I ran across this video the other day and with all the crazy stuff I’ve been through in the past 10 years (some mentioned in this blog, some not), it really struck a chord. Honestly, I couldn’t of said it better:
I can forgive and I’m not ashamed to be the person that I am today. These are my words, that I’ve never said before, I think I’m doing ok, and this is the smile that I’ve never shown before…
My life hasn’t been “perfect” nor has it been “easy” but it has been a lot of FUN, and I honestly can reflect back on my life and say I am ‘blessed’ - I have worked in a phenomenal industry that has allowed me to excel at what I do best Search Engine Marketing and Optimization. When I reflect on the past 7+ years of PPC, SEO, Online, and Viral marketing work, I truly wouldn’t of changed a thing…it’s been quite a fun ride and I know it’s only the beginning. When I think about it: I met my incredible Wife, created life long friendships, established a career in one of the fastest growing industries, and made a pretty good living too.
When you help other people make money (serious $), it’s an amazing feeling…I wish everyone could experience the thrill I do every day I go into work! I haven’t invented a cure for cancer, but I’m definitely impacting/changing peoples lives.
A special note: I can’t thank my Wife enough for helping me become the person I am today…she’s been my ‘rock’ and ‘angel’ at the same time - Erika, I love you.
“Heal the Past: Live the Present: and Dream the Future”
LegalZoom offers a ton of online Legal resources to help the new or experienced Entrepreneur form their Business Entity. Honestly, I too had no idea if I needed a LLC or C Corp/S Corp when I started…the information from online Attorneys seemed to only confuse me more (ughhh!). But, once I found LegalZoom.com - I could easily figure out what corporate legal entity was best for my needs. Check out their awesome business formation excerpt below:
Corporations and LLCs are both excellent choices for business owners looking to minimize their personal liability and build greater credibility. But each entity also offers distinct tax and business advantages. Choosing the right one depends on the specific needs of your business.
Okay, I can understand that - they each have their own benefits and drawbacks - please go on:
Corporations offer personal liability protection, tax savings, and increased opportunities for raising capital. Corporations are also required to perform certain formalities such as holding annual meetings and keeping detailed corporate records (minutes). With LegalZoom you can choose to incorporate as either a C or S corporation.
Makes sense, sounds like there are a bunch of ‘formalities’ and record keeping needed - most important, thank you LegalZoom I can understand your ‘legal speak’! Let me go on…
Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) offer the same personal liability protection as a corporation, but with fewer of the corporate formalities. They typically are not required to hold formal meetings or keep detailed corporate minutes. LLCs also offer great tax flexibility. Members can choose to be taxed as either a traditional corporation or as a “pass-through” entity.
LegalZoom also offers a really simple Matrix of the different choices below (Image from LegalZoom - we cannot take credit!):
Raised in Vancouver and Toronto, Severn Cullis-Suzuki has been camping and hiking all her life. When she was 9 she started the Environmental Children’s Organization (ECO), a small group of children committed to learning and teaching other kids about environmental issues. They were successful in many projects before 1992, when they raised enough money to go to the UN’s Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Their aim was to remind the decision-makers of who their actions or inactions would ultimately affect. The goal was reached when 12 yr old Severn closed a Plenary Session with a powerful speech that received a standing ovation.
This 12 Year old makes more sense than any politician I have ever heard. Please dupe, shout, get this video out!!
Okay, I have to disclose this now - I work with LegalZoom.com, but I was a client WAY before that ever happened.
You see I am a serial Entrepreneur, I hold a few Trademarks, run a couple online affiliate domains/sites, and have one or two niche product lead generators etc…and without LegalZoom.com I would not be where I am today (that’s the truth!).
Their services have enabled me to both protect my Family, as well as make more money - all the time I saved a ton of loot as well! What other site could of enabled me to easily sit down with my Mother-in-Law and draft a Will on the Couch during the Holidays? LegalZoom allowed us to do this with ease, and removed the emotional difficulty of having to tell very personal details to a complete stranger (a.k.a: some expensive Lawyer).
You can also form a Corporation or Partnership fast with LegalZoom, their simple Business Formation process will walk you step-by-step through the entire creation of your Business entity! You can literally form a Corporation within minutes by answering a few simple questions - all from the comfort and security of your own home/office. (Again: No Lawyer necessary!)
As background, I recently signed up for a MarketLeverage account after Tyler Cruz first mentioned them last month - the “MarketLeverage visits Tyler!”). First off, I had never used them (heard of yes, used no) so this was a good enough endorsement to get tip the scale in checking it out. So I signed up, and logged in…to say the least I was excited and also stoked.
Enough talk, let’s check out the Affiliate ‘Home’ Dashboard Screenshot!
The first thing I was excited about was the amount of Large Brand Name offers that they had to offer. I mean Wal Mart, Home Depot, SouthWest Airlines, Sams Club and MANY MORE…I was in Affiliate heaven. Having used CJ, and ClickBank for years - this was a breath of Fresh Air to see that MarketLeverage had such a strong ‘high-brow’ Affiliate Offering. Now let’s dig deeper into the interface…
Below you will see the “Top 20″ Offers section…this is in my opinion the best place to check out the newest and ‘freshest’ and ‘Niche’ Affiliate offers to dip your proverbial toe into.
I circled just a sample of the $25+ USD Offers that are out there for leads and sales - the best part is 90% of the sale/lead offers don’t require 100% of the amount (i.e. $1.00 S&H = $25 USD Affiliate payout!). They truly have great value and limited time offers for the consumers and affiliates alike - bravo, gracias, hoi san, merci, thanks!
Now for the customer support - I was contacted by my personal Affiliate Manager the next day after signing up, he was very kind and knowledgeable. I also learned MarketLeverage is no ’small shop’ or ‘flash-in-the-pan’ start-up; they have over 50+ employees and been established for over 7 years. My Manager helped me understand the admin section and also offered to help in any way possible - it’s always good to see a online marketing company that cares about the affiliates as much as the publishers.
I will go into the Affiliate Analytics section in a future post, but for now, I encourage all my readers (who are interested in making more money!) to go signup for a MarketLeverage Affiliate Account today!
The most common question asked on this blog, interviews, and emails I get is always “if I had to start over tomorrow with nothing what would I do”. It’s a hard question for me to answer. There are an extraordinary amount of opportunities to make 100$ per day. I mean I can think of probably 50 off the top of my head. The problem is those just don’t work for us anymore. I am not a one-person operation anymore. We now have a large office with 5 employees, our own server racks, and many other expenses so that we have to make thousands per day just to break even. So messing around with things that make 100$ per day just no longer works for us.
Chris Boggs over at SEW wrote a great peice on the Top 5 Ways to increase SERPs with non-SEO methods. It’s a good write up and I wanted to share it with all my readers.
SEO involves getting lots of moving pieces coming together in the right way to form a perfect storm of sorts, which equates to better search results for a Web site. Beyond SEO best practices, I polled our SEO team to come up with the top five “non-SEO” tasks that can help support the SEO process and get Web sites consistently ranked for relevant desired terms within the results.
Some of the ways he mentions include:
1. Enhance Web Site Usability
2. Work with Other Marketing Teams
3. Incorporate Traditional PR Efforts into the SEO Plan
4. Monitoring and Leveraging Communities
5. Keep Content Fresh by Updating it Regularly
Microsoft has decided to walk away from its bid for Yahoo NSDQ: YHOO. Said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in a statement: “We continue to believe that our proposed acquisition made sense for Microsoft, Yahoo and the market as a whole. Our goal in pursuing a combination with Yahoo was to provide greater choice and innovation in the marketplace and create real value for our respective stockholders and employees. Despite our best efforts, including raising our bid by roughly $5 billion, Yahoo has not moved toward accepting our offer. After careful consideration, we believe the economics demanded by Yahoo do not make sense for us, and it is in the best interests of Microsoft stockholders, employees and other stakeholders to withdraw our proposal.”
I wonder if Yahoo will plummet or surge in after hours trading. Ballmer imho will try pull a ‘Larry Ellison’ and swoop in eventually buying Yahoo at a steep discount - similar to the Oracle/BEA buyout debacle…remember there is around $10+ of ‘buyout’ inflation value baked into their current pricing.
Janet in California incorporated Elaine’s Toffee Company at LegalZoom.com. Follow her success and form your own Company online - you too launch your dreams today!
So here we are, three weeks later, and there’s still no agreement. Microsoft hasn’t gone hostile — yet. Its stock has continued to drift, which could make the acquisition more expensive; and Yahoo has given no indication that it’s warming up to a deal.
Microsoft, on the other hand, has dropped several not-so-subtle hints that it could walk away from Yahoo entirely — yesterday CFO Chris Liddell said in an internal interview that it was a distinct possibility. And on the company’s earnings call on Thursday, Liddell said speed was of the essence but the process has been “anything but speedy.”
Then again, it’s not even noon in California, so Microsoft still has plenty of time to attack.
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