When I Was a Newbie THIS Made a BIG Difference For Me

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and THIS Bothered Me, Too

Once upon a time, I was a newbie – a broke newbie at that. I absolutely absorbed any and all free information I could get my hands on. I was on tons of lists in hopes that they would each give me one more little piece of the internet marketing puzzle so it would all start to work for me. There was one list in particular that I LOVED (and still do), but suddenly, that list owner started to push Wealthy Affiliate and I started to lose interest in their emails. So now, I imagine YOU are wondering why *I* promote Wealthy Affiliate. Fair question… and one I’d like to talk about today.

It’s a Jungle Out There

jen-lee-monte-carloLearning internet marketing, especially the way *I* went about it at first, is tough. It’s a jungle out there full of shiny things, “get rich quick” offers, and lots of bad information. When I first started trying to learn, I would sign up for any list that even hinted at giving some of that good information away.

Inevitably, the list owner would try and sell me something – and that’s ok, I know that’s how this all works. Besides, who here wants to work for free? Yes, giving things away and helping people is GREAT…that is super important to me, it gives me a nice “warm fuzzy” feeling that lets me know I am living my life on the right path for me.

However, I can’t recall the last time our mortgage company would accept a “Warm Fuzzy” as payment!

(makes me think of that gum commercial where the guy offers to pay the babysitter in gum….I’m not thinking my mortgage company would be near as excited as that babysitter was…lol!)

But – when you don’t have the money to buy some of the answers, it is FRUSTRATING. That feeling of “If I only had money, I could figure all this out” gets stuck in your gut – and it kinda hurts.

It starts this whole cycle of – “I don’t have money, I’m trying to learn HOW to make money, but I don’t have the money to learn – why can’t someone just tell me FOR FREE and STOP asking me to buy stuff?!?!?

Oh, I’ve been there….yes I have.

So back on topic – this particular list owner started in with the Wealthy Affiliate thing – and I became disenchanted. Thankfully, I kept reading the emails from this list owner, but I still couldn’t hear what they were trying to tell me.

Finally, one day in July 2008, I finally understood – and I joined WA.

I struggled with the decision of whether or not to pay $39 a month for that membership – really struggled. Now, in hindsight, I’m SO glad I chose to make the choice to give it a try and see what it was all about.

I was an active member of Wealthy Affiliate for about 8 months before I said anything about WA here on my blog.

Why?

Because I wanted to be sure of what it was all about. I wanted to know that *I* would choose to stay and be an ACTIVE member in that community and that *I* found real value in the tools and training.

Promoting something just for the sake of an income stream is not how I wanted PotPieGirl.com to be – or to be seen.

I believe in Wealthy Affiliate – I am proud to be a member of WA, too. If that changes, you can be sure I’ll speak up.

I also know deep inside that when someone is new to internet marketing, or is ready to take their efforts to the next level, that WA is a GREAT place to be.

Let’s Break This Down

Let’s break this down a little. There are a lot of great products and great tools out there that can make your online efforts better.

Each month, I could tell you about one product or one tool that can help you – and good stuff, too. And many people would be out there buying ONE piece of the puzzle and spending $30, $40, $50 and more each month for that ONE PIECE…

Or…

They can get a LOT of the pieces (if not MOST of the pieces) for $39 each month (tools, training, services, AND the community).

Do I make money off of it? Yes, I do – I’d make money whether someone opted to get the single piece of the puzzle each month thru me or if they opted to join Wealthy Affiliate with me.

It doesn’t make sense to me to offer one piece of the puzzle at a time – even if *I* make MORE doing it that way – than recommending a complete package that I believe in AND participate in.

And that’s the thing, I don’t just PROMOTE Wealthy Affiliate, I RECOMMEND it.

wealthy affiliate group in vegasI recently came back from a trip to Vegas with Wealthy Affiliate. Yup, it was a great time – yup, it was cool to be spoiled – yup, it’s awesome to be able to say I was honored with an invitation for that trip AND to sit around a table with some I consider to be OUTSTANDING marketers (and people).

The BEST part of my trip to Vegas was being able to sit down, face-to-face, with the owners of WA (Kyle and Carson). I got to speak with them and hear from them what they are trying to accomplish with WA – what their visions are – what they hope to achieve – and that had a huge impact on me. Their values are very much in line with what *I* want to achieve online.

They were also very much about helping me better ME – Not just how I can promote them better, but helping me be better with my online marketing and improving my results.

That meeting in Vegas could have turned out to be one big “YAY, Wealthy Affiliate!” pep rally-type thing, but it didn’t.

It WAS all about making each of us better in this industry as a whole.

Kyle and Carson give like crazy – their site is massively under-priced – but they want it that way. They want what they offer to be attainable to anyone who needs it.

Is Wealthy Affiliate Right For EVERYONE?

No, Wealthy Affiliate is not right for everyone. I’d be hard-pressed to come up with a learning/tools community that IS right for EVERYONE. We all learn differently and have different goals. All I know is that I chose the Wealthy Affiliate path – and have no intention of coming off that path. It was – and IS – right for me.

There are also readers here that HAVE been Wealthy Affiliate members – and they hated it. Some may have even had a bad experience with WA. I’m sorry it went that way, and I can understand why you don’t like me talking about it.

Others have joined and then quit because they didn’t feel it was the right place for THEM. That’s great, in my opinion, you tried it and it wasn’t what YOU needed. You didn’t base your decision off what others said (including ME), you made the best decision for yourself based off your own experience.

My goal is for each of you to be able make the best choices for YOUR online business and for YOU that you can. Internet Marketing is a strange little industry. You really can’t take the word of what others say about tools and services – you need to try them yourself to KNOW what works for YOU.

My Video From Las Vegas

I made a video while I was in Vegas. I’m not big on the “getting in front of the camera and talking” thing, but something moved me while we were there that last day that compelled me to do it.

Many of you might know that I love to play tournament-style Texas Hold ‘Em poker (like what they play in the Main Event in the WSOP – World Series of Poker). Now, there are all kinds of poker to be played, but tournament-style (like the Main Event) is playing until one person has all the chips. It’s very challenging – involves a good bit of skill and the ability to read people.

Anyway, Binion’s HorseShoe in old, downtown Vegas is where the WSOP originated. Downtown Vegas is not NEARLY as “shiny” and glitzy as The Strip in Vegas (where we stayed) – but I love going down there. It’s rich in history and a bit more “real” for my taste (if you can call Las Vegas “real”…lol).

So, our last day there, we went down to old Vegas. Through-out our trip, we talked to many dealers, servers, hotel employees, cab drivers, etc and we kept hearing a recurring theme that had to do with the economy and how badly it was hurting Vegas – and hurting the very real people that count on Las Vegas to make their living and support their families.

When we got to “old” Vegas, it all really slapped me in the face how BAD things are. I saw WAY too many people working that should be retired. I saw WAY too many “things to do” in Vegas with very few people doing them (not just gambling, but restaurants, attractions, etc).

Then, I walked into one well-known place for me that we have been before – and I could really see in a large scale what was happening. The room was EMPTY – abandoned. The emptiness I show in this video is not just a lack of customers – it also represents a LOT of people that are without jobs.

There are so many people working that should be retired and so many more people that also need to work, but they can’t GET a job.

And that is not just Las Vegas – that is the state of my country.

And *I* had just spent a spoiled week in Vegas because of the blessings internet marketing has given me – and I suddenly became very moved and very THANKFUL to be a part of Wealthy Affiliate.

Now, just a note: I am a goober. Seriously…. I’m an odd bird at times…lol! But this video might lag here and there when you watch -and it makes me appear to be an even BIGGER goober. I’m also not used to being in front of the camera and I think it shows.

However, I’m posting this video anyway – maybe someone can hear my message.

By the way, if you are already a Wealthy Affiliate member, Kyle and Carson just posted more videos from our Vegas trip.

Those videos, pictures and a trip summary for Las Vegas are here.

To sum up – when you believe in something and are thankful for the value it added to YOUR life, you talk about it – you can’t help it.

I know there are some that read here that don’t like me talking about it. In fact, thank you for mentioning it in comments on yesterday’s post because it helped me remember that I wanted to do a post on this very topic. THANK YOU!

I know I can’t please everyone – hard as I try, I just can’t. However, I can talk about what I believe to be good things for others to check out and try out for themselves. I believe in Wealthy Affiliate, so I talk about it.

Will Wealthy Affiliate Work For YOU?

I sure hope Wealthy Affiliate works for you, but obviously, I can’t guarantee a thing regarding your online business. As I’ve said many, many times – there is no “get rich quick” available out there. This is a business that takes work and constant action (not much different from any other business).

Wealthy Affiliate is NOT a “magic pill” – you get out of it what you put into it (again, like any other business or education situation).

So I don’t know if WA will work for you. The only way YOU can know is by taking a chance on Wealthy Affiliate and finding out for yourself.

Ok, that’s enough about that =)

Other Stuff

Wow, yesterday’s post sure got a LOT of insightful feedback – 200+ comments in less than 24 hours….Wow, thank you! Please, if you’d like to comment on that post, be sure to leave that comment ON that post. I’d like to leave that topic there and move on.

Otherwise, we are headed out for Oregon early Thursday morning. This trip is for my hubby’s new business – and we are both so excited! Also, I’ve never been to Oregon before so I am looking forward to the trip as a whole.

Once we get back, I’ll be off to work on the website and promotion of his new business so I might be quiet for awhile (IF I am CAPABLE of being quiet….lol), but I’ll still be around.

Other than that, I hope everyone knows I have a new, FREE, online course out. I worked many long nights on it and it seems to be really helping people. It’s called The DAM Way – and it’s specifically written for those brand new to internet marketing, those that have very little time, and/or those that can’t seem to get started.

If that’s you, you can read The DAM Way at thedamway.com.

Finally I want to say that you all are a GREAT bunch of people and I appreciate all of you very much!

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