Today in Lynn Terry’s Elite brainstorming hour she gave elite members a secret! She will be closing membership to the elite forum.  As I have talked about several times, this has been the best investment I have been in my business! If you have ever thought about joining the elite group NOW is the time!

What is the benefit of the elite brainstorming group?

-A forum that is available to get one on one feedback and help from other elite members and Lynn Terry!  This is a very very active forum.

-Free downloads of all the webinars of the past.

-Free downloads of e-books, interviews and anything Lynn feels would benefit us!

-Opportunity for joint ventures.

-Find accountability partners (this is where I found Angie)!

-So much more!!

Those are just some of the benefits of joining the elite brainstorming/masterminding group! I believe that Lynn will be closing the membership tomorrow or Saturday!  So I can’t stress enough if you want to join, join now!

What have I gained from this mastermind group?

When I joined last July I had been working my business for three months on a daily basis and had not made a dime! I now am consistently making affiliate commissions each and every month!  I also found my fabulous accountability partner Angie Newton.  Angie and I are now working on a joint venture project.  One of the best things I have gained since joining the elite group is whenever I have questions or issues I can go to the private forum and get responses very quickly!

If you are in need of a brainstorming, masterminding group then you go join Lynn Terry’s Elite group!

Go do it now!!

Last week I was a bit absent from the blog.  This is because I was trimming the fat off of my business!  I know that sounds funny but it is what I was doing.  I have been spreading myself way too thin on everything I have been doing.  I guess that comes with being a mother, okay, maybe not.  Maybe it comes from being a type A personality!  Where ever it comes from I did it!

Too many blogs!

Up until last week I had four blogs and probably about ten websites.  I still do have all of them but I am not going to actively blog and update these sites!  I am finally doing what I really love!  I started a website on genealogy/family history.  It is called Start Your Family History.  This is where my main focus will lie!  Genealogy has been my passion for a very long time and I want to focus on helping others get started!  It can be quite overwhelming to figure out things on your own.

So in addition to affiliate marketing I am going to become an information product developer!  I am going to be selling the content that I create.  I have a long way to go on this project but it will happen!  I am really excited about this!

Focus your business!

It is really important to focus your business.  I know I have talked about this before but I am always needing more focus.  So what can you cut out of your business.  If you can’t cut things out can you outsource those jobs to someone else?  What I would challenge you to do is really take a good look at your business!  What can you do to have more success?

Yours,

PS. The catalyst of this change was going through Problogger’s 31 days to building a better blog.  It is a great ebook!

photo credit: Micah Sittig

When it comes to finances I am not a wizard! I even convinced my school counselor in High School that I didn’t need anymore math.  I only took a semester of Geometry and no Algebra.  So when it came time to budgeting and balancing a check book I wasn’t great.  About eight years ago I got a free copy of Quicken with my Turbo Tax.  I downloaded it and found that it would balance everything for me.  I later bought Quicken Home and Business. This helped me keep track of all the business expenses and income that I received as well as my family finances!

Why buy Quicken Home and Business?

Are you wondering why I am sharing this with you?  I am getting to a point.  My accountability partner Angie Newton and I were talking a few weeks ago.  She shared with me how behind she is in balancing her check book.  This was such a burden on her.  As we talked I could feel the weight on her shoulders to get it done.  I told her about Quicken.  These are some of the things I shared with her:

• With Quicken I don’t have to worry about putting in every receipt because it is connected to my Credit Union.  I press a button and Quicken Home and Business will update all the recent transactions.  Then all I need to do is match them up with what I have already recorded.
• I can keep track of when my bills need to be paid.  I also can include all your bills, such as: utilities, cable, internet, mortgage, insurance, etc.  When it is close to the date these are due I will get a reminder within Quicken.  I can even set up a reminder on my desktop. Read more »

In the next few weeks I am going to cover some basics of affiliate marketing. Today, I am going to give you a bit of a history about me and share with you my favorite affiliate marketing ebook: Super Affiliate Handbook! This is the book that changed everything for me in business online and it happened over six years ago.

Super Affiliate Handbook, the affiliate marketing ebook!

I have always had the entrepreneurial bug!  I was never great in school and I didn’t finish college but I always felt like their were great things ahead for me.  I got married and had my first two children in the first two years of being married.  All along I was always thinking “What can I do to make money?”.  In 2003 I started an eBay business.  I made money but it was a lot of work! Work that I didn’t enjoy.  After that I found my first affiliate marketing ebook by Rosalind Gardner.  I had no idea what affiliate marketing was.  I was really clueless that anyone did such a thing.  I thought it was great that you could get paid when people clicked through a link on your website and bought something.  I also thought it wasn’t going to be a lot of work.  Boy, was I wrong (it is work I love though)!

When I purchased the Super Affiliate Handbook, I learned how to set up a affiliate marketing business, step by step.  To be honest this is one of the first ebooks I had read all the way through!  Not only did I read it all the way through but I made my husband read it too!  We were on board.  I purchased a domain and I used site build-it to create the website.  We created a few pages and then we did nothing more.  I am not sure what happened maybe self-doubt set in, but in 2003 that was then end of affiliate marketing for me.

Super Affiliate Handbook was always in the back of my mind.

After my experience with my first try at affiliate marketing I went onto some other businesses.  Ebay again and a company called Melaleuca (I still get a check from them each month).  Last year I got the bug again.  I decided I am not going to try to make money fast.  I want to make money consistently and have a business to last forever.  My mind immediately went back to affiliate marketing and the Super Affiliate Handbook!  That is when I started this blog and I started looking over the ebook again.  I still had that copy from 2003 on a CD.  I decided to go ahead and purchase it again to get the latest version.  Rosalind Gardner is the author and she has done a fabulous job of keeping it up-to-date and covering all the bases!

Once again I began to learn all about affiliate marketing and all the changes!  I also found Lynn Terry and the Elite group to answer questions I have had. Since last year I have made some money.  I am not making nearly as much as I would like but I am learning so much as I go.  I also know that this business is a snowball business.  It will grow and pick up speed!

Affiliate Marketing is a business that will last.

I have felt from the first time I read the Super Affiliate Handbook that affiliate marketing is a business that I would enjoy and that would last.  Just like all businesses you must stay on top of the changes in the industry but it is possible to make consistent money, pay-off debts and save for the future.  This is why I have chosen this business to focus on!

If you are not so sure about what affiliate marketing is, how to do it or whether it is for you keep following this blog for my blog series on affiliate marketing.  I am not an expert but I do know a lot.  If you want a comprehensive view of affiliate marketing get the Super Affiliate Handbook by Rosalind Gardner!

Until next time,

PS. My last two post I have written about the Niche Affiliate Marketing System workshop.  This workshop was focused on how to run an affiliate marketing business.  You can still purchase a flash drive with power point presentations and audio of the speakers here.