.

Many have tried to create a self-sustained or auto-pilot system. This puppy started out with 12 streams of income, but now has 22. I have a gut feeling it's going to be a winner.

It still is in beta, so do get in now to position yourself. Leave a comment if you want to join my team. It's no cost, but I also don't need any slackers. Yes, I will drag you along, but you have to do exactly as I say and follow a plan of action.

Check out my blog on the subject, too, at "The SpiderWeb System Information and Reviews".

4. EZ-20-NOW Reviews and Review Blogs
Time to crank up the older blogs for some testing of marketing ideas and some Google juice. I have spent the first part of 2008 reviewing online marketing ideas. I continue to weed out the chaff and look for simple ideas. Solid and quick programs that can be developed and promoted with SSM and SMO.

The vision is still to be a sovereign road warrior with a rugged laptop and a cell phone. The first program I am testing is Easy-20-Now, or EZ20NOW. I have actually started a review blog. Drop by at EZ20NOW Reviews and leave a comment and extend a linking hand. This program is cheap, simple, and does not have a scam feel with all the hype. I am doing my homework before I get too deep.

You may want to watch all my blogs as I pull it all together. I spent the better part of 2007 just reading, researching, and learning how to market online. Yes Virginia, social media marketing does work, but it takes a long time, and the learning curve is steep.

5. How to Produce 365 Videos in One Year
(Archived in: Online Income Reviews)

If you have been involved in the blogosphere for long, you know that many bloggers are gravitating towards video aka Video blogs, Vlogs, Vidcasts, or a Video Podcast.

This is a heads up on Mark Wielgus at 45n5.com. Mark is on top of online trends, and I am here to tell you that he researches, tests, and reports on things you will come to appreciate on a daily basis. All the information in this post was gleaned from 45n5. My belief is that Mark combines some marketing savvy with geekdom knowhow. He even writes simple, but useful utility programs and then gives them away for free on the blog. Here is a recent link to one he dubs "Keyword Scrubber".

45n5.com has turned into one of the few blogs I simply must check out on a daily basis. Now Mark is committed to deciphering Affiliate Marketing as a top priority. Another project he is combining with this effort is his personal mission to produce and post a video every day in 2008.

I think with 365 videos in the planning, his little experiment is one to watch for trends, plus the techniques, tips and tricks he is bound to uncover along the way. So, if you want to make 365 videos in one year, watch this guy in 2008 and I think you will learn something.

6. Prioritize Your Blogging for 2008
(Archived in: Social Media Marketing Social Media Optimization)

Welcome to the New Year! I have been spending the last week planning for 2008, which has included changes to my blogging style. If you follow my blogs, you know that I have decided to concentrate on Digital Nomads and The Rugged Notebooks Blog as my main focus for blogging, and with less frequent posting to this blog and The Sovereign Journey.

This is not for a lack or loss of interest, but merely a necessity of time management. Regardless, my blog niche revolves around the central theme of mobility and using technology to be independent. So, you can always check back here and/or catch my more frequent updates at the Rugged Notebooks or Digital Nomads sites. My plan this year is to move to private domains.

One thing I have been doing is writing more focused posts...themed, if you will, or a series of posts on a subject of interest. Recently, this has had a major slant towards telecom, and in particular new gadgets like MagicJack and VoIP telephoney solutions like Google GrandCentral.

I am finding that being more focused on a particular subject area makes it easier and more interesting to research, test, review, and write. I think my readers appreciate it a well and it is helping in the SERPS.

If you are still blogging, drop me a line and let me know how you are getting on. There seems to have been a drop in the number of friends I met online in 2007 that have continued to blog, or scaled back like I have. -Digital Nomad

7. Twelve Step Program for Email Addicts
(Archived in: Online Usability Reviews)

I saw this over at the BigString 2.0 website and thought it was good advice. BigString is an interesting concept in itself, which I will let you discover for yourself. These 12 items have been edited somewhat, so not to get dinged for duplicate content. There were some typos in the original text anyway. Enjoy.

1. Do not send email when you are angry. Wait until you calm down before you send that email. Feelings and thoughts can be difficult to interpret and easily misconstrued.

2. Never send a sarcastic email that could be taken out of context. Sarcasm and email do not mix. You can easily offend someone in an email without intent to do so.

3. Do not send email gossip. You never know where the email will end up. Just make a commitment to yourself not to participate in any gossip.

4. Never end significant relationships via email. Email is the equivalent of an electronic paper trail. Not good for any sour ending, whether business or personal.

5. If you don't want your boss or coworkers to see it, better not send that email from work.

6. Never put anything in writing that may come back to haunt you. A good overall policy. Not just for email.

7. Never, ever, hit ‘Reply to All’ when you just want to send an email to one individual.

8. Don’t email pictures of yourself to others. Especially, online acquaintances and complete strangers.

9. Don’t make promises or commitments via email that you cannot or will not keep.

10. When you send attachments, be sure that you have selected the correct files and documents.

11. Good advice from New York Governor Elliot Spitzer, “Never write when you can talk. Never talk when you can nod. And never put anything in an email.”

12. Try BigString recallable email. If you do happen to make errors...the recallable, erasable, and non-forwardable features will help to correct such mistakes.

8. How to Build 10-Minute Affiliate Website Mashups
(Archived in: Online Income Reviews)

If you are searching for ways to be innovative with your online marketing, then here is another plug for many of the ideas featured at 45n5.com authored by Mark Wielgus. No, this is not a paid post.

This is the good stuff, it's an addendum to the post on "30 Websites in 30 Days", and Mark calls this his YouTube-Ebay-Amazon Affiliate Website Mashup Thingy.

I have had a few email exchanges with Mark, and these are a few of his cautionary thoughts by way of how he has explained the ideas behind how it should work. Most people will not succeed with this mashup concept, or any other website scripting without the underlying concept and knowledge (or experience from learning) of how to build such a niche site.

Cranking out "out of the box" and rubber stamp solutions is what everybody else is doing. Doing the same thing that everyone else is doing online will bring the same results...which happens to be not making any money online. This also happens to mirror Einstein's theory of insanity, and he was no dummy. It's also making many people wealthy for some pretty worthless online information products.

So, if you use the script out of the box, most of your money will be made from luck or successful keyword research (aka) what words and topics you use to build these niche minisites in mass production.

Now is the time to learn. Take the time to consider doing it right. - Digital Nomad

9. A SOHO Reprise of Honest Riches System
(Archived in: Online Income Reviews)

A 25 Year Old Entrepreneur Making a Living Online from Home

You probably have read about or heard of The Rich Jerk and Chis X of Day Job Killer. If not you better stop and do a Google search right now. About 2 years ago, Holly Mann, a young mother started to successfully market directly against high profile Internet marketing gurus like these guys.

Living in a foreign country with no job and few resources, Holly decided she could research, design, and deliver a kinder and gentler approach to online marketing. Evidently she found her niche selling "How-To" information, because she has become successful in a short period of time (well, a couple of years).

"Honest Riches 2" is a 95 page proven guide. Holly shows all the techniques she has used to make money online through affiliate programs starting with no website and no start-up money, then on to free websites that can easily be setup with little or no experience, including free advertising that most people don't know or think about.

Yes, it seems possible to make money online and work from home just about anywhere (Holly lives in Thailand), but don't quit your day job just yet. You need a system and you need the right tools and knowledge to be successful. Changing your career is a life altering decision.

Before taking the leap, do plenty of due diligence and adequate research for information and resources about starting an online business and becoming an online entrepreneur. This e-book is geared for beginners, but is a valuable resource for all online marketers. No "get-rich-quick" schemes here....like any real business endeavor, it involves some effort and some work. But you will learn strategies and techniques to start making money right away.

To read more about Holly Mann techniques and other online marketers, visit Thank You Holly Mann.

10. John Chow Calls It Quits on Agloco
(Archive in: Weblogs and Business)

After many attempts at beating a dead horse, everyone involved in the Agloco fiasco can now uncross their fingers. It ain't gonna happen. Even John Chow has finally admitted defeat along with almost 30,000 signed up in his Agloco network.

Here is a partial screenshot of his last post on the subject, and here is a link to the post about the Agloco demise at TechCruch. Like John says...it shows that all those MBAs don't always muster up success, even the second time around. For posterity, watch the video on the Agloco viewbar attributes, and think about all the gurus that were on board for this.

11. How to Build 30 Websites in 30 Days
(Archive in Ecommerce SOHO Online Usability)

It may sound implausible, but it is not impossible. Follow this Digital Nomad and you know that just feeding the blogs is not going to cut it anymore. Blogging should be part of your online marketing network, but not a diversion.

I have been searching heavy for the folks that are making it online and not the wannabes. One such source is 45n5.com authored by Mark Wielgus. This guy tells it straight. You have to hunt an peck to find the good stuff, and you will have to piece it together, but I think a good start is on this website.

Mark will show you how to find a niche, create a website in 10 minutes, and then shove it in the pipeline with some SEO tricks. Theoretically, there is no reason why you could not do this everyday for a month and then have 30 minisites up and running for affiliate programs in thirty days. That's if you want to have a website between you and the merchant.

I am finding that you maybe don't even need a website to market affiliate programs, but you do have to commit to spending some money for Google Adword campaigns. Better have a pad and pen ready.

There is always something to learn. Take the time to learn something new each day. - Digital Nomad

12. Thinking Blog Celebrates First Year with A Free Laptop Giveaway
(Archived in: Shoutouts Social Media Marketing)

Anything that goes viral online can be fun to watch, but sometimes it's even more exciting if you are part of the effort with some skin in the game. The Thinking Blog will make you think about many different things, and it will also make you think about viral marketing with the chance to start the new year right with a new laptop computer as part of an online promotion.

You should know Ilker Yoldas as a website developer and graphic designer. Ilker is also a professional blogger. A great combination for promoting ideas and new products online.

The Thinking Blog celebrates its first anniversary with an online giveaway to help get a new product line of rugged computers noticed online and hopefully taking it viral. Few things work as good as "FREE", except maybe these two words combined: "FREE COMPUTER".

The giveaway rules from Ilker state, "To enter our giveaway, all you have to do is write about it in your blog. Ensure you have two links on your blog post, one link with rugged related keywords to RuffPC.com (e.g. "rugged computer", "water resistant laptop", "spill proof notebook", and the likes) and another link to this giveaway post."

With a worldwide entourage of blog buddies and faithful readers, some bloggers become the experts of online marketing by disclosing this online information by showing you what to do. "TTB" is in this category with over 1600 subscribed RSS readers and several thousand new and returning visitors to the blog each day.

To win the free laptop giveaway at The Thinking Blog you have to participate by writing a review in your own blog post. This promotion is being sponsored by Ruff PC, and the computer giveaway is worthy of your participation.

The computer is a brand new, rugged, water resistant laptop called the RuffBook Tech. This road-worthy laptop has a magnesium alloy case, and is built to survive the harshest conditions.

Stop reading about it in this post, and go read the complete entry rules at The Thinking Blog. Now go get your chance at owning a new rugged laptop before the end of 2007. Also, congratulate llker by leaving a comment or two on the blog.

Happy Anniversary! -Digital Nomad

Related Links:

www.thethinkingblog.com or email: ilker@thethinkingblog.com
Contact: Alan Shad, President: www.ruffpc.com
Telephone or email: sales@ruffpc.com

Ideas on How Not to Make Money for The Online Entrepreneur

13. Stop Feeding Your Blogs with Endless Content
(Archived in: Social Media Marketing Social Media Optimization)

I wanted to make a quick update in reference to writing and submitting Pillar Articles to article directories vs. the chore of "Feeding Blogs" with endless content. This test is progressing nicely. I have submitted 5 pillar articles since about the middle of last month.

I know this is working, as I have been posting less to all the blogs I author in varying degrees as a test. This has not affected the blog traffic much at all. Traffic is actually improving, according to StatCounter and Alexa for two of the blogs that I author. One averaging over 10 page views per visitor at the time of this writing.

It may also be that I am now writing better, more focused content, since I do not feel pressured to try and post something every day for the sake of trying to post so frequently.

The five recent pillar articles have been downloaded for publication over 100 times in less than 30 days, and this is just for GoArticles. I periodically will submit similar articles to several of the more popular article directories.

OK. You can "stop feeding your blogs" now, and you also can stop making endless comments on popular blogs, trying to get made a "Fav" on Technorati, and otherwise making the meter go up on metrics that have much ado about nothing when it comes to quality traffic.

I think submitting to article directories will also create better traffic with better long-term and permanent links.

Ideas on How Not to Make Money for The Online Entrepreneur

14. A Cheap Way to Secure Any Domain Dot Com
(Archive in Ecommerce SOHO Online Usability)

Here is possibly a way to secure a domain name when you are in a hurry, and at the worst an extra free email account. You can use your own domain to create a personalized email address for you, a business, or anything else through an AOL service called My eAddress. You have up to 100 invites for others to get their own email address on your domain. The free service is called AOL My eAddress.

Just a few comments and cautions from the TOS. You have to give out quite a bit of personal information, like a valid cell phone number in the US or Canada. Additionally, if you use the "Bring your Own Domain" option, you can use any hosting company you like while using free email service from AOL. However, if you choose the "Popular Custom Domain" option, you will be stuck with AOL as the administrator for the domain, so you will not be able to host a website at that domain.

This could be a catch 22 for your future plans, so please read the "Terms of Service" carefully at AOL My eAddress.

Source: www.nofullstop.com

Ideas on How Not to Make Money for The Online Entrepreneur

15. Planting Seeds with Pillar Articles
(Archive in Ecommerce SOHO Weblogs and Business)

Bouncing around the blogosphere, you may find that many of the well known bloggers are coming to the same conclusions that I already have. Get back to basics, don't worry about PR, Technorati, or Alexa ranking...and concentrate on traffic.

For some people this still means spending horrific amounts of time networking and hitting the social network scene. I am more convinced that writing pillar articles for submission to article directories is a much better approach.

This involves spending more time on research and organizing your thoughts far enough into the future to determine how you can approach a particular subject. You need to write for yourself, but you also need to write about things other people will have an interest in reading.

In many ways this is much better than the prospect of having to write posts just for the sake of writing a post. I know at many times people get a writing block, or just get bored, or even fed up with the notion that they have to "feed the blog" (I think I just coined a useful phrase).

Some of the additional rewards of pillar articles, is that your writing will be more involved and engaging, you will be building authority in one or more areas of personal interest or a niche, and you will be expanding your own knowledge base as you research and process information.

Additionally, you will have a greater chance of having your articles republished elsewhere on blogs and mentioned in references in such a manner that they are permanently linked back to your blogs and websites. Go plant some seeds for future traffic building, and resist the urge to "Feed the Blog".

Ideas on How Not to Make Money for The Online Entrepreneur

16. Google Page Rank Drops Like A Rock for SEO Stars and Network Gamers
(Archive in Ecommerce SOHO Weblogs and Business)

The Death of Page Rank! Everyone is complaining about their PR, or Google Page Rank dropping. I say, "Get over it and move on". As I wrote in a recent post about traffic strategy, it is becoming more obvious all the time that all these ranking metrics really prove is nothing...unless you want to post and brag about how you make the meters move.

Just like Technorati, or Alexa ranking, PR has little or nothing to do with traffic and successful marketing. Anything ill-gotten is just that, "ill-gotten". So, if you have spent months or years gaming the system, don't be surprised to see what your true worth might be in the Blogosphere and the Arpanet.

Take a deep breath, get back to work...and try to learn how to add value to your online projects and for your readers and visitors. Like the book says "Do What You Love, and The Money Will Follow."

I think that all this nonsense is amazing to the true online marketers that know how to push the buttons to make things really work. It once again boils down to Niche, Traffic, Monetization, with the actual "Product" bringing up the rear.

Maybe backwards of how the analog world works, but after all it is a "Market of One" when it come to the Internet and online marketing. Build a better mouse trap and you will be found.

Besides, you really can't toss rocks at Google for trying to plug holes in the dam by making the PR rank more honest. More fun for gamers, too, who just have a burning desire for shortcuts and beating the system.

Now we can all look forward to posts on new theories, new techniques, new ebooks, new widgets, new podcasts, new videos, new ezines, new seminars, new gurus, and new yearly conventions. Page Rank is alive and well, it just no longer is what it had become.

Apologies in advance for all the cliches. - Digital Nomad

Ideas on How Not to Make Money for The Online Entrepreneur

17. What Do Your Phone Numbers Spell?
(Archived in: Social Media Marketing Related Miscellany)

It's the middle of the weekend, so no heavy thought riddled posts today. Just some fun and games to let your mind roam a little. Maybe this should become a habitual weekend exercise to post about. Find something that is lighthearted, but still interesting and write a quick post about it.

I have had this bookmarked for some time, and today finally tried out PhoneSpell.org. Oddly enough, my telephone number does not spell anything. What are the chances of that. I tried both 7-Digit and 10-Digit combinations. This is no joke. Mouseover and click to see larger in a new window.

Oh well, give PhoneSpell a link up and see what you come up with for your numbers. It may give you an idea for a new blog or domain name, jog your memory for a new marketing approach, or just make you laugh. Maybe we can resurrect the notion of the "enum" network.

Sometimes we just need some levity. While you are there, check out the Voice Nation link at the bottom, and help PhoneSpell pay some bills.

Ideas on How Not to Make Money for The Online Entrepreneur

18. Article Directory Submissions vs. Frequent Blog Posting to Drive Traffic
(Archived in: Ecommerce SOHO Weblogs and Business)

Are you lost in the blogosphere? Tired of posting and timestamps? I have been doing some experimenting with the different blogs that I write, including analysis and research about blogs versus websites. This has involved researching the current methods to create traffic, which everyone and their brother has rehashed in posts and how-to SEO ebooks and seminars.

You know, like leaving comments on blogs, posting frequently, writing interesting posts, viral contests, linkbating, joining social networks, etc. These all do work. The caveat is that if you are using some of the monetization schemes that everyone writes about, you first have to have a presence with regard to a Techorati rank, and Alexa rank, or both to get in the game.

The long and the short is that both of these ranking systems have little to do with making money in my mind. I personally have no interest in PPP, PPC, PPA, or any of the advertising schemes that require tons of time and effort. It is a double edge razor blade in my opinion, because you have to spend an unbelievable amount of time socializing and creating backlinks. It also is why bloggers burn out fast.

Technorati is notoriously bad for not sending traffic. And get this...everyone that measures traffic knows that bloggers don't click on ads or text links. So what is the point of pandering to other bloggers in the blogosphere to get their traffic. Even Darren Rowse has recently admitted that Adsense income was no longer worth cluttering his Problogger blog up with ads.

I can almost guarantee that if you spend much of your time in forums and social networks to gain popularity, you will have little to show for it except some nice ranks and bragging rights. All this indicates that it's time to get back to the idea of selling a niche product or service (a real product that fills a need) using a static website and driving traffic to that website. That is what online marketing is about. By best accounts, only a few dozen bloggers make a full time living out of 100 million blogs. Not a very good business model if you ask me.

A good Technorati and Alexa rank may be giving you the illusion that you are successful. The same is true for frequent posting. I have deliberately cut back on posting to see what would happen. You guessed it...Technorati and Alexa ranks drop like a rock, and very quickly. The effort to maintain your rankings is an endless nightmare of posts to blogs, and posting comments to social networks and forums. It is like being a shark, stop swimming and you die.

I am beginning to think a better approach is to use your blogging as part of a network traffic strategy to create desirable traffic. I also am going back to writing "pillar articles" for article directory submission. These end up as permanent links and keep on giving for years to come.

There are only four things that matter in online marketing, and they are in this order of importance:

1. Niche
2. Traffic
3. Monetization
4. Product

Notice that the product is the least important thing. Unless, you just write for kicks or the truly original purpose of blogging...to keep a journal, my money is on investing time online that will produce recurring revenue and better return on your investment of both time and money.

What are your thoughts or experience?

Ideas on How Not to Make Money for The Online Entrepreneur

19. Consider Buying A Rugged Laptop
Author: John Smith

If You Work in Difficult Conditions, Then A Rugged Laptop
May Be Just What the Doctor Ordered

Rugged laptops are not cheap, you may know that already since you are interested in them. And they also don't come with the same configuration as the other commercial laptops you may be used to. What you get instead with a rugged laptop, is the possibility and flexibility to work in a lot of tough locations on difficult weather. That is the real value of a rugged laptop, value that earns all the money you may have paid for it.

If you work in a place where you find one of the below listed conditions, then you should really consider buying a rugged laptop:

Liquid All Over (including on your rugged laptop)

Rugged laptops have sealed keyboards that won't let the water or any other liquid to seep inside. Also, the ports that you will find on a ruggedized laptop are usually protected by efficient covers that keep the liquid away from connectors so you won't experience any unpleasant situations in wet environments.

Strong and Persistent Vibrations

Rugged laptops were designed with this issue in mind, they have strong components, a hard drive that resists to strong vibrations, things that commercial laptops don't do. Put a normal laptop in a vibrating environment and you may have the surprise of loosing data. Not with a rugged laptop.

They are also tested for...

Drops, Drops, Drops

During a work day you may drop your rugged laptop more than once. You should know that all the components inside it are strong and tested to withstand a strong impact: CPU, hard drive, optical devices, etc. The rugged laptop case is also strong not easy to break.

Electromagnetic Fields

Commercial notebooks won't perform well near an electromagnetic area such as radio transmissions, power generators, etc. A rugged laptop was actually designed to work in such environments, environments where commercial notebooks may actually stop working.

About the author:
John Smith is the editor of MagicLaptop.com. Read the complete guide on "How To Buy A Rugged Laptop"
www.MagicLaptop.com

20. Understanding SOHO Shoutouts
(Archived in: Shoutouts Social Media Marketing)

Do you have a list of bloggers you like and want to recognize? This is what my Saturday Shoutouts project is all about.

This is where I give people a mini review as a mention in a weekly post, and then Stumble, Netscape, use other bookmarks, and write a few comments to their blog posts.

This week will be fairly brief with four bloggers instead of the targeted five blogs I attempt to call out each Saturday afternoon. Charlene is recognizing Breast Cancer Awareness Month by doing a pink overhaul at her Casual Keystrokes blog. Scott is happy to be an S.O.B. at Finding Your Marbles (great name for a blog). Then David points out the marketing value of YouTube in a post on Social Media Optimization, and there is Ilker at The Thinking Blog, who is always thinking for us.

Leave a comment and let me know what you are up to with your blogging efforts.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

21. Review of SOHO Phone Guide
(Archived in: Ecommerce SOHO Online Usability)

Doing a recent search on "SOHO", the obvious acronym for Small Office/Home Office (assuming that you are not from New York City), I came across this website for the SOHO Phone Guide.

It is a good example of "soft selling" and using what looks like a free consumer information guide to steer readers to a commercial enterprise. In this case, a shameless plug for Onebox. In my early marketing days before the days of the Internet, this may have also been referred to as an advertorial. A thinly disguised attempt at making an advertisement look like editorial content.

In this case the marketing message may be useful for those that are lazy, or perhaps less adept a putting some of the free online telephony solutions together for use in there small business adventures.

I was a Onebox early adopter when it first came online, and prior to it becoming a paid service. All-in-all, still a good option for those willing to pay a monthly fee for unified messaging and a one number follow-me type telephone service.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

22. Saturday Shoutout Roundup
(Archived in: Shoutouts Social Media Marketing)

Once again time to acknowledge new friends and blogs worthy of note and interest. As is the new twist, you should get 3-4 extra links from being mentioned in my Saturday Shoutouts. Not sure why, but Shoutwire was being obstinate last week. That bookmark has been replaced with a bonus link. You also get a few comment or two on your blog and another Stumble for being picked.

This week we have Patrick from Top Secret Blogger and advice about staying on topic, John the Cow man is proud of his new look at John Cow Dot Com, and thoughtful design with Dawud at DawudMiracle. Round it out with what's up about music and cats at Wtfzup, plus Wendy at the new eMoms at Home (and Dads with Dawud again).

As might be expected, I too need the favors of social media networking, and those beloved comments on my personal blogs at the links that follow. -Digitalnomad

The SOHO Quest
Digital Nomads
The Sovereign Journey
The Rugged Notebooks Blog

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

23. TokBox Alternatives to Video Messaging
(Archived in: Online Usability Technology in Plain English)

Here are a few other online Video Messaging systems I should have mentioned in my last post about TokBox. Everyone that uses the tried and true Skype will know that they have video capability. Other contenders are OoVoo.com, Yahoo Messenger, AIM, and many others I don't care to mention or promote.

Festoon,Inc. had a plug-in for video chat that supposedly worked with both Skype and Google Talk, but the free download is no longer available (website www.festooninc.com domain expired 8-30-07) .

The best of the lot is said to be SightSpeed. Below are two promotional screenshots from the Skype and SightSpeed websites to give you an idea if what to expect.

Sorry to say that I am behind on my testing, and hope to report my personal findings in the near future. No doubt that as telephones and computers continue to converge there will be more "Talk-and-See" options, just like predicted in the Dick Tracy comics and Flash Gordon movies from the 1930s.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

24. TOK While You Chat and Alternative Talk Online with TokBox
(Archived in: Online Usability Technology in Plain English)

This was noted on Jimmy Huen's Blog some time ago last month, and I must admit I was intrigued. Also a little bit embarrassed as I did not have a video camera to test it out. I finally ran out and bought a camera (still in the box).

I do fancy free or near free telephony and communication solutions, and probably will end up building my own private network one way or another. The idea of video chat will certainly figure into those plans. I want to be able to at least have this capability with a rugged laptop and some wireless solutions when on the road.

I still have not had a chance to test TOKBOX, but wanted to at least post about it, and then I can come back and do an update. Michael Arrington at TechCrunch also has said some nice things about it.

"While there are plenty of video chat products out there on the market, including Skype, most of them require at least some software download to the computer. Something about the simplicity of TokBox, which is entirely a web application, suggests it might get very popular very fast."

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

25. Saturday Shoutouts On A Cool September Day
(Archived in: Shoutouts Social Media Marketing)

Here are some Saturday Shoutouts featuring new blog buddies that are always there when you need them. These blogging bright spots help to boost the morale of those around them. There are many, so this will be the first of several posts.

I also want to thank you with these extra links. For this post we have Liz from Successful Blog Dot Com and her well known SOB promotion, Agent Sully at Life Learning Today, Loren with his always interesting Search Engine Jounal, Sujan and Single Grain Dot Com, plus Charlene with some essential info at her Essential Keystrokes Blog.

As an added bonus I also have cast some Reddit votes, Shoutwire (or something else special) for individual posts I have read on your sites. I hope this gets you some extra juice to your blogs.

Should you be inclined to return the favor, I have listed embedded links to all of my personal blog endeavors below to make it easy. Thanks for being there.

The SOHO Quest
Digital Nomads
The Sovereign Journey
The Rugged Notebooks Blog

Leaving a comment or two on my blogs is also always appreciated. -Digitalnomad

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

American Jobs: Going, Going...

Jane Birnbaum
2005
Reprinted from: AFLCIO.org

Corporations are escalating efforts to ship out jobs that pay well and build the middle class�and now they are aiming their axes at workers in the nation�s fast-growing white-collar sector.

The U.S. recession that began in March 2001 officially ended in November 2001, say the National Bureau of Economic Research and other analysts.

So why are so many workers still out of jobs?

�We�ve declared victory over the recession, and we�re still laying off a couple hundred thousand workers a month,� says Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.). �If it weren�t so painful for so many people who are out of work, it would be hilarious. But it isn�t.�

The U.S. economy has 3.2 million fewer jobs today than it did when President George W. Bush took office, including 2.5 million fewer manufacturing jobs. Bush appears headed for the dubious distinction of being the first president since Herbert Hoover to preside over a decline in total employment during his term in office.

In the past three years, nearly one in five U.S. workers was laid off from the job, according to The Disposable Worker: Living in a Job-Loss Economy, a Rutgers University�V University of Connecticut report released in late July. Among workers laid off from full-time work, roughly one-fourth were earning less than $40,000 annually, the report finds.

In July, a total of 15 million U.S. workers were either unemployed, underemployed or too discouraged to job hunt, according to the Labor Department.

In contrast, within a year after the official end of the last recession in March 1991, the nation had embarked on six straight months of solid job growth.

This time, say economists, there are crucial differences: Companies are sending well-paying manufacturing and service jobs to countries with few, if any, protections for workers and the environment. And these jobs are probably not coming back.

�The movement of jobs and production overseas is handcuffing the recovery,� according to Mark Xandi, chief economist at Economy.com, as quoted in the New York Times.

�With NAFTA, the World Trade Organization and other trade deals of the last decade, American corporations are now tapping into a global supply of workers who can be trained to do everything from design to production, maintenance to marketing,� says Jeff Faux, economist and founding president of the Economic Policy Institute. �And while these workers become more productive, their pay doesn�t rise, because in many of these countries, to be a labor organizer means you risk winding up in a ditch with a bullet in your head.�

American jobs sent out of the country aren�t likely to return anytime soon. �As long as employers can take advantage of much lower labor costs in other countries, there�s no compelling reason to bring back many of these well-paying jobs,� says Ron Hira, an engineer and assistant professor of public policy at Rochester Institute of Technology. �Policymakers seem to be at a loss as to what to do about this problem.�

Meanwhile, the Bush administration directs multimillion-dollar tax cuts to the wealthy while supporting trade laws that encourage offshore outsourcing. And even as Bush opposes unemployment insurance extensions for some 1 million Americans who have exhausted their benefits, his administration refuses to embrace job-creating programs that would repair the nation�s infrastructure and help balance devastated state budgets.

�The Bush administration doesn�t seem to care about jobs,� says Center for Economic and Policy Research co-founder Dean Baker. �To retain and create jobs, there have to be policy changes, and I don�t think this administration is willing to make them.�

Manufacturing: America�s Foundation Is Crumbling

�American taxpayers...do not want their tax dollars subsidizing the export of their jobs.�
�USWA President Leo Gerard

Manufacturing jobs traditionally have provided high wages and good benefits that allow workers to care for their families. But 2.5 million manufacturing jobs have disappeared since President Bush took office in early 2001.

Multinational corporations are transferring jobs to countries where workers earn low wages and have few or no protections. And small U.S. businesses are laying off workers or shutting their doors because they can�t meet foreign competitors� prices.

African American workers have been hit particularly hard. Because of manufacturing job losses, the unemployment rate among African Americans is rising twice as fast as it is for whites and faster than in any downturn since the mid-1970s. �The number of jobs and the types of jobs that have been lost has severely diminished the standing of many blacks in the middle class,� says William Lucy, president of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists and AFSCME secretary-treasurer.

Manufacturing job loss starts the downward spiral

The loss of good manufacturing jobs has ripped apart communities and permanently lowered living standards for families throughout the United States, including in Rockford, Ill., 70 miles from Chicago. The northern Illinois city is historically second only to Cleveland as a center for machine tooling, the making of tools used in machine manufacturing.

Machine tooling, which traditionally employs the most highly skilled manufacturing workers including members of the Machinists and UAW, is the bedrock of America�s manufacturing industry.

But the bedrock is crumbling. The Rockford area lost more than 20 percent of its manufacturing jobs�about 10,000�between May 2000 and 2003, according to MBG Information Services President and Economist Charles McMillion�s analysis of Department of Labor data.
General manufacturing jobs have been among those lost in Rockford, including jobs held by Steelworkers Local 745 members at the Goodyear tire plant. USWA members at Goodyear now number 750, down from 1,650 in 1999, before the corporation shipped the jobs to Asia and South America.

But most manufacturing jobs lost in Rockford have been in machine tooling. At Greenlee/Textron, which makes drill bits and tools for electrical contractors, about 180 Machinists now represented by IAM Local 1553 are employed today, down from about 900 in the late 1980s. The 112-year-old crown jewel of Rockford machine tooling�Ingersoll International�declared bankruptcy this spring and laid off 300 employees in Rockford and 70 in Michigan, leaving only skeleton crews of managers and a few contract workers.

�The lesson of Rockford,� says Faux, �is it disproves the free traders� argument that America could afford to lose manufacturing jobs in areas like textiles and steel because we would ultimately triumph in global competition by making the things hardest to make. In fact, those things are machine tools�and we�re losing them.�

A loss of manufacturing jobs reverberates throughout the community�and ultimately the nation. When manufacturing factories aren�t being built, maintained or expanded, jobs disappear in areas such as construction.

�Our union has about 30 percent unemployment,� says Mark Bramble, business agent for Electrical Workers Local 364 in Rockfor