FREE IQ - The Marketplace for Ideas

Free IQ - The Marketplace for Ideas

Just came across another great site - called FREE IQ - a free content site - you can post articles and videos. Kind of like a YouTube meets Squidoo. I like the clean look of this site - it is still in beta but worth exploring. I have found some great free video trainings on the site well worth watching. So whether you are posting your own content or looking to learn something new you will find something at FREE IQ

YouTube - Twitter on CBS News

YouTube - Twitter on CBS News

Great video from a news segment discussing the next big thing - twitter. I think this might answer the question that many folks have on what exactly is it (twitter) and how do i use it. I love this new tool and I find it easier to twitter than to send emails and IM stuff. I particularly found the fact that Sen John Edwards is using twitter as part of his presidential campaign efforts.....

A blog by any other name

Well I am starting to think that I need to update the name of my blog. I added the 0 to $10 in 30 days - just for the 30 day challenge. But now that is over and I have reached that $10 goal - in fact surpassed it as I anticipated - so the blog title needs updating. I think this might be a matter that I save for those long days and nights out on the river in Utah. I will just allow inspiration to come to me out there. My next river trip will be paid for entirely from my internet marketing activities.....hmmm now I might be on to something there. More to come after the river trip.

39 Steps or something like that

I just want to make a quick post and get down my thoughts and where I am with my quest. Things are rolling nicely with my master plan. I have made more than a few dollars off my 30 Day Challenge activities and that number continues to grow. Clearly I have a market that wants to buy products and I just need to figure out how to leverage that and continue to grow that little niche business. Now it is on to next steps. And in all honesty this is where I have faltered in the past. I have reached this point before - though not as quickly. I make a few sales, earn some extra cash and then don't really know what to do next - what makes sense with the product and market and how I can grow it to something that is extremely profitable. But I feel like I am moving in the right direction so far - and I have begun leveraging the profits from the 30 Day Challenge.

I took the profits I made from my 30 Day Challenge marketing efforts and paid for a new membership into the Immediate Edge. This is the paid membership site hosted by the same guys who did the 30 Day Challenge. The content of this coaching website compliments nicely what was taught in the 30 Day Challenge. And I feel continuing with these same folks is the best way to go. So my plan is to continue to leverage the earnings and coaching until I reach that million dollar goal. And I will continue to post how I am doing that.

Oh yeah - I am heading off on a two week back country river trip next week - so things will be very quiet for a while. The trip was in part a reward to myself for having successfully completed the challenge and movement towards my millionaire goal. And it is also a reminder of the type of lifestyle that I want to be living on a regular basis. To be able to have the freedom and flexibility to take more trips and adventures just like this one - and why not start now.

A Big Thank You

Well the 30 Day Challenge has officially come to an end. And looking back upon the whole experience - I think it is time to say Thank You. Not just to Ed Dale, Dan Raine, Guru Bob, Caro and all the rest of the 30 Day Challenge gang, but also to my team mates. Having a team really does make all the difference in the world. I would not have made my first or even my 4th sale if I did not have my trusted team. To quote the Master Card commercial, they were "priceless". We learned (and laughed) so much with each other every day of this challenge. And the best thing is that we all plan to continue to work and support each other beyond the 30 Day Challenge. I believe we all experienced various "a ha" moments and successes. So to my team - thank you - I really feel I lucked out with them. So here's to Team In Yellow beyond the 30 day challenge.

Drum Roll Please - she has made another sale

Yes - it is true I have made another 2 sales today - told you so! So in a matter of 88 hours I have made 5 sales and about $50. Not bad at all. Now think about this - if I am able to make a sale now every day, every week - that is an extra $70 a week. Not bad. Now if I do all my work for this 30 day challenge - then I should be able to increase those numbers. And did I mention that I now have something that I can leverage, continue building upon it, growing the income flow - and doing this just by leveraging what I learned during these past 30 days. Well I can. More on all this later. I am seriously sleep deprived and need to go to bed at a relatively decent hour tonight.

I DID IT!! Made my $10 - x 3.....$30

It is late and I am tired, fried, exhausted. But I did it. After my rambling revelation that i posted yesterday, I followed my own advice and I launched a new niche and BAM! Made 3 sales within 24 hours. Fantastic. So to bring you all up to date - I have won the challenge having made $10 and even more as I had predicted. And as for my Team In Yellow - 3 out of 4 team mates have made sales. So that is a great success rate. We are just pulling for our other team mate to make a sale and then we all have done it! But there is time still left in this challenge - 2 more days in fact. And I expect everyone one of us will have hit that $10 mark AND I expect even more sales. My new goal these last two days - hit $50 - that would mean just two more sales. I am tired so off to be I go - with dollar signs dancing in my head. More later.

Oh yeah and I forgot to mention - I did it without tumbrl.....

Time to get serious now...

Day 28 and no sale YET to speak of - a bit of a disappointment for sure but I have not given up as there are still several days in the Challenge left for me to make my $10. I just launched my 3rd niche and testing that out. And after doing that I had a revelation - that on some level I have wasted my time on niches that I have no interest in at all. Meaning I am bored with them already and have no desire to continue writing content for them when I could be happier writing content for niches that I like. Of course the big question is whether or not those niches I am interested in would make money? Well fortunately I now have the skills from the 30 DC to answer that question. And the truth is that I could not have gone through this challenge working on a niche I felt "close" to - as I would only be striving for perfection which always stops me in my tracks from taking any action. I could not have done the challenge any other way.

One of my friends asked me if I would be more into these niches if they were brining in the sales. Well on some level - yes. But here is my big revelation - it takes just as much time and effort to create content on a niche that I don't care about as it does on a niche I do care about. I have one niche that I was working with prior to the 30DC and make money from it - but I don't do much with it and have no drive to make more from it because I don't care about it. And that is just it - I really believe that I can make good money from a niche that I enjoy, my task now is to find that niche that i enjoy and is profitable. And I am now going to accept the fact that I need to feel some passion towards a niche and start using that as an asset. I am not going to feel guilty that I need to feel a certain way about the work that I am going to pour myself into.
And that has been a great realization for me.

Now I am ready for these last few days and for the next phase of my quest.

In need of an update...

Ok - so quick report out, I have not made any sales yet. Only about 4 more days to make my first 10 bucks. It was an interesting week. I decided on two great niches and things were going well and still are. I did struggle with some frustrations with the 30 day challenge community. You know that bumper sticker "people suck" well there are plenty of those over at the forum. Fortunately there are many more great people over there. I had a few run ins with some crappy members - someone who copied my niche blog to a t - we were both competing in the same niche and well they switched their blog to look like mine, then they did a little negative bookmarking on my site and got me bumped down in the rankings. And if that wasn't annoying enough this same person then went after my second - very bizarre niche - coincidence, no way. That explains all the secrecy I maintain around what niches I am working in. And while I am not focusing on those few crappy people, I felt I needed to acknowledge that challenge I had around that. I thought about giving up that niche, but have stuck to it and also started another niche from scratch....I am playing well with others so I expect to come out on top and those crappy people are going to well, get flushed away along with their sites.

More on this final week of the challenge to come soon....

Even without a Super Bowl Commercial: Tumblr turns visitors away

The 30 Day Man: Tumblr turns visitors away

I wanted to share the article above - thought it covered a great perspective on the whole tumblr situation. Reading the article triggered something for me - and I was able to see something else in all of this tumblr mess: a lesson in viral marketing. Now let me tell being able to witness viral marketing in real time, is like finally seeing a snipe in the woods. Viral marketing is something that many internet marketers only dream about getting. And here tumblr got it in a big way, they just weren't prepared for it.

Now some of you might be wondering just what the term - viral marketing - means. At the most basic level it is free advertising - think word of mouth times 1000 - getting 1000's of people to use your product and never having to spend a penny to do it.

Dan and Ed, over at the 30 Day Challenge headquarters, had made the statement that tumblr blogs were a good, free service to use for hosting good basic content. Well upon hearing this, many challengers rushed over and began creating accounts. (I do not know the actual number, but I do know that tumblr has deleted 22,000 blogs now.) This unofficial endorsement resulted in tumblr receiving a massive influx of new users and free web advertising. And most importantly, with such a influx of users that it gave tumblr the opportunity to play along side the current big boys of blogging - wordpress and blogger. Did I mention this all happened without a Super Bowl Commercial? Unfortunately tumblr wasn't prepared and the such an event. Now I am not sure what will happen - just hoping that tumblr is able to pull its head out of sad pretty quickly.

I'll Tumble for you, I'll Tumble for you...

Title & inspiration for this post, courtesy of Boy George and Culture Club.

Yes folks, I am using yet another great 80's song and band to help me process the most recent "excitement" that happened at the 30 Day Challenge. We have all been Tumbled! And here is what that means in a nutshell. As part of the 30 Day Challenge, we were all just starting to use a fairly new blogging platform - Tumblr. We set about building some blogs for our particular niches. Well it seems that something went wrong and all those tumblr blogs that were created have been deleted. I do believe we overloaded the system with such a flurry of activity that we appeared to be nothing more than spammers. But that was not the case at all. Everyone in the world hates spam - so one one level, I think it is great that tumblr has created systems to stop potential spammers so quickly. Unfortunately, most of these newly created blogs were not spam. And on yet another note - tumbrl is a great new blogging site - so if you haven't checked them out yet, go and do so, but maybe do it next week, when all this excitement has died down.

There are many folks on the 30 day challenge forum that are really upset and confused - I mean they lost all this great content that they created and posted to those blogs. Not to mention they are wondering, what am I supposed to do next, some might even be questioning the process. I sympathize because I also lost some content that I spent a lot of my time writing. But hey - you have to stop take a breath , regroup, decide what your next move is going to be and then take it! Just like Ed said "it's not about tumblr" and he is correct. I hope that most folks will get it - and see just how well the "tumblr slap" underscores the what the 30 Day Challenge has been teaching us all along: you need to produce great content, you need to produce a great experience for the end user, and you need to diversify. Do I need to point out that this is very similar to the type of advice a financial planner would give? Do I need to further point out that we are using these methods to build a business and generate income.....which will lead you to needing a financial planner. Just some food for thought.

Now as for my unique ability to recall songs from the recesses on my mind whenever I seem to write a post for this blog - well that is simple - I am just gifted.

Ground Control to Major Tom ....

Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong.
Can you hear me Major Tom?
by David Bowie

So it finally happened - Skype went down for two whole days.
Talk about feeling as if you just lost your lifeline!
The first few hours were manageable as I had not yet realized
that the whole system was down, just thought it was an issue on
my end. So I set about doing my "homework" for the 30 day challenge.
By mid-afternoon I was concerned and for a brief moment I
wondered if my team mates had all moved to another "secret chat"
and did not tell me. But I soon discovered that it was an issue with
the entire skpe system.

I really missed having my team mates available through out the day
to bounce ideas, ask questions, etc. The next when day, with
skype still down, my team mate Anne got smart
and used our Facebook group to send us all an email.
Turns out I was not the only one who had missed the group chats.
We finally found a work around by getting together using google
chat - but it was not a good as skype.

And today, thank goodness Skype is back because quite frankly,
it certainly is lonely without it. I two things as the result of
being skype-less: 1) I had not realized just how much skype had
become part of my daily routine, and 2) just how important my team
mates had become to me in such a short period of time.

So if you see Major Tom around - let him know ground control
has resolved the issues.

Button your lip and listen up!

This is advice that Ed Dale served up to us recently - aimed mostly at the folks who seem to waste their time complaining about the 30 day challenge. Fortunately my team and I have kept our lips buttoned and our ears wide open, doing exactly that and doing whatever Ed and Dan tell us and not questioning the process. At this point questioning the process that I have followed for the past two weeks would just be a waste of time, I am half way to my destination and changing courses is futile. While I have not posted too much in the past two days, that does not mean that I have not been working diligently. So I just wanted to let my followers know that I was busy doing all my homework that I have not had much time to post to this blog. But don't worry I am still in the game and at the half way point in the challenge with my team. And just to keep up the Tour de France references, I am confident that my team and I will end up in Paris, on the podium wearing yellow jerseys drinking champagne. Don't forget to take lots of pictures and ask us for our autographs!

Real South Park Connection - wh, wh, wh, whaat??

Since so many folks in the 30 day challenge have a certain affinity for South Park and it's characters I thought I would share my unique connection to the real town. About 7 years ago I had the opportunity of working with the Town of Fairplay, in Park County, the place that the cartoon is based upon - on several historic preservation and community planning projects that focused on "south park". And yes to this day, it is one of my proudest moments in my career, unfortunately it doesn't get you the kind of recognition that you would expect!

While there is no town called "South Park", there is an old western, town museum (ghost town) within the town of Fairplay and this is South Park City. It is a bit of an odd set up, as if part of the old main street was sectioned off and turned into a ghost town. Which is what I think really did happen. It looks like a movie set, complete with authentic buildings (34) and artifacts from an old frontier mining town. Now the rest of main street doesn't look too much different from the South Park City - in fact it is the same main street. But the part of main street that is still being used today and not within the "limits" of the museum - is just filled with shops selling South Park cartoon stuff! Interesting to see how a few business owners were able to monetize the "wave of traffic" that the cartoon generated to their town. Can you spot some of the 30 day challenge principles at work here?

I have included a shot of the "South Park City" main street - there is a striking resemblance to the one commonly used in the cartoon - don't you think?

7 Steps to promoting your 30 Day Challenge Blog (or any blog)

This morning I spent some time promoting my blog. These are techniques that don't take much time but do have a positive impact in driving more traffic to my blog and hopefully getting more readers. These are pretty basic and not intended for the "master bloggers" out there. But I share them with those of you who might be just starting out. Some of these techniques have already been taught in the 30 Day Challenge but here I apply them to this blog. And one more thing - this is not an all inclusive list there are many more tips that I have not mentioned - but this is a good and easy place to start.

1) I submitted my blog to www.pingoat.com - Pingoat is a service that will send out your blog information to a big list of blog tracking sites, think blog search engines. These services track active blogs and include them in updates and various search results. By pinging, you let the services know that your blog has been updated and hence, they crawl and index your site, publishing your blog contents, thus increasing your blog's popularity. It takes a few moments for the pinging to happen and once completed you are given a complete list of all sites pinged. Now I bookmark that "completed ping" page and on a daily basis (or as frequently as I post) I open that bookmark and it pings those sites all over again. Now the service won't let you ping every hour so don't bother trying that. My rule of thumb is to ping everyday or once a week depending on how regular I add content.

2) I then StumbleUpon the blog and write a review - then I ask my friends to do it along with a quick review, I also have my 30 day challenge team/friends StumbleUpon - just asking for honest ratings and feedback here

3)I asked my team mates at some point when they are visiting my blog to twitter that they are visiting my blog

4) I have a link to my blog in all my signature files for all the related forums that I am in (outside of the 30 day challenge)

5) I created an account with FeedBurner and then added the RSS button on my blog page to encourage people to follow along by subscribing to the blog feed (I am not going to go into what RSS is, etc )

6) Get 30 day challenge team mates and friends to subscribe to my blog - using whatever RSS reader they have - bloglines, etc.

7) I have a Yahoo account so on my Yahoo home page I have added the feed as content - another RSS feeder option - so now I have it in Bloglines and on my Yahoo home page.


If you were only going to do 2 things on the list today than I would recommend using pingoat on a regular basis and creating an RSS feed, so that visitors have a way to subscribe to you blog.

Well that is is

4 Parts Make A Whole - The 30 Day Challenge Pie

The first bit of training did a great job setting the tone for the next 30 days. But what was incredibly useful was listening to Ed explain the 4 key training components that we will focus on - one at a time. And it didn't hurt that the brilliant content was delivered in an authentic Australian accent.

This is the first time that we have been given a glimpse into how the training will be organized. Ed likened the 4 components to the 4 movements of a symphony.

1. Market Research
2. Traffic
3. Conversion
4. Product.
   

And they do need to be followed in this specific order - or else.....(you fill in with your favorite or else ending).

More on the beauty that is FireFox - FoxyTunes Planet

Ani DiFranco - Music on FoxyTunes Planet

Based on the several Firefox related posts that I have done today, it should be obvious to folks that I am testing out all the amazing features that this browser has. I mean in all seriousness, why in the world would anyone use explorer after seeing what Firefox can do. It reminds me of what all my Apple/Mac user friends say to me "if the world was a just place, everyone would be using a mac". This comment is made in reference to that fact that macs are superior to pcs on many levels and if all things were on an level playing field (i.e the business world had not been seeded with microsoft software) that people would intuitively go for a mac. And I think they are correct. But I don't have a mac and I am just talking about Firefox here now. After just two weeks I understand whole heartedly why Firefox is the official browser of the 30 Day Challenge - and thank goodness it is.

Now some of you might be wondering what all this 'stuff' has to do with the 30 Day Challenge - well that is simple. Upgrading to this new browser has improved my productivity in all areas of my life - like using the FoxyTunes Planet add-on that I link to at that beginning of the post (a must by the way for anyone who enjoys music)to how I am able to stay on top of the news and related research in my profession and J.O.B. Just an added bonus for participating in the 30 Day Challenge - I suppose I should thank Ed and Dan for making me look good in front of my clients this week.

100 Blogs We Love - PC World

100 Blogs We Love - Page1 - MSN Tech

Yet another great resource that I just happened upon - the title says it all. Thought it might be useful to other 30 day challengers out there.

Blogging just got easier with Blogger Bar

Blogger Bar :: Firefox Add-ons

So I was trying to get Scribefire to work with my blogger account so that I could post directly from my browser as I happened upon cool sites that I wanted to share. And I just kept coming up with error messages. So I searched all over the net trying to trouble shoot and all I came up with were more people having the same issues but there was no solution coming from Scribefire. What a missed opportunity for them. So I did what any smart person would do and un-installed scribefire and found an add-on that would do this on firefox. It is Blogger Bar and while I am still testing it out, so far I am impressed and recommend it instead of Scribefire. It adds an awesome new blogger toolbar on the firefox browser that lets me streamline all my blogging efforts, posting, searching etc. - and that is just priceless. Sorry Scribefire.

What if the 30 Day Challenge doesn't work?

This is a question that I am being asked a lot lately. Not sure why, perhaps because I choose to speak about the challenge and my impending success, with such certainty. The impetus behind such a question boggles my mind. I mean why even ask that? Isn't the real question, "what happens if I don't finish?". Because from my perspective the system we are being taught doesn't fail, in fact we know it has worked many times over - going several years strong now, successfully adapting to the dynamic nature of the internet. So the only weakness in the challenge would be me - and my level of commitment. And since I am completely responsible for that, the 30 Day Challenge won't fail. It is as simple as that.

Why the color red inspires me

Well today I am tired - still figuring out that balancing act and I think the late nights and early mornings have caught up with me. Though I am not complaining, just stating a fact. Fortunately the weekend is just around the corner. These past 2 days have been a bit challenging, but in a good way. We have been getting down and dirty with the research part of this challenge. This part is critical because picking a good niche means I am guaranteed to make my $10, flip side of that is, if I pick a bad niche, then I am still at $0. So I am taking the research exercises and advise seriously. In light of all this "drudgery" as one of my teammates put it - I went looking for a bit of inspiration on YouTube. And I happen to stumble upon one of my favorite web 2.0 stories of all times - One Red Paperclip.

It is the story of young man who used Craigslist to trade his one red paperclip for a house. You will be amazed at how he got there with no money, just kept trading up on Craigslist. Gee, now I realize I probably should have asked for more when I traded my cheese sandwiches at school. I probably could have gotten something much cooler than poprocks - but then again at 8 yrs old and in the 70's there was nothing more desirable than eating poprocks.

Now if this video and story don't get you thinking about the possibilities of learning how to make $10 online and "trading" that up for $1 million, well then there is no hope for you and you should stop reading my blog immediately and return to your cave.

Stick it! Gymnastics and the 30 Day Challenge

well - it is the middle of week 2 - 8 training days into the challenge. And today the one thing I am dealing with are the interruptions of everyday life. I knew that this feeling of being on cruise control would come to an abrupt stop. And today was that day. I ran into some technical difficulties with a new webcam that I installed that shut down my browser which caused all these other related computer and internet issues. So productivity hit an all time low and now I am a day behind my 30 Day Challenge work load. Curses!

Then mix in all the other time/energy obligations in my life like my client who expects me to have several reports completed by the end of this week. I actually found myself getting annoyed with the requests being made of me - I wanted to tell them all "leave me alone, I am doing the 30 Day Challenge!" But I know that would not go over well, as I still need to keep my current income flowing in while I am on this quest. Even though I do have the good fortune of being a consultant with a flexible schedule, I am still getting paid to do research that makes others more money than I am paid. Now add in all the other things I am trying to shuffle around as I make room for this challenge and it is only natural that I hit this point. But I know this too shall pass - and I am not about to let this moment of chaos stop me from moving forward. In fact I know that many of the other 30 Day Challenge participants are dealing with the same balancing/juggling act. I decided that I best take some advice from that Olympic champion Mary Lou Retton and Stick It! (landing so solidly that you stick to the mat without a wobble) Thanks Mary Lou!

LOL $10 in 30 Days! I could make more.....

money in a day selling crack" Well I knew it would happen eventually, a wise cracking (no pun intended) comment for my Heroes 30 Day Challenge YouTube Video. Even though I was expecting this sort of thing -it still annoyed me a bit. So my first reaction was to check out this guys videos - there were two - one entitled cute baby and another taken from a video game. Well now I knew what I was dealing with, nothing really. And I decided to look at the comment for what it was worth - here is someone who watched my video to the end, took the action I was wanted him to by visiting the 30 Day Challenge website, spent enough time on that site to figure out what it was about - and posted a response to it. Now that is a success! I mean it wasn't a nasty comment or a spam comment - but a real person who did exactly what I wanted him to do as a result of watching my video. So mister "cracky" I thank you. Sorry you failed to see the genius behind the 30 Day Challenge, but thanks for showing me the real power behind YouTube.

And another added bonus is that I am no longer scared of opening myself up to negative comments made by those nay-sayers. Comments mean that folks are interacting with what I am doing and that what I am doing is working.

Whatcha Talking 'bout Willis?

Ah that is easy - he was talking about the 30 Day Challenge 0r maybe Ed's guitar solos or perhaps the sordid details of Dan's pink thong. If you don't know what Willis was talking 'bout - then you best head over to the 30 day Challenge and find out today! Gary Coleman and Todd Bridges would be proud - and you get to be part of the in crowd.

Here is an interesting factoid: Zack Braff's character - JD wears a "I'm what willis was talking 'bout" t-shirt in the Scrubs episode "My Moment of Un-Truth" which aired in 2004. Of course now you can buy those same t-shirts on CafePress - thanks Zack and Ed for bringing back the glory and shifting our focus from the hard times of these fallen stars back onto the specialness that was Different Strokes.

And I included a little eye candy for those that recall that wonderful tv show full of wholesome family entertainment...

Maillot Jaune = Team in Yellow

I love the Tour de France - it is one of the greatest sporting events in the world. Every July I get ready for 3 weeks of unbelievable sportsmanship; of team tactics and individual time trials. So it is no surprise that when the 30 day challenge pre-season started while the tour de france was in full force, I could not prevent my excitement for the event from influencing my prep work for the challenge and visa versa. Every morning I would set my alarm and get up to watch the day's tour stage - wondering who would be wearing the cherished Maillot jaune - the yellow jersey, signifying the overall leader of the race. While only one person gets to wear the yellow jersey - he only does so as the result of the strength of his team.

So it was only natural that when Ed and Dan instructed us that forming teams was going to be critical to the succeeding in the Challenge, that I would seek out other challenge participants who had the determination to go all the way and finish. Furthermore - I wanted a team name that would signify that determination and so even before my favorite rider - Alberto Contador rider for US Team Discovery - was even wearing the yellow jersey, I decided to call the team I wanted to be part of - Team in Yellow. And with a fantastic individual project idea and some strong team support and tactics - yellow is the color I will be wearing on September 1st - just like my buddy there Alberto Contador (and of course 7 time tour de france winner Lance Armstrong)

30 Day Challenge Training Camp

Successful participation in all great events requires some prep work and basic training - and the 30 Day Challenge is no different. While the event officially launched on August 1st, there was a bit of pre-season training. Nothing to be scared of - just some practices, getting to know your teammates, and trying on the new equipment. There was as much excitement and speculation in the 30 day challenge forums as there is at the Broncos training camp. There were some players that I know to watch for - expecting great contributions from them in the forums. Essentially we were shown some awesome tricks for using FireFox browser, itunes, stumble upon, twitter, digg, facebook and skype - to name just a few. All amazing tools that fall under that web 2.0 umbrella. If you want to know how to use these tools or have heard about web 2.0 but have no idea what it is about - go register for the challenge. The tricks you are going to learn will blow your mind - talk about limitless thinking.

I am not going to bore you with too much details about the pre-season training. Heck if you are that interested go check it our for yourself and register for the challenge - The Thirty Daly Challenge - it is not too late.

Bueller? Bueller? Anyone? YouTube?

A classic John Hughes movie - for those of you who don't catch the reference right away (click on the link if you want to find out more about the classic "Ferris Bueller's Day Off") And I just feel like that notorious phrase sums up my reaction to the first challenge within the challenge. largely because I had never made a video for any purpose let alone YouTube. And Ed and Dan announced that there would be a YouTube Video Film Festival (perhaps with some lovely prizes - could it be a chia pet?). The instructions were simple - create a video that promoted the 30 Day Challenge and post it on YouTube. I knew there was no use staring at the blackboard - I had to answer. I mean if I wasn't going to do everything they suggested and fully participate, then why even bother being in the Challenge. So I set off to learn how to create a video, but I decided I to focus on an idea for the video first and then figure out how to make it happen. I have to admit I was a bit intimidated by some of the first videos created - these folks knew what they were doing.

Here is one of those most excellent videos

What is the 30 Day Challenge?

Ok - so for those of you who want to know what is all this 30 day challenge stuff I am talking about - well here are the details

WHAT IS THE THIRTY DAY CHALLENGE?

In a nutshell... The Thirty Day Challenge is about making your first $10 online. For a full 30 days we are going to be showing you exactly how to start your own Internet business and generate your first income online without spending a dime.

That's right, this is going to cost zip, diddly, nothing, nada, ziltch. The entire training program is free, and you won't have to spend a thing to get your business started and begin making money. No credit card required.

So it is not too late - sign up if you are interested www.thirtydaychallenge.com - the training is invaluable and the experience well priceless - just like a mastercard commercial.

And there you have it!

Heroes 30 Day Challenge YouTube Video

Well - I did it. It took me most of the weekend to figure it all out but I finished my first YouTube Video ever. So thanks for the challenge Ed and Dan! I have to admit that I am so pleased with the outcome. Now I realize that there are things I could do to improve on it and things that I would do different now that it is on YouTube - but I don't care really. Because if nothing else I now know how to create a video for YouTube. And I assure you this is a skill that I will continue to apply to increase my business online. I used the free microsoft movie maker (came with my Dell Inspiron) to create it - and it was so much easier than I expected. Not to mention - I am now going to be creating some more videos for a variety of other reasons. The potential for this blew my mind. But before we go into the video and the lessons I learned - I want to share some of the mindset behind the video I created.

1) I did not want to be in the video (people don't me and I honestly I was not interested in having to fix my hair)
2) I wanted to use an existing niche to tap into some of that existing traffic (people don't know who I am so why click on my video)
3) I wanted to promote this challenge - reach out into a market that would not necessarily be familiar with the challenge - YET be a market that would be open to the idea of the 30 Day Challenge (or 30DC).

In summary - create a video that promoted the challenge and the ideas of the challenge to a market that already existed online but was not the internet marketing market AND that would be open the the idea of the challenge.

My conclusion - HEROES - the awesome TV show. Be sure to watch it! And there are 2 cameos in this video - Ed and Dan.

A millionaire mentor by any other name....

Well it might be called the 30 Day Challenge - or at least that is what I am calling my millionaire mentor. And that should be some indication of my level of commitment to this challenge. Wikipedia defines mentor: a trusted friend, counselor or teacher, usually a more experienced person - and that is exactly what The 30 Day Challenge is offering. So not only will I have the opportunity to learn first hand from some amazing experts who have achieved the online success that I desire, there is also a fantastic online community of 30 day challengers all sharing and learning. I will be going through this challenge as part of a team - while we will be choosing our own projects - we will have the benefit of a mastermind as we work through the process.

So perhaps it is all about one's perspective - but when an opportunity comes along like this one - see if for what it is worth - and grab it - for me the 30 day challenge is about the opportunity to have my first millionaire mentor. The reality is that this challenge can and will change lives. Bottom line - you need to make $10 before you can make $1 million online. I am on my way.

something to fill the void left by harry potter

It is now or never. I am excited about starting this blog because it means I am taking massive amounts of action towards my goals of creating an online business and achieving financial freedom. This month they are on the way to becoming a reality. Why this month you ask? Well I decided to leverage the kick off of an amazing internet marketing event hosted by Ed Dale and friends. And that event is the 30 Day Challenge.

So for the next 30 days, for the month of August, I will be participating in the 2007 30 Day Challenge. The basic premise if the challenge is to make my first $10 (or more) using the online methods being taught over the course of thirty days. As an active participant - and I should mention it is open to everyone and anyone free of charge so sign up if you feel inspired to do so - I will have the unique opportunity of being taught by internet marketing experts Ed Dale, Dan Raine (15k Challenge ) and Nicolas Meese. To some reading this post, those names might mean nothing, but I assure you that all 3 are incredibly successful online marketers. They have obtained the success that I desire. So what better time than this month to launch my own efforts to achieve financial freedom and leverage the knowledge, training and experience that these 3 wise marketers are willing to share. While the challenge is for 30 days - it represents just the beginning of my journey. And I will continue to maintain this blog beyond the month of August, because the real success is going to be how I continue to implement what I learn from these challenge mentors.

For those of you wondering if this can be done - I say grab a peach snapple and buckle up and I guarantee a story that will unfold with enough suspense, twists and excitement to fill the void left by the last harry potter book and the ending just might surprise you.

Thanks
Kathy