Great Day At Auction

Today was a great day for an auction. Not too hot and not too cold. There was also just one other bidder for the books I wanted. So that worked out well.

I got 2 boxes of books for $11. I put 4 of the books on Ebay around lunch and will list the rest tonight or tomorrow night.

Don't forget about the Members area of this project. Right now the cost is only $5 for a 1 year membership and includes access to my custom MyBlogLog contact finder program. The $5 price is limited to the first 20 people. Use the Buy Now button on the upper right side of the blog to purchase. My custom programs will be added as I complete them.

I'm going to relax a little and get ready for company tonight.

Michael

MyBlogLog Contact Finder Is Live

The time has come.

My first software program to be released in the Project Membership area is live.

The MyBlogLog contact finder will search out and find 15 new contacts for you each day. All you have to do is click on the link and confirm you want to add them as a contact.

Initial set-up takes about 5-10 minutes and you should be able to add your targeted MyBlogLog contacts in about 2 minutes per day. Remember these are targeted contacts, not random contacts that you just happen to find.

This is phase one and I have additional features to add to this software. The members area will also be the place where I add other programs I create. I love writing software and creating spiders, so the members area will be loaded with custom applications you won't find anywhere else!

Special Announcement. The first 20 people will get a 1 year membership for only $5. Not $5 per month or $5 per week. That is $5 for a whole year. I need to test my spider with multiple users, so you get a deep discount for helping me work the bugs out of this program. The price will go up after the first 20 spots are taken.

Just click on the Buy Now button on the right column near the top ---->

I will be at an auction tomorrow morning, so if you have any questions or problems I will answer then in the afternoon.

If you are new to PayPal, don't forget to click on the continue button on the payment confirmation screen. That will take you to the members area. I will send an email to anyone who pays, but doesn't register on the site within 24 hours to confirm that you got the link ok.

Michael

One Hour Until Software Release

Tonight is the night that I will be opening access to my MyBlogLog Contact Finder software.

I decided to keep it as a web application and create a membership area. Instead of creating a bunch of programs and charging for each of them I will have one low price for a membership to all the software I write.

Testing went well, but I need to make some changes since I will be hosting the app on my server. Everything should be ready in about 1 hour.

The first phase of this application builds a Daily list of contacts that have the same interests that you do. The list is 15 people that are not currently one of your contacts and they were online within the last 48 hours, most within the last 24.

All you have to do is click on the link in your list and add that person as your contact, then click on the next link and so on until you have all 15 contacts for the day. When I do this, while I am adding the contact I might open their community in a new window so that I can check it out when I am done adding contacts.

The whole process of adding 15 targeted contacts to my list takes under 2 minutes a day. The key is these are targeted contacts. Not just random contacts. This gives me a better chance of having them join my community and visit my BLOG.

I already started phase 2 of this software and watch the announcement for an additional bonus that will blow you away.

Michael

Make Money Online Goal Status

Time is winding down, only 144 days to reach my $1,000 goal.

As of right now I have about $25 cash, $30 in pending income, 1 domain name not hosted, 4 free blogs and 2 hosted websites. One of the hosted websites is new and the other was an existing site purchase.

The new site is getting very little traffic. Probably because I don't put enough time into generating traffic. I also am testing a few Wordpress designs to find one that will work best for me.

The existing site I purchased gets 50-120 uniques per day without any advertising or promotion. It is a user generated content site, so other then 2 minutes of admin each day it is a hands off site. On the down side I thought I could improve the income this site generates by changing the advertising a little. So far income is below what the person was making before I purchased it. For this site I need to focus on testing the offers and generating more free traffic.

Last night I did some prep for the Auction this Saturday. In doing so I got an idea and ended up working an additional hour gathering data for a future project.

Tonight I will decide how I want to finish my MyBlogLog Contact Finder software and make a plan to get it done. So far it is working great for me, I just have to finish some things so that others can use it as well.

Michael

MyBlogLog Software And Auction Stuff

I am taking a break from my MyBlogLog Contact finder software tonight. So far my tests are working great.

I'm still torn between keeping it a web based app or converting it to a Windows exe. And if I keep it web based to sell it as a script or a hosted app. I started an installer to sell it as a script and I also started testing it as a hosted app.

How do you prefer to use software? A Windows program that you run from your PC? A script that you can run from one of your sites or a hosted app that you go to a website and log in and use?

There is a great auction this weekend. I plan on spending the rest of the money in my account. Then there is another auction on Wednesday where I will probably spend all the money that I earned this month.

So far my auction success has not been a success. But I didn't do enough testing, so it is too early to give up.

Michael

MyBlogLog Contact Finder Software Version 2

Last night I decided that I will be selling copies of the MyBlogLog Contact Finder software. I already have ideas for enhancements. Thanks for the comment Liz, that confirms what I was thinking and made me feel better about this decision.

I was thinking about making an installer and documentation, but have a better idea. This will be a hosted app. That way you won't have to worry about downloading upgrades and new features will be easier for everyone to use. The first 20 will get in for $5 a year, the next 40 will get in for $10 a year. Depending on how many features I add I will adjust the price for new members after the original 60.

Today it only took me 2 minutes to add my 15 MyBlogLog contacts for the day. And they all have interests that match mine. One of the contacts has a neat BLOG that I may add to my RSS reader after I get a chance to finish reading a few more posts.

Now I can spend less time finding contacts and more time networking with them.

Stop back in a couple days for the release of my "MyBlogLog Contact Finder Software Version 2".

I am still working towards a shorter work week. The 4 Hour Work Week is still getting huge attention and I can't agree more. I just hope my boss doesn't read it.

Michael

-- Edit @ 9:11pm. After some work on hosting the app I decided to work on an installer instead.

MyBlogLog Contact Finder

Part of the software program I was working on is complete.

It is a MyBlogLog contact finder. This is not an adder or anything that generates SPAM. This little program finds contacts that have similar interests as I do.

For example I like to blog about money making projects, so this little program will find me 15 new contacts every day that like that same thing.

I have to manually click on the add contact and confirmation buttons. That is why this is not an adder. I can view the profile of the person before I add them.

This little program cut my MyBlogLog surfing time down 80% !!!

If there is interest I might sell it as is for $6 or write an installer and create documentation and sell it for $15. Don't know yet, what do you think?

I downloaded my 2 audio books from Audible today. Didn't get a chance to start listening to them yet.

Michael

Easy Money - Easy Competition

If your business couldn't hide it's marketing and sales how easy would it be for competition to move in on you?

I was shocked at how many people are making easy money selling information products on Ebay. The research I was doing the past 4 weeks was partially on Ebay. It was so easy to find successful sellers.

This got me thinking about how easy it would be to move right into a niche that is already showing signs of success and outdo the other seller. Then I thought, what if someone does this to me.

Now back to the successful sellers. Some of these guys are making over $1,000 an hour! A few of them even have crappy sales letters. I could easily make a video product and take most of their customers from them. But I think instead of being a direct competitor, I might make a companion product. Then I can ask the current niche leader to promote my product to their list for a percentage of the profit. Win-win, they make extra money from existing customers and I make money without any advertising expense.

Today I have to run to the post office to ship the stuff I sold on Ebay & another site last week. Digital delivery is so much easier and requires much less time. Plus with a video product I can burn it on a DVD and increase the value. Try doing that with an eBook.

If you want to learn how to make videos that sell on Ebay, click the link below. Make sure you see [affiliate = beachbumis.OPP] at the bottom of the payment page. I have a special bonus to email everyone who buys from my link.

Sell videos on Ebay - Click Here

Take Care,

Michael

Crazy High Website Traffic Yesterday

Thanks for your comment Andy. Yes 2 cents is on the low side. You are right that I could try to target higher paying keywords. But my figure was from over 2 years worth of history. In order to continue to target higher paying keywords I would have to change the subject of my blogs. I would rather write about the topics I enjoy and focus on making money from sources other then Google.

Most of my money is not made from AdSense and this holds true across most of my blogs and sites.

The 30 Day Challenge III is going to start in August. When Ed announces how to enter I will post a link here on the blog. I entered the past 2 years, but I don't play to win. I don't like to give away the niches I am in. And considering how much time I spend on research, you know how stupid that would be for me to do.

Tonight is going to be another late night. I have to work tomorrow and Sunday too.

Still working on the research compile. I was considering selling my research notes, but don't know yet.

My new site got some crazy traffic yesterday. I need to figure out how to check the stats and see what happened. Income stayed the same, but traffic was real high.

Michael

Project Update - Research Data Compile

I started to sort through my research data. The plan is to put it in some form of order.

Looks like I will have to spend some time cleaning up my sites and getting things organized. The 4 hour work week is not looking too good.

Won't be long until our Beach Vacation. I might have to run a special or something while I am gone.

Michael

Make Money Project Testing

So far the one item I am testing isn't getting enough traffic. I only need 1 sale to make a profit and I can afford at least 2 more weeks of advertising. This is a hands off test. Set it and forget it. If I make a sale I will keep it up, if not then I just stop the ads.

My new site has a new design. I found a wordpress template that I like so I switched out the one I was using. It had an option to allow visitors to turn off advertising so I had to edit the template to remove that part.

Last night I mentioned I was going to do some SEO work, but I didn't have time. I did end up doing more research though.

I'm going to pause my research for now and evaluate what I have and move forward. With the massive amount of data I collected this might take some time.

This might be my last post until Monday. I have a big project that is going to require 12 hour days starting tomorrow and running until sometime on Monday. I may try to put up a small post if I get a chance.

Michael

How Much Money Are You Working For?

I just ran an AdSense report today. Over the past 2 years I averaged 2 cents per click.

I don't know about you, but I can think of better things to do with my time then focus on sites that only make 2 cents per click.

Granted there were other forms of advertising on those sites that made much more money. The point is I don't see any reason to focus on something that makes so little money.

My software program is starting to really take off. There are a couple things I need to figure out, but right now things are looking good.

I started a new test last night, but it was more money then I have in this project, so I can't count it as part of this project.

If you have any change suggestions for the free GTD sheet, let me know. How is it working out for you? If you didn't already download it the free GTD daily planner is in the free stuff section to the right.

Time to do some SEO and then work on my software program.

Michael

Research, Research, Research - Where is the 4 hour work week?

I did so much research last week that it really didn't seem like a 4 hour work week.

On the plus side if things work out my profits will increase with no additional work once the system is in place. Then more research and a second system to put in place.

I started to write a program to help with my research. So far it is helping.

Michael

Make Money Project Status

The cash balance to the right is before my current investments. I will update the total and my project status on July 1st.

Doing more research today and hope to get into another large tournament a little later. Trying to cool off right now.

Michael

4 Top Right Text Links For Sale

My bad. I always proof read my blog post before I save, but just skim the title. I made an opps in my title yesterday. I used the word test instead of text.

At any rate the 4 red text links at the top right portion of this blog are open for July. $10 per link or $30 for all 4.

Still working on my research. Time to build my database and stop using spreadsheets. I also have to work on my software program to help.

Michael

4 Upper Right Test Links For Sale

Update on Thursday night. I played Poker, then did research and went to bed an hour later then normal. I played Poker again tonight but also did some research at the same time.

I found 2 paths to follow in my research and debunked a path that I was heading. Fun stuff, I enjoy this.

The 4 links on the upper right part of this blog expire the end of this month. If anyone is interested in buying a link where the 4 red links are right now. The cost is $10 per link per month or all 4 for $30. There is a max of 4 in that spot. Just post a comment here with your email and how many links you want if you are interested and I will send you a PayPal invoice. No porn, hate, drugs, and stuff like that. I have the right to turn down any site that I don't think fits.

Michael

Make Money Project Product Source

Today I thought I found a product source for my research project. Turns out the margin was so low it isn't worth testing.

Tonight I have some errands to run, but hopefully will have time to do research later. Looks like a busy weekend too.

Sunday is Fathers Day. I plan on relaxing and watching Ghost Rider.

I have to get back to my automation software as well. So far things are going great. Now I need to make adjustments to make them even better.

If I get a chance this weekend I will work on some more free stuff.

Michael

Make Money Project Research

Last night was heavy make money research. Soon my notebook will be full and I will have to start another one. Can't wait to get to the next step.

Reply to a comment left today:
Yes, I have the audio book version of "The 4 Hour Work Week". I have a monthly subscription to Audible.

I finished 2nd out of 9 on my poker tournament last night. I'm on a roll with my best win 54th out of 4,000 on Sunday. The big tournaments take so long, but what a feeling to finish in the top 2%.

Tonight I have a meeting and will either do research or play poker when I get back home. Doing the research will get me closer to my goal so I will probably do that. But poker is relaxing and that will help me thing better.

Michael

Making A Little At A Time

I did some calculations on how much I need to make each week to reach my project goal. The numbers look easier to obtain when they are small.

Timmothy in The 4 Hour Work Week said to have a bigger dream and I do, but first I need to reach this small goal.

My posts will be shorter since I only have 45 minutes each day to work. So far I am liking the shorter work days. I am still doing research for my next project and getting in some Poker time.

Michael

4 Hour Work Week - Day 2

This is my second day of the 4 hour work week. Yesterday went well and I have about 20 minutes left for today. I have a meeting on Thursday so I might use some of my Thursday time.

I purchased a website for this project yesterday. 8 times current income. A fair price for an easy to maintain site. Now I need to fix it up a little and try to recover my costs plus make some profit by November.

The cash in this project is going down quickly with all my investments. Hopefully one or more will take off and get me to my goal of $1000 by Thanksgiving.

Michael

GTD The 4 Hour Work Week Way

Today I am starting my 4 Hour Work Week Test.

This is the plan. Monday 45 minutes, Tuesday 45 minutes, Wednesday 45 minutes, Thursday 45 minutes, Friday 30 minutes & Saturday 30 minutes. During this time I will only work on my existing business and this penny project.

After my daily allotted limit I will be doing research on growth and new projects. There is no way I can grow my business working only 4 hours a week. So I decided to allow additional time for growth and research. If this test goes well I will make some adjustments. I don't know if I can hit a 4 hour work week, but I should be able to do it all in 10-15 hours ... hopefully!

First thing I did was put a scheduled task on my computer to pop up a window when my time is up for today. That way I don't have to watch the clock and can focus on my work.

Then I wrote a quick little program to open up Internet Explorer windows with all the sites I normally visit for my business. This cost me a little time today, but will save time from here out. Now all I have to do is skim the page and click close. No more clicking links, going back to the main links page, clicking the next link, etc...

Working smarter.

Most of my time was spent on this post, so I will have to look at cutting back on post time somehow.

Time to proofread and publish this post so I can finish my 45 minute work day.

Michael

The 60 Hour Work Day

Yesterday was so busy it seemed like a 60 hour day. Far from a 4 hour work week.

I did complete one phase of my research for site #3. The next phase of research is at the market level. That is what I find to be fun. Researching markets.

If I get some quiet time today I will make a video for you. If not then I will try to explain my thoughts in written word as best I can. Some concepts are just hard to explain without video.

On my quest to earn $1000 online by Thanksgiving I decided to invest all of the money in my project balance back into the project. I was thinking about holding some of it back as a buffer. But then I figured the worst that can happen is I loose $100 and have to start the project over.

In July when I report the project balance the cash portion will be real low, but the investments will hopefully start bringing in money in July.

Thank You Carol from HomeBiz KnowHow for your comments on my free GTD Schedule.

Michael

Free Stuff Section Added - GTD Schedule

I decided to add a Free Stuff section on the right column. The GTD Schedule from yesterday will be there. When I have more stuff to give away that is where you will find it.

Today I went to Ollies Bargain Outlet to pick up something for my daughter since it was her last day of Kindergarten. They have good stuff cheap. Many of the prices are close to Ebay and I don't have to pay shipping. Does anyone know where Ollies, Tuesday Morning, One Dollar Store and places like that get their stuff?

I found a few pallet websites with great deals, but the shipping cuts into the margin too much. I'm looking for smaller lots of closeout stuff, but will look at just about anything.

Looks like this might be a casual weekend. Hopefully I can get some work done.

Michael

Free GTD Schedule

I finished the thing I was working on. This is my GTD schedule. The design is on the simple side to go along with The 4 Hour Work Week.

Free GTD Schedule

Just jot down what you want or need to do in each of the sections. There is a To Do section to the right and a small notes section on the bottom right.

You may pass this GTD Schedule around to anyone you want, post it on your site or link to this post. Just don't charge for it or change it in any way.

If you would like me to brand this schedule with your website address just PayPal me $5 and let me know what URL to put on it. meekel [at] yahoo [dot] com

I can also create custom forms. Just email me your requirements for a quote.

Michael

Shopster - Start Selling Over 700,00 products, 7 Day Free Trial.

Make Money Project Updates

I don't know why I didn't see this before. Shopster. Sign up now for a 7 day free trial. No commitment, all the upside! What a great way to find products to sell.

Last night I worked on getting my AdSense data into my own database. I was having problems getting the date to insert into my table, but I have an idea on how to fix it. My plan is to export my AdSense stats each month and put it in my custom database. This database is going to contain some of my stats and other info. Once I have everything loaded then I am going to design a custom dashboard so I can see the status of my business real quickly and easily.

My new website is starting to look good and I will probably start a second one this weekend.

If I have time tonight I will finish a little something that I have been working on and testing. I will put it online tomorrow if I get it finished.

Michael

The Value Of Your Time

This will be a quick post today.

I listened to some of the 4 Hour Work Week again today. What a great book, I can't say enough how much you should read this book.

Start keeping track of your actions and how much you earn from those actions. I'm working on a spreadsheet and it is a real eye opener.



The video with my spreadsheet will be out late this week or early next week. I need some quiet time to record the video.

Michael

Contest Update, 4 Hour Work Week, and More

There was only one entry in my Future of Making Money Online contest. The Sapheyerblu Review did an awesome post. Later this week I will update you on what I think the future of making money online will involve.

I listened to about 2 hours of the "Four Hour Work Week" again today. This is one book that I plan on also getting the hardcover edition. By far this is the best book I have ever read or listened to.

My new site is starting to get built up. I'm not adding content every day like I do here, but plan on at least 3 posts a week. If things take off then I will switch to daily posts. I'm trying to cut my work hours back, not add to them, what am I thinking. Oh, I know ... Beach House ... That is a ways down the road, but the ultimate goal in this project. Current goal is $1,000 by Thanksgiving.

Almost 300 members on my MyBlogLog community. I enjoy talking to people on MyBlogLog almost as much as I enjoy writing these posts.

Time for me to get back to my project. The big post for tomorrow is going to be delayed. I need to do a screen cam video and that will take some time. There will still be some good content posted tomorrow, just not the detail that I will go into when I do the video.

Michael

Four Hour Work Week - My Testing

I am planning on listening to "The Four Hour Work Week" a second time. I may even plan on listening to it once a month.

I downloaded a freeware timer program to limit the amount of work I do. Much like not working on Sundays. I will probably shut the timer off and keep working. Fortunately I enjoy what I do with my internet business.

The Wednesday announcement might be delayed until Saturday. I'm thinking about making a video to go along with the post and that will take some extra time.

Tonight is the deadline for my contest. So far there is only one entry so that will be easy for me to decide. Unless I get 4 more entries the prize will be $20.

Michael

Big Money Making Announcement on Wednesday

On Wednesday June 6th I am going to do a post based on some of my recent research.

As you may know the past few weeks I spent doing research on a few of my passions. Interestingly enough as a side to that research I figured out an interesting business model.

This lead me to dig deeper and do some testing of this model. The numbers are a rough average right now, until I have time to do more testing. With a little more research and testing my business should produce $20-45 for each hour I put into it. And once I refine the model, should produce much more with less effort.

Stop back on Wednesday for my eye opening post. But no need to wait until Wednesday to come back, I do post here 6 or 7 days a week.

Michael

Yard Sale - Not Condusive To Working Smarter

Today we went to a Yard Sale. Not just any Yard Sale but a big community Yard Sale about 5 miles from where I live. This was after my daughters soccer game.

The plan was to pick up some stuff to sell on Ebay. I think the good stuff was gone way before we got there at noon. It was still nice to walk around with my daughter for an hour, though it was a little hot.

Even if I had found 2 or 3 items today to make it worth my time I would need to profit at least $15 from each item. Finding enough items with a $15 profit margin at yard a\sales is not an easy task.

I know people who make $50-200 a week selling stuff online (not always Ebay) that they purchased at Yard Sales.

I prefer auctions. I like the auction environment better then the yard sale scene.

The keys are margin and time. If it takes a long time to make a small profit you will always be chasing your tail to make a buck.

Time to relax a little.

Michael

The 4 Hour Work Week And Project Updates

Today I finished the 4 Hour Work week. The first 60% of the book was very good and the last 40% was more like a motivational story.

Overall I rate The 4 Hour Work Week a 4.5 out of 5. I started listening to it a second time. This Sunday I am going to listen to the whole thing again.

Don't forget about my current contest. At this point there are less then 5 entries, so your odds are very good. The prize for under 5 entries is $20, but if I get at least 5 entries the prize will be $50.

My May income for this project was very good. For the second month in a row Google AdSense was my #2 money maker. I'm thinking about replacing my AdSense spots with advertising that pays better.

You may have noticed that I hit my $100 goal for this part of the project. My new goal was $1,000 by end of year, but I am going to try and hit $1,000 by Thanksgiving. That way I can relax from Thanksgiving until the new year. My goal for 2008 will be to produce an income of $1,000 a month from this project.

I did not start a new site for this project yet. Hopefully next week I will be able to get started on that. So much to do. I know that one day I will be able to get my workload down to 2 hours a day or less.

Michael