Mystic Toad Press Blog

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The list I just gave you earlier is getting longer and longer and longer. As the spyware fighters get better, the hackers try harder and harder. Making new software to attack different parts of any system made on earth. Just when we thought that XP was locked down, they restarted their attack on Win2k. And they haven’t exactly given up on the other versions of Windows that older computers are using still today. Now no computer is safe any more as people got lulled into thinking that older computers were forgotten. Data loggers, key loggers are just a few programs which harvest info from your computer. Winclear is the only program created specially to auto remove such spywares. The person logged into your email account and retrieved the pin accessed your e-gold account and made an unauthorized spend from the account. That is why every computer owner needs winclear.

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A number of cheating husbands and wives are now using the Internet to communicate with their mistresses and lovers. Many extramarital affairs actually blossomed out of online dating services and chatting. Thus, if you are already suspecting that your wife, husband, boyfriend or girlfriend is cheating on you, you need to find a way to check your partner’s computer and Internet activities at home. Winclear is the only software which is capable of removing keylogger programs. There are a lot of theft online ready to rob you and destroy you. Winclear has been the industry leader in fighting keyloggers for the last 8 years.

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That’s why where a home computer user can go with free PC security software companies need robust solutions with live support 24/7/365 and trained technicians ready to sort out any problem whenever it occurs. That is the reason why you need Winclear installed onto your computer. Now no computer is safe any more as people got lulled into thinking that older computers were forgotten. Protect your computer security by using Winclear! More about Winclear here: Winclear Review.

Can you fight city hall? The answer is yes and no. That’s right, you have to pick your battles. For example, and of you who have read successfulbarbarian.com know that I am still dealing with a few issues from my ‘previous life’. The issues deal with the IRS. That’s right your truly is a grade A first class tax pro-test-er, or at least that is what the IRS would tell you. So how can a person with my history say you can’t fight city hall. Well because of the story of one of the lawspeakers of Iceland. Iceland was surrounded by countries that had converted to Christianity. These countries were threatening economic restrictions as well as war if Iceland did not convert. Iceland had its ‘congress’ meet and some of the folks wanted to convert and some did not. All agreed to abide by the decree of the Law Speaker. He decided, after much contemplation, that Iceland should change to a Christian country, but the people could still do what they wanted behind closed doors.

I can hear you know,’What in the heck does that have to do with making money?’ Well it has a bunch to do with making money. Let me explain. When you are working towards a financial goal, you must be brave, you must be innovative, and you must not make powerful enemies. If you are successful you are going to make lots of people mad, but as in the example above the lawspeaker made many people mad, but the surrounding countries were satisfied. He made some enemies, as any successful person will, but he avoided war with countries that would have destroyed Iceland. At the same time he did not make the people give up their beliefs, on either side.

Am I saying you can not stand for something? No! Am I saying you must give up your beliefs to be successful? No! I am saying that if you swim against the current of the Mississippi river, you’re gonna drown. You must find a way to stick to your guns and still not fight all the time. If you spend all your time fighting, you will never have any time for what is important, making money.

I guess what I am saying is that you have to go against the grain, but don’t go overboard. Make sure your are different and original enough to be distinctive, but avoid situations in which you are fighting just to stay afloat.

I hope this makes sense. Until next time:

Get the Barbarian Mind Set and keep it. Stay tr to yourself and your family and the rest will work itself out.

Everte Farnell is a author and speaker and professional coach. In May of 2003 Everte was a divorced broke single father. Two and a half years later Everte is a happily married father of two. The company he and his wife worked to build supplies his family with a six figure income, and his children are happy healthy and well adjusted. He lives a life that many dream of. It is the life that he dreamed of in May of 2003.

In October of 2005 he released his book “The Barbarian’s Guide to Success” and is dedicated to helping other realize their dreams. He is a straight forward, politically incorrect, figure and makes very little time for detractors. He often says “So many ‘coaches’ have made their money by coaching. I do everything I coach. It is important that people know that I have faced or do face the same challenges they face. Life is an integrated process. Your professional life must support your personal and family life and vice versa, otherwise you will never find true success.” Everte Can be reached at his web page http://www.successfulBarbarian.com

There is no dearth of talents and skills in Wisconsin. You don’t need to worry about Wisconsin business opportunities as the state offers multiple ways to earn. If you plan to work from home and love parties then nothing can stop you from spinning dollars in Wisconsin. One innovative way would be to arrange home and garden parties. People nowadays keep busy all day and don’t have time to arrange get-togethers properly, even if they intend to do so. And can you think of weekends and holidays without parties? Well, we know you can’t. So, to support people like you better try explore the option of planning home & garden parties for a fixed cost.

Party and event planning services have become one of the most prominent Wisconsin business opportunities, of late. Such services include everything related to holding a party, right from scratch. This business option is growing strength to strength in opportunity as the demand is huge. If you want to make this business give you more rewards you can club this with home décor services. To make this running you need to have an eye for creativity and home decoration. This business will involve housing creative artists having multi-designing skills.

To take advantage of such Wisconsin business opportunities, you can have services like designer hand-turned stoneware pottery, terra cotta pottery, framed prints, figurines, and brass accessories etc. These things can be sold separately as there is growing demand for interior decorative items. If you wish to take this opportunity to turn the wheel of fortune in your favor, then you can start by planning right now. So, don’t wait and get set going with your plans of making the best and the most at Wisconsin so this opportunity. You never know when luck comes calling your way.

Studies have shown that successful entrepreneurs possess these characteristics:

1. Self-confidence

This is that magical power of having confidence in oneself and in one’s powers and abilities.

2. Achievement Oriented

Results are gained by focused and sustained effort. They concentrate on achieving a specific goal, not just accomplishing a string of unrelated tasks.

3. Risk Taker

They realize that there is a chance of loss inherent in achieving their goals, yet they have the confidence necessary to take calculated risks to achieve their goals.

Entrepreneurs are people who will make decisions, take action, and think that they can control their own destinies. They are often motivated by a spirit of independence which leads them to believe that their success depends on raw effort and hard work, not luck.

So which of these three main characteristics is the most important? Believe it or not, it has to be self-confidence. Without self-confidence, nothing else is possible. If you don’t believe in your abilities, then the first challenge that arises may knock you off the path to achieving your goals. Here are a few things to keep in mind for maintaining a higher level of self-confidence.

Positive Thinking

Well, it all starts with a positive attitude, doesn’t it? Believing that something good will happen is the first step. Negative thinking simply is not allowed. You must truly believe that there are no circumstances strong enough to deter you from reaching your goals. Remember too, that positive thinking can be contagious. When positive thinking spreads, it can open doors to new ideas, customers, friends, etc.

Persistent Action

Now all of the positive thinking and believing in the world is useless if it is not applied towards a goal. You have to take action, no excuses are allowed. This action must also be persistent. Trying once and then giving up is not going to be enough. Keep at it one step at a time. If you can’t get by a certain step, then find a creative way to try again or just go around it.

At the beginning of this article we identified a few traits that are common among successful entrepreneurs. You should be able to look ahead and see yourself where you want to be. Now just maintain a strong belief in yourself and your skills, stick with it, and don’t give up. If you can do that, you’re already half way there!

About the Author:
Hans Hasselfors is the founder of SubmitYourNewArticle.com. Find varied business entrepreneurs articles in our article directory. Please visit at: www.SubmitYourNewArticle.com

There Are 19 Different Ways Of Generating Lots Of Money On The Internet As Practised By Top Internet Entrepreneurs From Around The World.

Don’t be fooled! Are you considering making money with your own Internet business? If so, read very carefully…You Must Have a Website.

There are tons of marketers trying to convince would-be entrepreneurs that you will be able to make money online without a website by purchasing their product. All can be done by just one person.

All are low-cost, high-profit methods.

All are very different from each other.

Some can be totally automated. You don’t lift a finger after it’s been set up!

Others require some work - but you will enjoy it! (Otherwise you wouldn’t start.)

You will discover what they all are.

Whether you have a product to sell or not.

Whether you can write well or not.

Whether you’re technically skilled or not.

Some don’t use Search Engines or Affiliate Programs AT ALL as their primary marketing methods.

Some use ingenious traffic generation methods you have never noticed before.

All are being operated by very happy, ordinary Internet Entrepreneurs, some of whom have discovered their good fortune by accident.

Sure, you can make a few dollars here and a few dollars there, but I’m talking about serious money - the big leagues.

Even successful eBay sellers use their own websites as a companion to their eBay business.

One reason that marketers tell you that you don’t need a website is to make it sound as though running an Internet business is easy. They want you to believe it takes very little effort to run an Internet business to convince you to buy their product. If you want to make serious money with an Internet business, it will take more effort than these marketers are telling you.

If you know nothing about developing your own website, do not let what I’m telling you scare you. You can always hire someone to develop your website for you. But, learning to develop your own website is not that difficult. There are literally thousands of resources on the Internet that will guide you through the process. There are also many software packages that make developing your own website as easy as creating a Microsoft Word document.

Having your own website requires basically three things: your own domain name (www.yourcompany.com), content (what you have on your website), and hosting space (where your website physically resides so Internet users can find it). Not having your own website requires that you find another source of income.

Starting and running your own Internet business can be a daunting task that requires great effort. Don’t be fooled into believing you can do it without a website. If you’re serious about making money online, you must have a website.

Find many great tips including the Website Creation Toolbox - absolutley FREE- by visiting

Click on www.howtomakerealmoneyonline.com NOW For An Eye-Popping, Jaw-Dropping And Heart-Stopping Revelation And Concept That You’ve Never Experienced Before In Your Quest To Be One Of The “Players” With The Least Amount Of Effort Possible!

Did you know that 95 to 99 percent of all Internet businesses fail within their first year!

Everywhere you look on the Internet you’ll find opportunities. There are so much tempting promises of ‘get rich easy’ schemes. It’s like playing the lottery and win all the time. Now, how often does that happen? Did you know that about 5 percent of the people buying lottery tickets are buying 50 percent of the lottery tickets in total? What does that say you? People are falling for the hype anyway. After a while people do discover that it’s much more work than they’d thought, and simply quit their new online business.

What’s easy come is also easy gone on the Internet just by a tinkle of an eye.

To make money on the ‘net’ with half-hearted attempts aren’t cutting it. Have you been online for a while now, you should have come to this conclusion: building a serious Internet business takes effort and time, as any other business does.

How could it be that opportunity-seekers fail to earn an income on the Internet?

By doing research on the ‘net’ I’ve found that’s mainly due to a number of obstacles:

Lack of time is definitely one of the greatest obstacles to starting a own business. Many people are working a full-time ordinary Joe job, have children to care for, do volunteer work, and generally have busy lives.

No doubt about it: starting a business is going to require sacrifices. Think about any time-wasters you currently might have; can you use the time you are spending watching TV each night to work on your business instead?

Now, this doesn’t mean that you should cut everything else out of your life. We all need to do exercise, relax, eat right to stay healthy and function properly. Since the time is ‘never right’ you have to get creative about organizing your time.

Frustration and unrelaxing about using a computer. This is so common; obviously you and your computer are going to need to have the best *relationship* if you’re planning to do business online! Be prepared that your computer will crash some day, it’s not if it will it’s more ‘when’. I highly recommend that you back up your stuff weekly or monthly. It takes away a lot of frustration if you are prepared in advance.

No expertise is needed from you; you just need to be comfortable. Take your time and learn how your computer works to be more relaxed and your PC rage will forever disappear. Check with your colleagues at work or your friends and search for communities, subscribe to a computer magazines and you will find excellent tips and tricks how to operate you computer in the best way. Go to ‘Free basic Windows Tutorials and Free Training’.

Don’t no much about HTM (Hyper Text Markup Language)? No, problem use either Front page or Dream weaver and you don’t need to know any code at all! HTML is the language used to create web pages it’s interpreted and read by your web browser . Did you ever hear about the saying “To be a real webmaster you have to write your own code”? That is nothing but bull!! You can do it all by your self. You need to learn some small basics what business doesn’t require any kind of learning curve to master in some respect? Don’t complicate things here and get stuck, trial and error is the best teacher.

Do you have worries about ‘Technical’ Stuff? It can be overwhelming to try to figure out what’s what when you’re a ‘newbie’ to the world of computers. Take your time, that more you ask that more you learn. Don’t be afraid to ask the stupid questions to anyone about this issue. There are no stupid questions, period!!

Funds! Surprisingly, this is one of the LEAST mentioned worries I’ve heard from my research on this issue. This is a really good one; starting an online business doesn’t have to be expensive at all; as long as you already have a computer, your expenses can very easily be less than $100 a month - and often much less. My own experience is showing that the expenses in the first few months online were less than $50 a month, just for web hosting and Internet access

How to cover your business costs?

Work part-time at your job and part-time on your business;

Use some of your savings;

Borrow from funds from your friends or family or both;

Apply for and take out a small business loan.

Work on your business part-time while continuing to work full-time;

Do you have fears about lack of support from family and friends? This is not a easy one. Maybe your family and friends will tell to quit your ’stupid’ ideas with making business online. Well set your mind and focus on what you want to accomplish. This is really important if you experience difficulties getting support from your loved ones. Family and friends are supposed to support us because they love us, right?

For many of us, family and friends who are seeking to ‘protect’ us from scams may either deliberately or inadvertently make discouraging remarks.

There are no fast rules for handling family and friends; if you’re not yet comfortable telling others about your online ventures, then don’t. Take it slow and let them know when you are ready to tell them. When you think the time is right tell them that you are building a substantial business and that you would appreciate their support.

Make a conscious choice to achieve your goals with you online business and put aside the time and effort needed to build a substantial lasting business.

So go ahead and let nothing come between you and your success to make your online income!

Rate this article.

All the best!
Oliver Troll
The Croftbiz Team
Croftbiz

One of the most powerful and uncomfortable emotions anyone can
experience is fear. It’s only natural to have a certain amount
of trepidation or fear in business, especially if you’re just
starting out, but if it’s not harnessed and channelled properly,
I have seen it literally cripple window washing businesses.

Fear disguises itself in the form of folks procrastinating, or
being “busy”. This kind of “busy” results in pushing papers
around, sitting in front of their computer redesigning “stuff”,
researching every little thing about the business or their
potential customers, too much time spent practicing on windows,
buying too many window washing supplies, etc.

Obviously some of the above certainly needs to be done to set
the stage for a successful window washing business, but I’ve
seen these activities stretch into months for some window
washers. At some point, it’s time to pull away from the
computer, stop the researching, stop the buying of supplies, lay
down the practice squeegee, and “get out there” to stir the pot.

A good example of this comes from a guy I use to speak with all
the time on the phone. Every time I spoke to him, it seemed he
had a new piece of equipment added to his collection, a new
marketing piece designed, or something else he needed to buy,
instead of any news about his actual marketing efforts.

He even sent me a bunch of photographs in the mail showing me
his great “stuff”. I saw the beautiful business signage on his
van. I saw the many different ladders. I saw enough window
washing supplies to supply 3 window washing companies. And I saw
photos that he took of houses in his target market that were
ideal for his services.

Without a doubt, this guy had a top caliber image for his
company. He was the best equipped window washer I’ve seen-I mean
he had more supplies then I ever even thought about having. And
he spent hours laying the groundwork and researching his target
market. Everything was in place for a successful business.

But…to make a long story a little longer, we haven’t spoken in
months and based on our last conversations, I believe he’s back
doing what he was doing before.

The bottom line is that through all of the above work and money
spent, no marketing was done. Sure…there may have been some
driving around the various neighborhoods with his signs on the
van, but I’m talking about a real, proactive marketing approach
that would take his business directly to the target prospect.
When you cut to the chase, isn’t that really the only thing that
matters in order to have a successful window washing business?

This guy may disagree with me on this, but there was a certain
amount of fear in taking his show to the prospects so he
prolonged the agony by doing and buying “stuff”.

Yes…there’s no question that you need to create a solid image
for your company, and know how to wash a window, but none of
that means a thing if you have no customers.

Early on in my insurance career, I remember having to go
knocking on doors. Whew…needless to say it’s very easy to find
other things to do to stay “busy” when you have to go knock on
doors to make a living. But since I was on straight commission,
my sales manager liked to remind me “If you don’t knock, you
don’t eat.”

But eating wasn’t the only motivation. Every time I was “out
there”, the fact of the matter is that good things happened.
More appointments were booked. The phone rang more. The daily
routine of being seen by the public translated into activity,
which of course lead to sales.

So for the window washers who don’t venture outside actively
looking for business, not much happens, but for the window
washers who are “out and about” being seen in neighborhoods
(flyer/door hanger distribution), talking to “like” businesses
(maids, carpet cleaners, pressure washers, blind cleaners),
participating in a local organization or two, etc., then hang on
to your hat. Because the phone will ring more, more prospects
will want estimates, more appointments will be set with
customers, and so on.

This is not really earth shattering news here, but I’ve spoken
to a few people recently who might be experiencing a little
fear, and again…it’s only natural, but don’t let it direct you
down the path of procrastination. And that is why I thought that
now would be a good time to put the emphasis on “action”.

Follow the Nike commercial and “Just do it”.

After all, we’re in a tremendous business with an endless need!
Take a walk outside. Look at all that glass out there. And your
target prospects who own all that glass simply need a gentle
“thump” on the head from you pointing them to your business.

If you need a little “pick ‘em up” or maybe some motivation (we
can all use that occasionally) to “get out there”, visit my
website for some encouraging words from other window washers, or
pick up the phone and give me a call. I’ll light a fire under
you and show you how to put a choke hold on any fear you might
be experiencing in your window washing business.

Best Wishes,

Steve 256-546-2446

Let me tell you about Jennifer. Not her real name, but it will do.

Jennifer was once in charge of a government office which she micro-micro managed in every way. Although she was the supervisor, she insisted on taking every phone call, and had her desk placed at the entry to the room so she could personally screen every person who entered. If someone was foolish enough to walk past her and proceed to the desk of a staff member, she would either come up and ask what they wanted, or, if intimidated by their appearance, she would wait until they had left and then ask the employee who they were, what they wanted, etc. If someone had the temerity to phone an employee directly, which was what was supposed to happen in that office, she would leave her desk and stand by the employee’s desk asking questions while they were trying to talk to the caller.

Jennifer had absolutely NO common sense, No management skills, NO real supervisory experience, and NO formal management or business training, although she was in charge of two college graduates, two people with years of experience in the type of work done, and one young lady who had started in the section as a clerk but who had shown such diligence, dependability and intelligence that she had worked herself up to the number two slot in the department. I’ll make the method by which Jennifer got the supervisor’s job the subject of another article some day. No, it’s not what you think.

One day Jennifer called one of her staff, I’ll call him Bob (I always pick on Bob - not his real name either) over to her desk. She handed him a folder and told him he was now in charge of doing the monthly copier report. This was a red flag to Bob, because he knew she didn’t turn loose of anything unless something had gone wrong.

As she gave Bob (who had run offices as big as Jennifer’s) a detailed set of incoherent instructions, she finished with the admonition that because the section had recently acquired a different copier, the reporting technique had changed somewhat, and she had asked the copier rep from the business equipment to write down a complete set of instructions which Bob was to follow.

To keep this as short as possible, Bob was in a hurry, so he simply plugged the numbers into the set of instructions he had found in the folder and learned to his surprise that the copier which supplied the needs of about a dozen people had made over one million copies in one month. Looking back over previous reports in the folder, the copier usually made between 1,000 and 2,000 copies a month.

Bob went back to the written instructions, and this time he paid attention. One of the reasons he hadn’t paid that much attention previously was that the information was being collected for a government form. Bob worked with one govenrnment form monthly (which Jennifer had also assigned to him) which was unbelieveably complicated, required data to be interwoven and broken out into new figures. Bob was an accountant who had been responsible for the finances and reporting for multiple offices and entities and had never seen anything so useless in his life. Anyway, when Bob had been told to follow the written instructions, he had just assumed in the back of his mind that some bureaucratic rat somewhere had devised another hopelessly complicated form in the expectation of preserving his or her position - the most common purpose of a govenrment form, especially the complicated ones (Don’t believe me? Look at the tax code and explain its purpose and function in life to me, please!).

Anyway, as Bob perused the documents before him, it came to him in a flash what had happened. Two months previously, the office had acquired a new (refurbished) copier. The report for the first month of operation had been filled out with no problem. However, there were all kinds of notes, scratchings, and erasures for the next month, and that was the clue.

Here’s what had happened. When delivered, the refurbished copier had a counter that was in the high 900,000’s. At the end of the first month of use, Jennifer had been able to subtract the count at delivery from the count at the end of the month and come up with an accurate number of copies. However, during the second month, the counter had reached its maximum of 999,999 copies and had clicked back to zero. When Jennifer had read the starting count for the month (999,xxx) and had subtracted it from the ending count (001000), she had arrived at a negative number, a HUGE negative number, and had been totally unable to account for it. As Bob pieced the rest of the story together later (by talking directly to the copier rep), Jennifer had called the copier people and complained that the copier counter wasn’t working. That’s when the rep had explained that you had to subtract the beginning count from one million and add that number to the number on the counter at the end of the month.

However, the rep had assumed that Jennifer was a normal person and would figure out that this procedure only worked when the counter had reset itself. Little did HE know! Jennifer had assumed that with this new copier, this would be the way to do all reports in the future. When she followed the rep’s instructions to the letter and got figures in the millions and couldn’t figure out why, that’s when she turned the report over to Bob. That’s why she gave Bob such a funny look when he gave her the completed report less than a hour after she had assigned it to him.

Now, let me say this. I have written two articles previously on reasons for starting your own home or internet business. In these articles, I pointed out many of the most common reasons - more money, more time, be at home more - and some not quite so common - the ability to become involved in the community, the opportunity to go back to school, etc. However, up to now I have omitted the factor that decided Bob to try to find a way to start his own business…HAVING TO WORK WITH, AND PARTICULARLY FOR THE JENNIFERS OF THIS WORLD!

By the way, if you haven’t figured it out by now, there was no one named Bob, at least not in this story. Just Jennifer (not her real name) and me.

The author is retired from the Army after 21 years of service, has worked as an accountant, optical lab manager, restaurant manager, and instructor. He has been a member of Mensa for several years, and has written and published poetry, essays, and articles on various subjects for the last 40 years. He has been an active internet marketer since 2000, and now makes his living online. To learn more about improving your marketing performance, please visit http://marketingsecrets.xtramoney4me.net. To read more articles by the author, please visit his blog at http://donovanbaldwin.blogspot.com/.

How I Found My Home Based Business Niche.

By: Elaine Currie, BA (Hons) © The Hunting Venus Group

I found myself suddenly and unexpectedly unemployed after more
than twenty-five years in the same job. Prior to this I had no
ambition to own my own business. I had previously had vague
thoughts that it would be very nice to be able to work from
home, but I never had any idea of what I could actually work at.
I have a computer, I am literate and can type at a pretty fast
rate. Apart from these, I have no skills which I can see as the
basis for a home based business. I like reading and I grow all
manner of plants from beans to cacti, but I couldn’t see anybody
paying me to stay home and do any of these things.

If you had told me then where I would be today, and what I would
be doing, I would have thought you were crazy. I would not have
believed that I would own some websites (my own domain
actually), be working from home and have published articles
which I had written myself.

I searched for work, both on and off the internet and the more I
searched, the more downhearted I became. Sure, there were jobs
about but they all required things I lacked: some wanted
experience, some wanted much younger people, the worst ones
wanted people who were prepared to work long hours for peanuts.

I was regularly searching on the Internet for opportunities for
home work. I joined forums and read posts from women who were
desperate to work from home, most of them had children and were
unable to find suitable jobs to fit in with their schedules. It
began to seem as if there is a great army of people all wanting
to work but unable to find the right opportunity to suit them.

I signed up with a couple of companies to get paid for reading
emails, but reading a couple of emails each day is not the way
to make a fortune. I still read emails for these companies, but
only out of sentiment (you will understand what I mean by this
when you get to the end of this story).

I picked up a couple of ideas which seemed promising and I tried
them out. The first thing was mystery shopping, which sounded
simple enough, and potentially enjoyable - well, getting paid to
go shopping sounds good to me. I found many companies through
searching the internet and I applied to dozens of them; I wanted
a full time job, not just the odd shopping trip. Months went by
and I heard nothing from any of these companies.

Fortunately, I had not been just sitting back and waiting for
the mystery shopping jobs to come pouring in. I saw
advertisements for paid surveys, and it seemed that you could
make a full-time income filling in surveys on line. There were
many websites which advised that you should never pay a fee to
join a survey company, and these sites displayed the web
addresses of various survey companies. At the same time, I saw a
lot of advertising by a company which promised access to an
enormous database of the best paying survey companies for a fee
of only $35, which you would be bound to recover within a few
days. Against my better judgement, I paid over the $35 and was
disappointed to find that many of the companies in this database
would accept US and Canada residents only. Nothing wrong with
that, apart from the fact that I live in the UK. Of the
companies which would accept international residents, I had
already signed up to most of them. I got precisely nothing back
for my $35. The only money I earned came from two paid survey
companies which I did not join through that database. To date I
have received a total payment of £12. I have earned another £21
which is in an account which would only pay out if my total
reached £50.

My work search turned into a research project. I started looking
at home based businesses rather than jobs. No shortage of
possibilities here, but how to choose? I saw some attractive
websites aimed at selling all kinds of goods but I had no idea
where I would obtain stock, or even what I should try to sell,
let alone how to set up a website, and my budget was limited. I
tried searching for turnkey businesses. I looked at affiliate
programme opportunities, and they seemed a good idea, no stock
to buy or handle, but what should I sell? There were also
different grades of memberships. I hardly knew what most of it
meant to start with, but I was learning, and I was getting a
pretty good feel for what I didn’t want.

I would like to say that I found my niche as a result of my own
genius, hard work and perseverance. Actually, it was an
accident. I opened one of my paid to read emails, clicked on the
link and had my first view of a Plug-in Profit Site. I try to
avoid clichés but this truly was a sight for sore eyes, eyes
which felt as if they were ready to bulge out of my head after
hours of staring at a computer screen. If it is possible to fall
in love with a website, I did just that; I knew absolutely
without a doubt that I wanted a Plug-in Profit Site of my own,
it was everything I needed and more besides.

An attractive young man (young enough to be my son, I am afraid)
was offering to build for me free of charge a website, complete
with five free to join affiliate programmes selling a wide range
of items, to provide multiple ways of earning money. He was also
offering me, free of charge, my own pre-written newsletter, his
own guide to setting up and running my business and many other
free things which I came to appreciate even though I didn’t know
what they were at the time (remember, I did not know a mailing
list from a grocery list at this time, and I thought a lead was
just something you needed to walk your dog). I could take
delivery of all this within 24 hours, thank goodness; I don’t
think I could have waited a minute longer. I did not resist this
temptation for even a second and within 24 hours, I was a
website owner all ready to trade.

The learning curve started here but I’ll save that for another
story. I’ll just tell you one thing that I learned: I found out
that I had, once again, been extremely lucky. I joined a couple
of forums and read many posts from people who had struggled for
years to find a decent home based internet business. These
people told harrowing tales of failure, money lost, mounting
debts, years of hard work and worry. In a strange way, I feel
almost guilty that I found my niche by accident.

You can only make money with the Mail Order Magazines if you understand exactly WHO reads them. The Mail Order Magazines are trade papers read almost exclusively by Mail Order Dealers or by Opportunity Seekers, who are in reality aspiring Mail Order Dealers. They will only buy merchandise that will help them in the operation of a Mail Order Business.

It is almost always a waste of money to advertise merchandise which is intended for general consumption in the Mail Order Magazines… unless you are offering it on a wholesale or drop-ship basis.

Below is a brief description of 22 products or services that can be sold successfully through the Mail Order Magazines.

1. RUBBER STAMPS - Every Mail Order Dealer purchases at least one name and address rubber stamp. He also purchases “stock stamps” with slogans such as “Big Mails Wanted”, “Commission Circulars Wanted”, “Third Class Mail”, “Your Ad Solicited”, etc. Rubber stamps sell well in the Mail Order magazines because dealers use them in the conduct of their business.

2. MAILING LISTS - Mail Order Dealers constantly buy mailing lists of the ever present Opportunity Seekers, New Mothers, Book Buyers, Gift Buyers, etc. You can sell mailing lists on plain paper or gummed labels. Naturally you can charge more for the lists on gummed labels.

3. BIG MAILS - Anyone who regularly advertises “Big Mails” in the Mail Order magazines will get orders for them. Big Mails consists of envelopes full of Mail Order Magazines, Adsheets and circulars of every imaginable kind. The “Big Mail Order Dealer” earns his profit by selling a variety of sizes of ad space and subscriptions in the publications which he co-publishes. He also makes money from the items offered on the circulars which he includes in his big mails.

4. CIRCULAR MAILING SERVICE - Set up an efficient, and a good dependable mailing service so that dealers can get their circulars into the hands of real Mail Order buyers, advertise it regularly in the Mail Order Magazines. and you will soon have all the circular mailing business you can possibly handle.

5. PRINTING - Every mail order dealer buys printing. He buys envelopes, sales letters, circulars, booklets, catalogs, adsheets, brochures, price lists, letterheads, mail order magazines and a thousand other things. If you do mimeographing, letter press or offset printing, advertise your service in the mail order magazines. It is probably the mail order magazines’ Number One All-Time Profit Maker.

6. INFORMATION FOLIOS - Mail order dealers will always buy information that will help them succeed in the mail order business. Folios that deal with any practical aspect of mail order selling can be sold through the mail order magazines. If you have produced your own folio and are willing to drop-ship orders for other dealers you will definitely make money.

7. DROP-SHIP AND WHOLESALE OFFERS - If you have a large stock of merchandise which is suitable for mail order sales, and are willing to supply it on a drop-ship (single order at wholesale prices) or on a wholesale basis, then you should advertise in the Mail Order Magazines. Dealers are constantly looking for new products to sell by mail. If you plan to sell on a wholesale basis only, you should offer your product in very small wholesale lots, if possible. Most Mail Order Dealers are part-timers and do not have vast sums of money to invest in untested merchandise.

8. SAMPLE COPIES OF MAIL ORDER MAGAZINES - Mail order dealers have a very insatiable appetite for new mail trade magazines, which is why hundreds of them come into existence and then disappear every year. If you publish or co-publish a mail order magazine, advertise sample copies of it in other publications and you will get requests for it.

Regard your sample copy as a “leader item” or as a “good will builder”. It should be your way of getting your other offers into the hands of a very many prospective mail order buyers. You will probably sell some ads, but do not expect to sell too many subscriptions. Except for a few of the leading publications, very few people subscribe to mail order magazines.

9. GUMMED LABELS - Labels of any kind are “naturals” for many of the Mail Order Magazines. (Name and address labels, shipping labels, addressing labels, slogan labels, etc.)

10. NAME LISTING SERVICE - Whether he admits it or not, most every mail order dealer is a “Big Mail Addict”. If you compile mailing lists and work with another dealer who does, dealers will pay to put their names on the lists. You can advertise you name listing service in any mail order magazine and get orders for it.

11. COMMISSION CIRCULARS - There are circular mailers who watch every issue of every mail order magazine, always looking for new sources of commission circulars. There is no better way to advertise commission circulars than by placing ads in the mail order magazines.

12. COPY WRITING SERVICE - If you have a natural flair for writing ads, sales letters and circulars… and if you have a good basic knowledge of mail order selling , you can sell your services through many of the better mail order magazines. There are very few good mail order copy writers at present. Here is a very basic need… can you fill it?

13. AD DESIGN - Another service which is greatly in demand, the commercial artist who can create eye-catching ads and circulars which dealers can use to sell their products. There are only a few dealers who are now offering this service, but there is room for a dozen or so.

14. TYPESETTING - Most mail order printers and magazines now require “camera-ready” copy. This had created a big demand for dealers who offer a quality, reasonably price typesetting service. At present there are dealers who do mail order typesetting that have so much business they don’t even bother to advertise..

Related to typesetting, are the “clip-art” books which are used by dealers who prepare their own “camera-ready” copy… Right now as always, you’ll find clip-art books advertised in mail order publications.

15. PEN PAL, LONELY HEARTS MAGAZINES - For some reason, you will find that the mail order magazines have always been good places to sell these types of publications. It may be because they are the only kinds of magazines, other than the mail order magazines that are co-publishable.

Most mail order magazines will accept ads for legitimate matrimonial and pen pal magazines; however, very few will accept any “adults only” ads. Too many readers object and some mail order dealers are minors.

16. HOBBY MAGAZINES - You can sell almost any kind of hobby publications through the mail order magazines. This is because many dealers handle hobby merchandise and are always looking for new ways to sell it. Many dealers and readers are hobbyists and collectors themselves.

17. FORMULAS - Dealers buy formulas for two reasons. Some dealers reprint the formula and sell it by running ads in national publications. (”Sure way to kill cockroaches”, etc.) Some even manufacture the product itself and sell it by mail.

Closely related to formula selling is recipes selling. If you can create new recipes or have exceptional ones, you advertise and sell recipes over and over again.

18. CATALOGS - If you can produce low cost catalogs which dealers can mail to their customers offering books, novelties, gift items, baby merchandise, printed forms, etc., you would be well advised to offer your services in the mail order magazines.

19. UNPRINTED DEALERS MERCHANDISE - If you can supply merchandise which the dealer can use in his mail order business, at bargain prices, you can sell it profitably in the mail order magazines. Examples: unprinted envelopes, typewriter ribbons, addressing labels, stencils, scratch pads, etc. There are a few successful dealers who even sell large, bulky items like typewriters, mimeograph machines, file cabinets, paper cutters, and printing presses by mail.

20. AD SPACE - Every mail order dealer buys ad space. If you publish or co-publish a mail order magazine, tabloid or adsheet, you can sell ad space by advertising it in other mail order magazines.

21. ADS TO RUN UNDER YOUR OWN NAME - Can you supply ready-made ad copies which other dealers can run under their own names and fill their orders on a drop ship basis? If so, print up your ads and sell them through the mail order magazines. If you can supply “camera ready” ads and circulars, so much the better!

22. MAIL ORDER PLANS - Opportunity seekers are always looking for new mail order plans. If you have some practical legitimate workable plans that others can use to make money by mail, print them up and advertise them in the mail order magazines.

You will find that 99% of all the ads in the mail order magazines fall into one of the categories listed above. If you are selling a product or service that fits into one of these categories, you can safely advertise it in the mail order magazines.

Copyright 2004 by DeAnna Spencer

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