I'm just a girl with ideas*

We Are One Tonight, & We're Dreaming Out Loud

marsadie — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 06:39:54 -0800

It's crazy, the way things happen so ironically and harmoniously when you pray about things. Faith can heal, faith can change things, faith can make the unthinkable reality.

We sleep through the day. We're up late like night owls, living on energy drinks and working and thanking God for everything He's given us. What can we do to give back, to show others the love that has been shown to us? Grace is amazing.

It's 9:30 in the morning and I'm going to take a nap for a couple hours, then wake up with Trent so that we can get some things taken care of today. Cya!

Making Money Online Isn't Hard. In Fact, It's Pretty Easy

marsadie — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:45:13 -0800

Anyone that has followed my web presence for a number of years knows that I have publicly experimented with many ways to make money online. Initially I did it for the sheer thrill about the fact that I could actually make money with this machine -- or that anyone could, for that matter. Nowadays I'm doing it for a living. I recall around a year before I decided to go freelance, I'd shared my desire with a friend and she told me, cliche intended, "Don't quit your day job." Now, six months since I've quit my day job, I can't imagine going back.

Internet marketing isn't for everyone (particularly if you can't find the power button on the computer or don't know what a "blog" is...). If you didn't pick up on that, almost anyone can succeed with internet marketing if you have the savvy, time, and patience. Even during months when I'm not making much money (usually when I'm sleeping instead of working or not taking my vitamins for productivity), I refer to inspiring posts such as those written about Top Young Internet Entrepreneurs Under 21 for inspiration. Then, I get my butt out of bed and find a product to market or a website to promote!

What inspired this post is seeing my boyfriend -- who went from knowing only the "On, Off, and Porn" buttons on the computer (comedian's joke about men) to starting his own blog back in May -- royally kick my behind in affiliate sales this month. With what program, you ask? Amazon Associates. December is usually the golden month for internet marketers, for obvious reasons. It's the 5th day of the month and my boyfriend has sold $600 worth of products online. How much work went into that? One hour. Where was the market based? Around his blog.

Not only does his "young" success inspire me to step up my own game, but it inspires me to help people that are exploring ways to make more money on the internet. Times are rough. People are losing their jobs. But, internet marketing never dies. The internet, my friends -- unlike a national recession -- is international.

Start Building Your Internet Business

Start a blog -- "Stop talking about yourself and start helping others" was the best advice I've ever heard about blogging. Take your passion -- whatever it may be -- and talk about it. Share tips and network with others while promoting your website around the internet. Now, fund the time you spend working on your blog by joining ad programs, selling paid links (related to the topic of your blog), and linking any product you recommend to it's respective affiliate program. Just as a beauty advisor earns commission for selling items behind the cosmetics counter, you too should get a kickback online for recommending the products you love.

Recommended programs: Amazon Associates (get commission for ANY item sold from Amazon!), Chitika, PayPerPost, Azoogle Ads (for advanced marketers - great for Squidoo marketing, etc - private message me for tips on getting accepted there)

Join Squidoo -- Squidoo is a network where you can create pages (or "lenses") about anything you want. You make money when visitors buy products through modules that Squidoo provides you with (Amazon and eBay being top game). Let me save you some time: Create lenses about things that you like that other people are willing to spend money on. Or, capitalize on holidays (a successful lens I made this season was about Bratz Dollz after I watched a commercial about them). Ideas are everywhere! Let me make you some money: Your lenses won't get attention if you don't promote them. Promote them everywhere (using discretion depending on the topic of your lens)!

Advertise Your Services -- What are you good at? If you can design a graphic, or build a website, or even do makeup for weddings, Craigslist has a job for you. If it weren't for Craigslist there are thousands of dollars I wouldn't have made this year.

Internet marketing is all about diversification, or not having all your eggs in one basket.

Doing all these things can bring in a few hundred dollars a month. Once you get into the swing of everything and could blog in your sleep if you needed to, you begin to multiply all your income streams (by building new blogs, finding various products to promote, and more techniques that would exhaust this post if I tried to cover them all) and start making thousands of dollars per month.

If you can sit around on the computer and play on MySpace/Facebook all day, you have no excuse to be broke. Work is what you make it. If you can make enough money online (or elsewhere) to quit your day job (and remember to pay your taxes), then do it! That is true freelance freedom.

A Happy Client Is... Well, One Less Headache

marsadie — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 20:02:38 -0800

I value all experience I acquired from my previous full-time administrative office position. Servicing clients over the phone and via email was an everyday thing. It's one thing to have your boss tapping your telephone conversations with clients and monitoring your email to ensure "quality assurance." It's quite another to have gone freelance, when quality assurance for your clients becomes optional (hehe) yet highly important to retain their business.

Being able to "mute" emails at any given time is tempting, especially when your less-than-tech-savvy clientele are emailing with every whimsical idea they get for their website and wants your input. However, no client wants to feel ignored, and they will pick up on the fact that you are putting their tasks on the backburner.

When I picked up on the fact that a client was on the verge of frustration, and especially because fees had just been raised for my business, I began to fall back on the idea of quality assurance. So, I went through each and every email they had sent in the past week, responded to each one, and delivered on their requests and more. Going above and beyond sometimes is all it takes. And now, said client is delighted with progress made on their website this week, and all invoicing is up-to-date and paid with no complaints.

A happy client is a returning client and one less headache (...and one less past-due invoice, in some cases).

In other events, a client of mine shot me an email of a picture of her new storefront sign. Guess what? I designed it! *geeksqueal* Sure, it's not the most extravagant design ever, but just knowing that one of my Photoshop creations has been materialized on the other side of the country, proudly displayed as a startup boutique's storefront sign, makes me feel all bubbly inside.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!