As I type this Neil Armstrong is preparing to take his first steps on the moon.

Forty years ago that is. I have been listening to the “live” broadcast of the Apollo 11 Flight for the 40 year anniversary of the historic event. I have been listening at wechoosethemoon.org at work since liftoff last week. This is probably one of the finest things I have experienced on the Internet.

Earth view from the moon by the Apollo mission

The Apollo astronauts are true heroes.

Things were not as smooth and prepared as you might think. They were really taking a chance. They also had a very intense preparation for the trip. They did the work equivalent to gaining 2 doctorate degrees in their preparation to travel to the moon. In other words, going to the moon was not easy or safe. I was once honored to meet Apollo Astronaut James Erwin (I even have an autographed photo of him with my father).  It was truly an honor. They are men that deserve respect.

Today, we hardly notice when the space shuttle goes up.

I think somehow, we have lost our goals. Our desire to compete. To excel. Maybe things are too easy. Or maybe, we are just too easily entertained. It’s easy to sit back and  watch TV and vote for your favorite on a phone.

I don’t mean everyone needs to be an astronaut to be a hero.

I just mean we all should push the envelope once in a while. Strive to be more. To learn new things. To go beyond. At least stop being a couch potato (or couch tomato as my wife says).

If you missed it, the website above says you can follow the mission broadcast at your own time. If you have kids, it might be something worth studying with them. Give them something to shoot for. Give yourself a hero to motivate you to do something more.

“One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

A giant step for mankind

Where will your next step take you?

Everything I needed to learn about success, I learned from the Muppet Movie

You can learn a lot about success from the Muppet Movie.

Jim Henson was a genius. He created one of the greatest form of entertainment when he took puppets and created the Muppets. The first Muppet movie, Muppet Movie, also showed to everyone, young and old, what it takes to be successful.

In the Muppet Movie, Kermit the Frog shows many rules we need to know about success.

In the movie, we follow Kermit the Frog in his quest for success. He faces all sorts of problems and overcomes them to be a success.

Here are five rules of success you can learn from the Muppet Movie:

5. Never settle for something you do not want.

All through the Muppet Movie, Doc Hopper is making offers to Kermit the Frog to represent his frog leg franchise. Obviously, Kermit is repulsed by the idea. Still, the offers increase to the point that it would have been much easier just to give in. How many times do you settle for something you aren’t comfortable with because the money is right.

4. Face your problems.

Doc Hopper continued to chase Kermit till Kermit faced him down. If you have something nagging you, take care of the situation. It will only grow if you ignore it.

3.Trade up when the opportunity appears.

Just like trading in Fozzy Bear’s Studebaker. Sometimes the offer is better than you expect. You need room to grow.

2. Take others with you.

There is no shortage of success. Help other become successful too. It will help you also. Would Kermit have gotten his dream all by himself? Those he brought with him helped him too.

1. Take action, never take no, and never give up,

Kermit had to risk a comfortable life in the swamp to try for his dream. He also had a time limit to achieve that dream. Start right away.

Do not let no set you back. Sometime people say no because the time is not right for them. Later they may change their minds just like Electric Mayhem. Sometimes you need to ignore the no altogether and push forward just like Muppets did when the secretary told them they could not see the Hollywood producer.

Many times in the Muppet Movie it looks like Kermit the Frog will not see his dream. Even at the end, just as they are starting to roll the cameras, things look like they are falling apart. Just hold on, sometimes the most spectacular event is just about to happen.

At the end of the Muppet Movie, the following is added to the end of song Kermit sings above at the beginning of the movie.

Life’s like a movie write your own ending

Keep believing, keep pretending

We’ve done just what we set out to do

Someday, you’ll find it,

The rainbow connection

The lovers, the dreamers

and YOU!

I know, that’s more than five. You can learn a lot from Kermit the Frog. I wonder if he’s related to Yoda. They’re both green.

Happy New Year!

I hope all of you are looking forward to the new year.  I hope 2007 was a good year for you, both online and off.

Have you made your new year’s resolutions?

More importantly, have you made plans to commit to those resolutions? If you think of a resolution as a goal, you need a plan to succeed with that goal.

2008 is already here.

It is time to get started! Make your goals for 2008 and then make your plan to succeed in making those goals.

The past does not  dictate your future.

If you were not as successful in 2007 as you wanted to be, that has no bearing on how successful you will be in 2008. It goes the other way too. If you were extremely successful in 2007, if you decide to be lazy now, 2008 may not be as good.

New Year New Hope!

This is a Chinese saying I have learned from my wife. It may not be Chinese New Year, but it is still becoming one of my favorite Chinese sayings.

It is good to look at each day the same.

New day new hope. Start ever day like it is a new start. In reality, it is.

Plan for success for the new year.

Plan each day for success.

God bless you in the coming year!

Well, almost!

Friday was the last official day in my full time business (the portrait studio).

I am now completely self-employed. Or, to put it another way, unemployed.

This is a big change for me.

I have been in the business for my entire adult life. After well over twenty years, it is a bit sad to see it go. My parents started the business while I was in high school. It has been a real education in retail, sales, marketing, as well as photography.

If everything works out, I will be working completely from home from now on.

There are several things I will be doing.

My Websites.

I will be concentrating on this blog and on my photography site for the most part. I also plan to start a few more sites. I have seen some interesting ideas recently and I want to give a few of them a try. Still, most of my focus in Internet Marketing will be centered around this blog and the photography blog.

I will also be doing another home-based business.

This will probably be the long term focus for income. I just have to make up my mind and do it.

I am planning to see what I can do with photography.

For a few months at least, I am staying well away from portrait photography. I look into doing it again sometime in the future, but for now I will look into other types of photography. Besides, I do not have a studio now and it is not very good weather to do portraits outdoors here in Wisconsin. In particular, I intend to develop my stock portfolio a bit for the next couple months.

We may have kept the studio open if we had the business we have had the last few weeks last year.

Why is it once you decide to close, customers seem to come out of the woodwork? My last week in business was probably the largest single week we have had in several years. I had to turn away many potential clients. There was no time to get them in before our lease was up.

I still have some work to do at the studio over the next few weeks.

Our landlord was very kind and has given us the month of December to clean up. After 20 years, we have a lot of things that either need to be sold or thrown out.

Lessons to learn.

Watch the industry you are in. Take notice of changes and make sure you change with them, when the time is right.

Do not change too early.

Sometimes, the early adopters pay a lethal price. Often, early generations of technology have serious flaws.

Do not change too late.

Failure to change will leave you too far behind to catch up. Our failure was not shutting down our film lab soon enough. It was actually costing us money to keep the equipment running.

Marketing your business is the real business.

Everything else is secondary. Make sure your marketing is designed to bring you business, not just get noticed. You are better off sending 3 letters to 10 clients than 1 letter to 30 clients. Also, always be ready to repeat a last successful marketing campaign. Don’t put all your cards on a new method till you see results.

Finally, and probably most important.

Your list is worth it’s weight in gold.

BACK IT UP!

Courtney Tuttle has published a list of posts reviewing Blogging Zoom.

I have simply copied it here since there would be no point in retyping the list with with same links. I wanted to share a link with those that are helping to promote Blogging Zoom.

*Update – Bogging Zoom is no more. The domain is now being used for something else.*

If you have not taken a look at Blogging Zoom yet, read a few of these reviews.

There are some good reviews here and you will see both the good and bad about Blogging Zoom. Most of the posts I have read have seen some good traffic from using Blogging Zoom.

I think you will find that Blogging Zoom is worth the time it takes to use.

Take some time to read some of the posts there and Zoom a few you like. It is off to a great start and continues to improve.

• CashQuests.com | Blogging Zoom Has Increased My Traffic.
• SuperBloggingTips | Do You Want Your Blog’s Traffic ZOOMING Through The Roof?
• Blograters | BloggingZoom.com
• Jason Clark | The BloggingZoom Backlink Participants 1-10
• Jason Clark | The BloggingZoom Backlink Participants 11-20
• NewsNotion.com | Zoom Your Traffic With BloggingZoom
• LocalRef | Get Your Prospects To Call You Using The BloggingZoom Tool
• MakingSalesMakingMoney | BloggingZoom New Social Network Increases Traffic
• Blendworx | Blogging Zoom for small to medium blogs
• EasyWordPress.com | Courtney Tuttle Launched Blogging Zoom
• Ejcross.com | New Social Networking Site Launched
• Ejcross.com | Pros And Cons of BloggingZoom.com
• JennyLens.com | BloggingZoom Empowers Bloggers Kudos Courtney Tuttle
• The Monetizer | Blogging Zoom – Explode Your Blog Traffic
• YourWebsiteProfit.com | Zoom It: A Blogging Zoom Review
• Ask The Admin | Blogging Zoom finally a social site for self promotion
• Rich Gilcrest | BlogginZoom – Very Cool New Blog Promotion Pligg
• TheNextPost | Is BloggingZoom Headed For Boom Time?
• MakeMoneyForBeginners | Blogging Zoom, A New Traffic Source
• Make Money For Beginngers | Blogging Zoom Stats – It Works
• Howtospoter.com | What Is Rocking Blogosphere?
• Zelixy | BloggingZoom.com-”Digg 2.0″?
• Tatraplan.com | Bloggingzoom – Bloggers Self Promo Paradise
• TheHonestWay | Shiny New Button
• Tellinitlikeitis.net | Blogging Zoom Launches New Social Networking Site For Bloggers
• StevenWilsonMarketing | Blogging Zoom
• Court | Blogging Zoom – The Blogger’s Coup Against The Mainstream Media Monsters
• Court | BloggingZoom Day One Recap
• EricSocia.net | BloggingZoom: Get Zoomed And See The Difference!
• FreedomIdeas | Never Got Dugg? Then Get Blogging Zoomed!
• Localref.com | BloggingZoom – Tool for bloggers
• BloggingNotes.net | BloggingZoom: I’m Going To Keep Using It
• PabloTheHat | BloggingZoom / User / Pablothehat / Submitted
• TheCaymanHost | Blogging Zoom First Submission Goes HOT
• TheConsumersCorner.net | BloggingZoom – A Blogger’s New BFF?
• Jason Clark | BloggingZoom – First Week Review
• Blackysky | A real blogger or a Bloggingzoom spammer
• Digitalkeyto.info | Using Blogging Zoom To Get Traffic To Your Blog
• Mcgrath.ca | Blogging Zoom: Did It Do The Job?
• HowToSpoter | BloggingZoom Sucks More Than BlogRush
• AllTipsAndTricks | How Much Is Your Blogging Zoom?
• Jasonaclark.com | Easiest Way Ever To Get A Backlink From A PR4 Website!
• Zybron | BloggingZoom
• Infektia | Getting More Traffic with BloggingZoom
• YourWebsiteProfit.info | Zoom It: a BloggingZoom Review
• HomeWithHeather | Awesome New Place to Display YOUR Content
• TheNextPost.com | Is BloggingZoom Heading For Boom Time?
• SlyVisions | Blogging Zoom Defines What Self-Promotion Is All About
• Court | Blogging Zoom Zooming
• JennyLens | Bloggingzoom by Courtney Tuttle
• CutieGadget | BloggingZoom : Blogger’s new best friend!
• MDailyDouz | Courtney Tuttle creates BloggingZoom
• Monetize-Your-Blog | Want Free Traffic To Your Blog? Try BloggingZoom
• Monetize-Your-Blog | Blogging Zoom – 5 Tips To Get Your Next Post Zoomed
• Continuing Adventures | A new type of Social Networking – Blogging Zoom
• Ageeksjourney | Blogging Zoom – New Kid On The Blogging Block
• TechnoMoney | How Effective Is Blogging Zoom And StumbleUpon? Take A Look!
• Technomoney | BloggingZoom: A Revolutionary Idea
• OnARidge | Blogging Zoom – A New Social Site
• BetShopBoy | Bloggers Of The World Unite!
• MyExtraBucks | Do you know Blogging zoom?
• Jason Clark | BloggingZoom – Week 2 Review: Traffic Surpasses Google
• BloggingNotes.net | BloggingZoom Sends the Traffic
• Digitalkeyto.info | Why I Am Saying Goodbye To BlogRush And Text Link Ads And Switching To…
• Blackysky | BloggingZoom Problems
• Monetize Your BlogspotBlog | BloggingZoom 5 Tips To Get Your Next Post Zoomed
• CarloSelorio| Want Free Traffic Try BloggingZoom
• SearchForBlogging | See How Easily You Can Increase Traffic
• TheWritersManifesto | BloggingZoom Review

The Ultimate List Of BloggingZoom Reviews | Internet Marketing | Strategy & Services

I think you will enjoy reading some of these reviews. I have really enjoyed using Blogging Zoom and look forward to its continued success.

Many thanks to Courtney Tuttle for the list and to both him and his partner Vic for their incredible work on Blogging Zoom.

Don’t let FUD rule your life.

There is so much to be positive in this world.

Never has it been possible for an average person to compete on a global scale with the rich and powerful. The Internet has made it possible for anyone to create a product and sell it nearly anywhere to anyone. It is also possible for the average person to make a difference in world politics simply by blogging about facts they know.

It is an amazing time we live in.

Yet, there are always those who speak of doom and gloom. Able to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory. No, I am not talking about the Democratic party.

I came across the article below from Macworld:

Consumer and corporate use of the Internet could overload the current capacity and lead to brown-outs in two years unless backbone providers invest billions of dollars in new infrastructure, according to a study released Monday…

…The study confirms long-time concerns of the Internet Innovation Alliance (IIA), an advocacy group focused on upgrading U.S. broadband networks, said Bruce Mehlman, co-chairman of the group. The group, with members including AT&T, Level 3 Communications, Corning, Americans for Tax Reform and the American Council of the Blind, has been warning people of the coming “exaflood” of video and other Web content that could clog its pipes.

Macworld: News: Study: Internet could run out of capacity in two years

The post makes a claim that the Internet will be out of capacity soon because not enough is being invested into the infrastructure.

The post is actually very good and I do suggest you read it. I like the point at the end that telecommunications is not a luxury and should not be taxed like a sin.

I don’t think that we will run out of capacity in 2 years.

I’m no expert, but when the demand comes, there will be the investment in it. While I think it could get a bit congested, eventually there will be money to be made in increasing the Internet to handle the demand. I am not sure brown-outs are a possibility with the way the Internet is routed (remember, is was supposed to survive damage from nuclear war).

This could be a good sign to invest in those companies that will profit as more money is spent in the expansion.

While I am sure that there are those in the group that are experts on the matter (like AT&T), I am not sure the American Council of the Blind or Americans for Tax Reform are necessarily the sources I would depend on for Internet matters. I agree that not preparing for the future is poor planning, but the Macworld headline is a bit overboard.

We can let fear, uncertainty, and doubt rule our lives or we can plan for a bright exciting future.

You can let the latest Google-slap let you feel like there is no way to make money online, or you can work to create other opportunities for yourself. Those that are successful always are looking how to profit by change instead of fighting it.

Often, those that sell doom and gloom are planning to sell you something else.

You will see a lot of the guru claims that if you do not by their latest product, you will lose out. You will never be able to compete. Maybe their product is useful, but there will always be something else that will work.

The real need to be successful is the desire to keep moving forward.

Stopping at the first sign of defeat is often what will keep you from continuing on to success. When you find yourself lost on the path to success, it is not a time to give up and go home. Take a moment and find out what is the best way to get back on the path and keep moving.
If you found this post useful please mark it with your favorite social bookmarker.

5 ways to make money with ScratchBack on your site and 4 ways to make money using ScratchBack on other sites.

What in the world is ScratchBack?

Maybe you have seen the widgets like mine around inviting you to be a Top Link or TopSpot?

That is the ScratchBack widget. It works a bit like a PayPal donate button. In this case, whoever tips you also gets a link on your site. That is what separates this from a typical donation to your site. I think it is a good idea.

The links are nofollow.

That should keep Google off your case. You do not have to worry about linking to a "bad neighborhood" as far as the search engines are concerned. You also keep complete editorial control over the links. You set it to let you approve links first or you can cancel links after they are up.

You can also offer small banner-like image links.

It would be nice to be able offer both,but you have to decide which you will have. I think that if you want to offer images this could discourage someone that does not have an image from buying a link. It would be nice to have a text only option for this.

My understanding is that a marketplace is in the works for ScratchBack users.

This should really help blogs sell a few links. I am hoping that it will work a bit like Text Link Ads system. I think TLA is missing a chance by not offering a nofollow option with them. They already have a huge market and I think many would welcome the options they could offer even with nofollow links.

I feel a little more comfortable knowing the links are nofollow versus the links with TLA.

I don’t have to worry about the quality of the site. While I would encourage anyone that might think their link would be controversial to check with me first. I don’t have to be too concerned. As long as the link does not lead to something obscene or a scam, I am most likely to let it stay.

Five ways for making money online with ScratchBack on your site.

1. Keep the cost low and let it bump off, using it as a tip.

The lowest you can set ScratchBack is $1.00. After PayPal fees and ScratchBack’s cut, you get about $.60. That will be a bit less when ScratchBack raises it’s percentage after the Beta.

2. Use it as a moderately priced tip.

Raise the price of a link as they get bought. In a way, you will be auctioning the links off till you find a bit higher price that still seems low enough for others to pay for. The more traffic your site has, the higher this will be. In this case, you may still want to allow newer links to bump off older ones as long as the price is not too high.

3. Use as a replacement for Text Link Ads.

With ScratchBack, you can also set the links to expire after 24 hours, 7 days, or 30 days. In this case you will need to set your price accordingly. Right now, it is unreasonable to expect the same amount for a nofollow link that you would have gotten for one that passed PR. Still, if you have good traffic, it should be as useful as CPC text ad on your site to an advertiser.

4. Sell image link ads for higher prices.

I mentioned the trouble with the image ads above. Right now, if you offer image ads, they are all image ads and someone who just wants to tip you will need to make and image that is the correct size first. Still, for the right market, this is a nice option. In graphic niche it should do better. Still it does limit your market. I would go with the monthly expiration for the advertisers. So I came up with a fifth way for making money online with ScratchBack on your site.

5. Offer image ads with a free graphic designed by you.

If you have any graphic experience, it is easy to make a graphic. You can do this very easily with Photoshop Elements. A free option is Gimp. The image size is very small so there really is no need for anything too fancy. I am planning to offer this service with ScratchBack advertisers for a while at www.photographybyjet.com.

4 ways of making money online with ScratchBack when it is on other sites.

1. Advertise your site!

There are many good deals right now since it is new. Find a site with some traffic that still has a low ScratchBack price. If the site is set to bump, you could have a link to your site for several weeks. The trick is finding a site with traffic. Manuel Viloria was the first blogger to buy a link here to his blog.

2. Advertise your spammy site.

Actually, my first advertiser with ScratchBack was a bit on the spammy side. It is a link to a page of different home-based businesses labeled Top Work At Home. While I would not want a full link to a site like this, it is no different than an AdSense ad for a home-based-business. If you have some type of site that would normally not be indexed by Google, this is a good option for getting traffic. Always check with the owner of the page first since they may not approve your link if they do not like it and you will be out your tip.

3. Advertise a product.

Almost like the previous way to make money online with ScratchBack, this is another case where you would not normally get a link from a website or blogger. Jim Kukral (who is behind this whole ScratchBack thing) is the first one I saw using this. Think of it as running an AdWords campaign without a CPC. Jim used a link ad here to send readers to a site selling a cool flip digital video camera that plugs right into your USB port to send the video to your computer.

4. Set up a business creating ScratchBack graphics for advertisers.

Similar to method number 5 of making money online with ScratchBack on your site. In this case set up a page with fees and some design ideas for designing graphics for others who need buttons to advertise on ScratchBack. Yep, you need a little know how and software, but it could be handy. You may be able to work out a deal for a discounted ad with sites using ScratchBack with images. It will help them get more advertisers too. I may start to do this myself.

I hope I have given you some ideas on how you can be making money online with ScratchBack.

There are so many ways to make money online. This is an exciting time to be a blogger. Those who are successful are the ones who will take advantage of opportunities as they come along and use them to full advantage.

Courtney Tuttle’s fantastic idea is a great resource.

It was a challenge to join Courtney Tuttle’s Internet Marketers Group Writing project.

This was a fantastic idea. I believe he has created an excellent resource for anyone interested in making money online. I have not even been to all the articles yet, and I have added many of the blogs to my reader.

If you are new to Internet marketing or blogging, check these articles first.

You will learn nearly everything you need to know. More than you would find in any guru ebook. It is knowledge given to you for free. Many of the contributors spent extra time to make sure they contributed quality articles. Courtney has a very good resource in just his own blog. I suggest you ad his site to your RSS feeds if you don’t have it already.

Court has already organized the articles into groups so I decided to just quote his list.

There is also a link to his site and the original post at the bottom. There are now 45 articles in the project (the page is titled 44). Courtney has a very good resource in just his own blog. I suggest you ad him to your RSS reads.

Getting Traffic To Your Website

• The Smart Way To Get Traffic And Links: Creating A Prospect List For Bloggers by Maki at DoshDosh.com
• Finding Blog Topics That Will Bring You Traffic by Sean at WarriorBlog
• The 25 Best Ways To Increase Traffic To Your Blog by Marco at MarcoRichter.net
• How To Increase Traffic To Your Website by Frederick at SEO.Geekz.us
• How To Get Instant Free Traffic To Your Blog by Bruce at DayJobNuker.com
• How To Stay Visible Inside Of 70 Million Blogs by Ken at Blogs.MySites-Advisor.com
• Blogging In Real Life by Theda at CrayonWriter.com
• Why Back Links Work by Paul at LocalRef.com
• How To Optimize Your Blog Images For Google Image Search by Etienne at EtienneTeo.com

Developing A Website

• How To Choose A Topic For A Blog by Vic at Bu.Bulicio.Us
• Here’s How To Get MORE Subscribers To Your Dazzling Blog! by Mark at ProBloggersMatrix.com
• How To Gain And Lose RSS Subscribers by Simon at Pingable.org
• Blogging Burnout: How To Avoid It To Achieve Blogging Success by YC at InternetMarketingMind.com
• Eight Ways To Write A Successful Newsletter by Carlo at CarloSelorio.com
• How To Decide How Often To Post On Your Blog by Derek at DerekSemmler.com
• Finding Good Keywords For Your Niche by Caroline at Caroline-Middlebrook.com
• The Anatomy Of A Link by Sutoco at Blog.YourWebsiteProfit.info
• How To Use Google Webmaster Tools – And 5 Reasons Why You Should by James at DigitalKeyTo.info
• How To Secure Your WordPress Blog by Fab at FabNetRevenue.com
• Common Internet Marketing Mistakes by Bryan at UtahSEOServices.com
• Ultimate List Of Free Blogging Platforms by Fred at NewestOnTheNet.com
• How Do You Build Relationships With Your Blog Visitors? by Pearl at Fresh-Perspectives.net
• The One Thing To Know When Writing With Keywords by Simonne at AllTipsAndTricks.com
• Upgrading Your Theme For WordPress 2.3 by Karthik at IAmKarthik.com

Making Money With A Website

• Start Making More Money And Sell Your Own Ads by Tay at SuperBloggingTips.com
• Methods To Make Money With A Website by Genesis at AtHomeMomBlog.com
• Balancing Affiliate Marketing And Relationship With Your Readers by Meg at CenterOfMuse.com
• How To Sell Ads On Your Blog Despite Its Size Part 1 by Casey at NewsNotion.com
• How To Sell Ads On Your Blog Despite Its Size Part 2 by Casey at NewsNotion.com
• How To Sell Ads On Your Blog Despite Its Size Part 3 by Casey at NewsNotion.com
• Day One: Affiliate Marketing by Roberta at RobertaFerguson.com
• Throwing Away Visitors For Fun: Wrath Of Advertising by Fabien at SmallFishBigMoney.com
• Why People Don’t Make Money Online by Adebola Oni
• Effective Email Marketing by Matthew at BlogAboutYourBlog

Writing Copy

• How To Write Content That Makes A Difference For People by Bobby at Revellian.com
• How To Become A Better Writer by Pat at PatBDoyle.com
• Why Bloggers Should Be Better Writers by Nate at GrateMedia.com
• 12 Reasons Why Bloggers Need To Become Better Writers by Karen at KarenZara.WordPress.com

Getting Better Website Rankings

• How To Increase Your Alexa Rank And Why You Should by Don at AffiliateWatcher.com
• Case Study: Ajax Edit Comments and Technorati by Ronald at RaProject.com

Improving Yourself

• How To Increase Personal Creativity by Sara at PajamaProfessional.com
• How To Find Answers To Your Marketing Questions by Justin at BlendWorx.com
• Finding The Commitment To Climb Your Private Everest by Nick at BeautifulSummerMorning.com
• How To Increase Productivity While Working From Home by Neena at BlogResourcesOnline.com
• Choose Your Attitude Choose Your Success by Don at MakingSalesMakingMoney.com

44 Internet Marketing Articles That Everyone Should Read: Internet Marketers Group Writing Project | Internet Marketing | Make Money Online | Strategy | Services

I’d like to thank all those that have posted the links on their own sites.

I have gotten many trackbacks to my post and they are appreciated. I feel it is the least I can do to show the posts here also.

I am also adding Courtney Tuttle’s blog to my blogroll. It is a great resource.

I would like to know what articles from the project you found most useful.

No fair saying your own. Although, I hope everyone else learned like I did when making their post.

Are you sabotaging your success?

The weather was supposed to be lousy today.

It was supposed to be cold (in the 50′s -Fahrenheit for you non-Americans). It was supposed to rain all day, maybe even a thunderstorm.

It was raining this morning when I took my wife to work.

Maybe the weatherman would be right for a change. I have not seen an accurate forecast in a few weeks. A few supposedly bad weather days have been beautiful while the prophesied nice days have been kind of downers.

As I left the house again later, I left my sunglasses in the house.

Once in the car, I realized I had left them. While it was not raining right then, it looked like it would start any moment again. So, I didn’t bother to go back for them even though I usually take them just in case the sun comes out. I really planned to come back soon anyway.

As I left the studio later today the sun was starting to show through some of the overcast sky.

I caught myself wishing it would rain because I forgot my sunglasses.

Yes, I wanted lousy weather, just because I was not ready for nice weather.

How many times have I made calls with the the same negative thoughts?

I hope they don’t answer, because I don’t feel like setting the appointment. Maybe I am concerned about something on my schedule (that I don’t care about anyway) but I pass over opportunities just because, in my mind, I have too much to do already.

Do you ever suffer from self-sabotage?

Do you ever find yourself hoping that, what would really be best, does not happen? What do you do to overcome it?

Last Good Friday (2005), we were really forced to change our business

Since it is Good Friday and since the I only have the link to my portrait studio up so far, I think I’ll describe how my business in photography had changed. I’ll also talk a bit about the changes in photography in general a bit. Back in 1984, my father opened a 1hr film processing lab as a family business. He had seen a newspaper add about the business. It was just a small local business in a very tiny shop located on the main street in Cudahy, WI.

Photography was very different then

When we opened we really had no competition in the area. At the time, the nearest 1hr processor was at a mall about 15-20 minutes away. Drug stores took over a week for film, as did the camera stores. It seemed like a great business to start, and besides, I had kinda always wanted to be in photography too.

In order to increase the profits, we added framing, enlargements, and a portrait studio

By the beginning of the 1990′s business was actually pretty good. There was lots of film to develop. The portrait studio, while we were not able to do everything a full studio could, was very successful.

By the end of the 1990′s things were starting to change

I think the first change was the failed attempt in the industry to introduce the APS film format. It really was a bad idea. Small labs like us had to decide if it was worth upgrading to handle the format, as much as $30,000. In truth, APS really was close to the old 110 format in quality (little better but not much). We did not and it was a good choice since there never was much demand.

Soon the industry started to talk about digital

The first digital cameras were really bad. I know many people that purchased early digital cameras and were very disappointed with them. I think companies were overly optimistic about the quality. Also, the industry had not really thought out what anyone would do with the photos they got.

Then came the drug stores

Soon, every drug store in the area started to do 1 hr. film. They even built new drug stores. Discount stores also added labs. These companies sell processing at cost to bring business into their stores. Its hard to compete on a service you rely on for income when your competition is not even trying to make money on it. Our better quality kept many of our customers but our volume started to drop.

Since we saw the film processing business eventually ending, I started trying to improve the studio

We knew eventually we would end the 1 hr. business. But last Good Friday (2005) we finally had no choice.

On Good Friday 2005 our lab (the main printing machine) went up in smoke – literally.

We were told it was not repairable (after they charged us $1000 in attempting to). New machines would have cost $100,000 to $250,000. With the cost of digital prints falling (even then only $.25) we decided new equipment would never pay for itself with the volume we could see us doing. How many $.18 prints would you have to do to pay for a machine that cost that much? We knew the end had been coming. I just wish we had a little warning.

Since then, we have really only been doing portraits and framing

I am glad we had been planning to turn to something else. It has been a bit of a struggle to redesign the entire business plan. We are still working on the change. I have seen many other labs go completely out of business. In our area, there are only two independent labs left. The drug and discount stores have taken too much of the market by competing for the lowest price. That, combined with the huge changes in technology, has changed the entire photography business.

Even the big companies are having problems

Within the last year, Agfa and Konica-Minolta, both equipment makers and paper-chemical suppliers, have gotten out of the market. Agfa went bust. Konica-Minolta just decided to leave that end of the business. There are so many changes happening that trade magazines are usually announcing new products from companies that are no longer in the market.

With all this, I am more excited about photography than I was 10 years ago

I am more confident and excited about my portrait photography than ever before. I am hoping that these changes in my work will actually be for the better in the long run.

How about you?

Have you had a huge change in your business? Has technology changed your industry in a short period of time. Have you had a catastrophic change in your business and been able to overcome it?

I’d like to hear about it. Or, share with us how photography has changed to you.