Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone!  I’m trying to take some time off myself, but  even when I’m working I have an absolutely gorgeous office – in my home, overlooking the mountains.  And you might notice, it comes complete with a cat – actually there are three of them who love to run around overhead on the ledges.

I’ll post a few more pics in the coming days, but as you can see hubby and I really do work side by side; what you see here is half the office.  The other half has nice comfy furniture in it that I can sit in with my laptop and and enjoy the mountain breezes, and the ever changing vistas that the mountains present.   You wouldn’t think that they’d change, but they do.

At 3500′ where I live, the mountain tops can peek out over the clouds, and the sun lights up the mountain peaks while down in the valley it’s raining.   The mountain directly across from me is 6,000′ – and it’s just amazing to watch.  True, I get distracted from time to time, but I never had it this great when I worked in an office.  There I had a cubicle, with no view to the outside all day long – what a drag it was.

I’m sharing this with you today so that you can see that it really is possible to make a full time living online; I quit my job almost 9 months to the day from the day I first started working online.   Was it hard?  Sure it was – you have to put some time in to learn the ropes, and you have to follow the steps to make yourself succeed.  There’s no such thing as toss up a website or blog and run in and quit your job – you have to work to succeed.

Is my income all passive income?  No, it isn’t.  I have income now from many sources, some passive, some not passive at all.  That’s why I build blogs for you guys – because I love to build them and give you a little bit of a leg up.  And I keep learning – every day I bet I learn something new.

So keep learning, keep applying what you’ve learned, and you can make it too!

Terri

I know that there have been some big changes over at a certain huge forum, and a lot of people aren’t in love with the changes.  “Nuff said about that.

Recently there have been several new forums springing up, and I believe I’ve found my new home!  Market Crush is the new place for me to hang, and if you go over there you’ll probably see some of the best marketers in the business making it their home, too.

I’m very impressed with the quality of the people who have signed up over there; Don and Jeremy started it, and you’ll find Lisa Gergets, Tina, Chris Ramsey, Allen Graves, Ken Leatherman, and way too many other of my favorite people to mention, or I’d just be name dropping all day!

The depth of knowledge on the forum is deep – this isn’t a spammy forum where everyone is just pushing products at you all day; this is an honest forum where you’ll get some inside info on what works and what doesn’t, and people who are willing to give you some good advice.

So if you’re looking for new place of your own, check out Market Crush!

Terri

Today is going to be a bit of a rant for me, so don’t read this if you take offense easily.  I just have to say it!

If you’re new to internet marketing, then the first niche that pops into your head is – guess what – internet marketing to newbies!  It happens over and over.  Now if you’re brand shiny new at IM, why do you think that you’re going to make a lot of money marketing to other newbies?  News flash – you won’t.  The competition is fierce, and it’s very difficult.

So make it easy on yourself – choose a “real” niche.  What do I mean by real?  Anything – what are your hobbies?  Do you like making baskets out of pine needles?  Well, there you go – that’s a niche!  Do you like raising fruit trees so that by summer’s end you can bite into a fresh apple from your backyard?  How about fruit tree propagation – that’s a niche!

And here’s another tip.  If you’re going to sell products on Amazon or eBay from your niche site, do yourself a favor and sell products that are worthwhile.  Don’t build a niche site around $2 items that are readily available at your corner drugstore, no matter where you live.  Are you going to sit down at your computer and look for the absolute best price for nail clippers, then order them online and pay shipping and handling?  I doubt it, and your readers won’t either.  Think about what you really order online, search for trends, think of what you can’t find locally – that’s what you should be building your sites around.

Now I’m not trying to tell you that you’ll never make any money in the “make money online” niche – but if you’re just starting out, it’s not the easiest niche to market yourself in.  I want to encourage you to think outside the box, think real world, and find a good niche!!

Terri