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Yep, I did it – I just used a ’50 Shades of Grey’ Reference… feel free to slap me…lol! It’s the cold meds. I’ve been pushing through the cooties that’s going all around here lately (I think I have my son… or maybe my daughter.. to thank for this. They both had it over the holidays). Anyway – it’s been so long since I’ve posted and when I realized I had 50-million things I wanted to talk about, the “50” part got stuck in my cold med-induced brain and well, out popped the ’50 Shades of PotPieGirl’ title for this post. Again, feel free to slap me.
First things first –
I hope you and yours had a wonderful holiday and rang in the New Year in good spirits and good health!
We had a wonderful holiday and New Years was fantastic – especially since our wedding anniversary is New Year’s Day =)
That’s a picture of the hubby giving me a big ol’ wet smacker right after midnight on New Year’s Eve (which meant it was New year’s Day and our anniversary <grin>)
We managed to get all the kids, their significant others, and the grandkids all in the SAME room at the SAME time over the holidays. Trust me, this is a major accomplishment! We also took the time while we were all in the same vicinity to get new family pictures made. Hopefully, they’ll be ready soon.
A big Thank You goes out to the wonderful woman and her daughter that came out to the house to take these photographs. With ALL of us, and 2 grandchildren (3 and 1), it was challenging to get those pictures. Crossing my fingers they turn out well – and also wishing we had video’d the making of those pictures. I have no doubt it was a very comical scene!
I also want to share this with all you moms who also have grown children and family all over the place. Get this – I told my grown kids to be here at x time and to be wearing x-type clothes – and they WERE.
Seriously! They were all here not just on time, but EARLY. Matter of fact, *I* wasn’t even ready when they got here (yes, there were some uh “mentions” of that fact…lol). I was so impressed! That was a great Christmas present for dear old mom. Thank you, my children – thank you.
But since New Year’s Eve, it’s been cold meds and hot tea with honey for me. While it hasn’t been fun, I am SO thankful I didn’t get hit with it over the holidays. That woulda been a mess and no fun at all! So, if I have to get the cooties, I’ll deal with it now.
So let’s talk some work stuff…
It’s a fresh new year. I can’t believe it’s 2013, can you? Time flies… wayyyyyy too quickly. But, I have this warm and fuzzy feeling that 2013 is gonna be GREAT for all of us. My birthday is February 13th (ie, 2-13) so this year it will be 2-13-2013, so that’s a good sign, right? (go ahead and say it, “Jen, ease up on the cold meds!” haha!)
But seriously, the new One Week Marketing Training Center is rocking along and our members are doing SO great. I’m receiving a lot of “made my first sale!” and “I finally made money!!” feedback and that lets me KNOW that 2013 is gonna be fantastic!
There’s nothing more fun and exciting than when you make money online for FREE – and that’s what we One Week Marketers do 😉
I set up a Facebook Page for One Week Marketing and a Google+ Community as well. I can’t tell you how much I love SEEING our members faces and talking with them. We’re also sharing ideas and tips…and well, I, personally, am loving every minute of it. I plan to spend some time soon learning how to use Google+ better so I can cook up some ways to make our G+ community even more interactive. If anyone has any ideas, let me hear ’em…I’m all ears.
As these past few months have passed since my new training center has opened, I’ve realized a lot. Next month (February 18th, to be exact) will be my 6-year anniversary for working online. In those years I have done a LOT. I’ve learned a lot and I’ve achieved a pretty good bit as well. I’ve even dipped my toe into the “be more of a marketer” pond – and yes, it works.
By that I mean, folks have told me that if I would only do x,y, and z then I would see more profit, etc. So, I tried…and they’re right – totally right. But it felt like a….a …. well, like a foreign place for me. More like when you’re a little girl and play dress up in your moms clothes and shoes – they just don’t fit. Does that make sense?
I think that if I’d had a background in marketing BEFORE I came to all this make money online mumbo-jumbo, then perhaps being more “market-y” would have fit better – or at least felt like it fit.
But I didn’t have that background – or that mentality.
My background when I started this in 2007 was “Broke, Clueless and Frickin’ Tired Of It”.
And as I start into 2013 I realize that if you dust off all 50 Shades of PotPieGirl, that’s who I really am – someone who was Broke, Clueless, and Frickin’ Tired Of It and DID something about it via the power of internet marketing.
After allllll my travels online, I now know THAT is what I am meant to do – help others do the same. THAT fits me. That makes me happy.
I’ve read many, many times online others telling those new to internet marketing to figure out what their passion is and then use that topic to try and make money online. I’ve never been a big fan of that advice mainly because of 2 reasons – 1) you don’t know if your passion will be profitable, and 2) when you turn your passion into your job and it DOESN’T make money, there goes that passion right out the window. That’s sad to me.
But, if you’re new online and treat this make money online thing like your job and do what you need to do to make that money, well, I think that you end up learning a lot, trying a lot of different things, playing in a lot of various niches – and doing the most important part of a job: making money to pay the bills.
We have jobs to pay the bills, right? For most of us, that is WHY we looked towards internet marketing…as a way to pay our bills.
But once we figure out how to use the internet to get our bills paid, we then have almost “earned” the right to stop and think, “OK, what do I LOVE about working online?” – and then we get to DO that.
It’s like a timing thing – something you work towards. And heck, I can’t remember EVER being hired for a “real” job and my new boss telling me to just go do whatever interests me…. have you?
That’s why the whole “just make a site around your passion” advice bothers me. No, I do not think that is good advice (in the majority of cases). I think you DO “just go do what’s gonna make money THEN we’ll talk about your passions and what you WANT to do”.
Am I off my rocker? Agree? Disagree? Let me know in the comments area.
As for 2013 goals and planning – still working on it here. I have some ideas and also want to close out 2012 to see where I can improve and all that fun stuff. I have a list of new training and things I want to add to the One Week Marketing Training Center (I gotta say, I LOVE having a private place online where I can share all that stuff!) – I’m also cooking up some other things as well.
Have you made specific goals for 2013? I’d love to hear them! Tell me about your holidays as well – we don’t HAVE to be all business ’round here 🙂
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I agree about the advice on treating IM as job first then turn it into a passion. We tend to focus / do better when we treat any effort seriously. That was one of my mistakes early on and now I am working better as I am treating it as job. 🙂
That’s a good point, Ome – when we think “hobby” or “our passion”, perhaps we don’t take it as seriously as we would our “job”.
Hi Jennifer,
I am sorry to hear you have the “crud” too. Get better soon. Personally, I like reading your posts when the meds have a hand in them. LOL
Seriously, I want to thank you for updating OWM. I have been re-inspired (if that’s a word) and honestly I cannot see why anyone would ever pass up your training. I don’t mean to sound all ‘mushy’ here but it’s the truth; no matter what I’ve tried, I always come back to your training and start making money again. I have no earthly idea why the “shiny new” syndrome gets hold of me at times.
2013 is starting out to be a great year. Lovin’ your G+ group too.
Thanks, Monna – hopefully “the crud” will pass quickly. However, maybe I’ll continue with the cold meds when I write my posts….lol!
I don’t if *I* am allowed to say this or not, but I love the new OWM training center as well. (if it’s tacky for me to say that, we’ll blame it on “The Crud” 😉 )
The whole set up and the whole way we share information just feels so much more “right” than just selling an ebook. The training center was a vision I had for quite some time – I’m so happy I finally did it!
Don’t sweat the Shiny New thing – it happens to all of us from time to time. It’s that “human factor”.
I’m re-starting for the bazillionth time but with fresh vigor (and a burning need to make it real this time!) but I wanted to give you a heads up if you haven’t addressed it already elsewhere that ahrefs is stopping the Keyword Analysis on the 11th. I didn’t see anything in the training and I figured that you’d update that as soon as it came to your attention, so here’s the notice in case you haven’t. (It’s late and I’m tired and I blame that for any incoherence in the above statements!)
Thanks, Darryl! Yep, know about that and preparing to update training as needed.
Fresh vigor is awesome – here’s to 2013 being YOUR year!
Hi Jennifer,
Like some of the other guys I am relaunching my MMO career but with a clear focus this time. On that note, as I am just beginning my OWM journey, would using something like Travis’s ICKY system alongside help me progress or just confuse things right at the start? Would it be better to hold off using it for now?
Hiya Gordon =)
ICKY is great for those that struggle with finding good keywords that also have great MARKETS. If that’s not something you struggle with then it’s not something you need.
Best of luck with your “relaunch” – 2013 is gonna be great!
Hope you get to feeling better soon.
First, a big thank you to you. I’ve been lurking in the world of online marketing since probably about 2007 or 8 when I first joined Wealthy Affiliate. But, I can tell you that I’m one of those who has really, really struggled with focus and taking action. Little bits here and there, but one constant over the years is following you and your success. So, for that, Thank You.
I agree with you on the passion thing. Heck, I’m 45 years old and really couldn’t tell you what I’m passionate about. I ponder that every day and still haven’t really come up with a good ‘answer’. I guess one thing that I am passionate about is that I don’t want to ‘work’ for anybody.
There were big changes at the end of 2012 for us. Quit what I’d been doing for a living for the past 15 years and moved my family to the rocky mountain west. No savings, no job, only a vision of making money online.
It’s been slow going…a bit of ‘offline’ work here and there. But, I do have the gift of time (no J-O-B) to waste my time, and I’ve finally focused on 2 different money making strategies…both really affiliate based, but one of which centered around my own network of local sites.
So, I’ve got a vision and I’m passionate about where that will take me and my family. So, I guess there is your passion, huh!?
Thanks again, Jennifer, and all the best to you in the coming year and years.
Hiya Geoffrey! Happy New Year to you and yours!
Wow am I ever excited for you! 2013 should be an amazing year for you and your family!
I’m 45 also (for a few more weeks) and I can totally relate to the not knowing what your “passion” is. But I can tell you this – I am 125% passionate about not working for someone else ever again…lol! Going back to broke – or living paycheck-to-paycheck is absolutely not an option and I want to bring as many folks as I can over to “the other side” here with me.
Sounds like you found your passion too – being passionate about making amazing changes for you AND your family is wonderful.
I wish you all the best… and I’m around if you need anything!
Hi Jennifer, I have been a long-time fan of yours! I have noticed that you have been “missing” quite a bit this past half year and I have missed your insightful posts.
I am an early owner of OWM and bought it right before the big Squidoo changes in summer of 2009 (I think that is when they were). I kinda gave up on Squidoo/OWM after putting up a bunch of pages (lenses?) that were completely original but in the “wrong” categories. After that I floundered for several years with a half-hearted attempt at making money online.
However, in the meantime, I had a website about raising butterflies that I started back in 2008. It was mostly informational with some adsense ads that didn’t bring in much at all. I did it out of pleasure. I slowly added to it over the years.
After Panda and being burned by buying internet marketing info that was now useless, I spent a lot of time determining where to go. I felt like the glory days of “easy” internet marketing were over (right or wrong) and decided I would feel so much better promoting something that I truly loved and believed in – something I would always be proud to put my name to. I decided to take Joyful Butterfly to a real business and start selling my own butterfly plants and seeds.
It was a big commitment and I am still VERY new to it. My website has a lot of growing to do but I now have my retail and nursery license and everyday I LOVE my job and feel good about what I am doing.
I guess my point is to not automatically ignore your true passions even if your ownership of the product may require more apparent “work” than being strictly an affiliate ( I do believe that being an affiliate requires much more work than people would like to think). I have made much more money in the past year packing seeds and growing plants than I ever did selling other peoples products.
That may simply be a testament to my inability to make affiliate marketing work for me like it does for so many others, but certainly don’t discount following your passions. For the first time in my life I thoroughly love my “job” and I feel so much more in control and feel like I have much more of a chance to make the money that I want to make.
Sorry to carry on, just wanted to add my two cents.
Thanks for all you do – I did think OWM was very well done and it certainly had a great impact on expanding my knowledge of affiliate marketing. I know you truly care about helping people. I have no doubt that your new product is fabulous for many, but my passion was my answer.
Kelly
Hi Jennifer.
Thank you for all your amazing info and hard work.
I just bought your survival guide and I want to but One Week Marketing. The google Panda and Penguin updates have confused me and I feel worried that I won’t be able to make it work because of these changes.
I also have a particular question. Will linking to my website from Ezine articles and Squidoo actually damage my sites ranking now?
I feel confused.
Julie.
@Kelly – Great story and I totally agree with your experience and point-of-view. Doing what you love is awesome and it’s a goal we should all be working towards.
@Julie – I do believe we’ve got you straightened out via our G+ community….yes?
Hi Jennifer,
Yes pretty much. I still feel a bit confused. Being fairly new to all this I never got into building lots of backlinks anyway. However as I am working through module 3 in OWM there are some videos about using Blogger to leave links to Squidoo pages. Is this still advisable?
Sorry if I seem as though I am repeating the same question it’s just I really have no idea how many links is helpful (ie letting people know about the lens) and how many gets into ‘upsetting google and dropping off the rankings’
Julie.
Hi Jennifer,
This is my first comment here, but just want to say congrats to an awesome blog you have created here!
Like you, when I first started online I was flat out broke. In fact, I had more debt to my name than almost anyone else I knew!
Now, 8 years later – 100 + sales in a single day are normal for me in affiliate marketing. I started teaching this stuff like you with private forums, etc etc. However, I have decided for true long term success you need to have your own brand and be able to scale mini networks of that brand for true long term success online.
For affiliate marketing, the smartest thing I did was to start to leverage off of other affiliates by getting them in my downlines so that I have an army of affiliates working my systems for affiliate sales, not just myself.
Keep up the great work, and I hope to see you posting more here again.
Best
Johnny G
Thanks Jennifer for the update, I was wondering how things were going with your online endeavors. Glad to see that the OWM is doing good. Its a new year and many goals set. Hope you feel better soon.
Just found your site. Great information you are putting out. I agree with you 1000% on this passion thing. I have written about it several times on my blog. Most of my mentors say follow your passion and the money will follow. Maybe, maybe not.
I hate to say this Jennifer but I believe the reason a lot of the experts tell you to follow your passion in the beginning is because it is a way to make sure you keep buying products from them until you make it , quit or start following someone else and buy their products.
Do your research before you go into a niche and go with your gut feeling. That gives you a chance.
FINALLY! someone that agrees with me :-). I’ve also ALWAYS been irked by the ‘follow your passion’ bull hockey advice. Having a passion and it being something you can monetize is all good and well…….but frankly there are some of us that simply do not have a particular ‘passion’ that can really be monetized. Am I crazy? Does EVERYONE in IM have a specific passion that they’ve gone to the bank with? Now, I believe I can certainly develop a passion for something if it means I can help someone first and foremost and then that help can turn into a monetary reward.
Potpiegirly thank you for your generosity of information and bluntness….in an effort to help all of us. Cheerio
I’ve been trying all kinds of stuff, most recently Squidoo. It was going great for awhile, with Google sending hundreds of hits to my top lens every week. Suddenly it started sending 10 a week. This lens is old and wasn’t making much of anything for months. I wrote more lenses and gave it a free Squidoo ad and got it in the top 10,000. For exactly a month. Now its 40,000 and dropping like a rock. It’s not about content, that’s always been about as good or bad as it’s always been. All my lenses are dropping in rank. And they are FILLED with passion and wrote good, too. I’ll tell you my passion – getting paid for writing. I’ve done it my whole life. The Internet seems to want something I don’t have.
Hi Jennifer,
I agree with your thinking, especially about treating MMO as a job until you are paying the bills. Trying to ‘find your passion’ and make money at it is not realistic. I wasted so much time doing this its ridiculous.
I think that phrase has been done to death.
Thanks for telling it like it is.
Mel