So it has been little over a week that I decided to give MN a second run and have to say it has done a lot for my “learning curve” as well as my productivity level. When I first joined MN I had a quick look around at the free guides they are offering for the affiliate program but now that I am back there, I decided to actually give it a real shot and started reading the guides.

Gotta say I am really impressed with all the free information and level of support they are offering, either through their affiliate forum or contacting them directly.

So what have I during last week?

I have actually set up 4 new websites, and only have to finish some details and then upload them which will be done later this day, plus starting promotion strategies in order to get the linkbuilding going.

Terence gave me some good points to look at when I first posted about this program last week and I will certainly keep his comment in mind, for now though I find there is a lot to learn in their affiliate forum.

I picked a few products which I have experience with from the past and started building sites with all the material they offer for promotion. Most product in the program come with several ready made templates, loads of content and designer help (banners, pictures you can use freely etc)  and other information given good ideas in order to promote.

Cool thing about this program is that they are now uploading a lot of review videos in their forum, actually reviewing sites made by affiliates in order to improve them and point out where a site is lacking in view of selling and promotion.

Even after all this time I have been into affiliate marketing, there was a lot of things I hadn´t thought of and it is proven to be of great value to have somebody else look at your site and show you where you could improve it. I was certainly impressed by the time they put in to offer this service to their customers.

Now, some might say “yeah right Mirjam, they just want to earn more money” and I believe that is a fair statement, they are after earning more money through their affiliates promoting their products, but they can only do so, if their affiliates make more sales too.

So basically that is a win-win situation. Plus think about this, if you have been struggling like I have to get those sales in, you are doing something wrong. I was doing a lot of things wrong, and finally found some place to actually point out where and what to improve on. This is all information I can take along with me into other ventures outside of the program, ie, information I can use and implement to promote other products from other affiliate programs since it is all about the basics and then tweaking it to improve sales.

Through MN I have found to have made mistakes in the basics of all the sites I have set up in the past, with the consequence of not getting higher returns on the efforts I was putting in.

Funny when I come to think about it, as soon as I started this blog months ago, I have actually started learning a lot more than the years before and it does feel like pieces are finally falling into its place.

When I first started learning about affiliate marketing, I thought I did not have enough knowledge so I kept buying and reading guides on how to make things happen and the more I read, the more I felt like there was a lot of knowledge lacking to become a “super affiliate”.

It actually started feeling like there was some sort of secret to success and that the next book I was going to buy and read, would give me that secret.

I have certainly wasted a lot of time and effort. If only I had started building on the foundations straight away, making it secure with the basic information I had at that time and only than started learning about how to improve on those basics, I would have been a lot further already, but it is never too late to start.

MN is putting a lot of pieces together though, and now, when looking at the forum, I see a lot of people asking for help to become a super affiliate. They are making the same mistake I was making, thinking there is this big secret out there which is holding them back as long as they don´t find out.

Again, the secret is in the basics, following some beginner guides which tell you exactly what to do before even thinking about tweaking and improving.

If you don´t have the basics though,

there is nothing to tweak nor improve!

It is like wanting to run without first knowing how to get on your feet and start going step for step.

Anyways, I am going back to work now, just wanted to give a little update so far on what I think about MN  and what I have done so far. If you have been looking for ways to make money and so far aren´t succeeding in affiliate marketing, I would certainly recommend you to check out their free beginner guides which you can access after signing up for the program. The free guides offer information on how to start, how to build a site, how to promote and build links etc, sort of a step by step program on how to get on. After that, there are more guides on how to improve everything, including a free SEO guide by Brad Callen which offers some great inside tips on how to get your site ranking high and fast.

Again, the sign up is free and they are offering bonuses (upto $45) when you sign up with them. You will only be able to get those bonuses by making your first sale, which is what you are after anyways, I suppose, right?

Feel free to leave any comments and questions, I will try to answer all of them:)

To Our Success! 

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My dream ever since my childhood was having my own horses and dogs, and the most important part of the dream was always, having them close to me, living where I was living as well.

Today, I have my 3 horses living around my house, and whenever I go from my office to my kitchen to make a cup of whatever, they will leave their hay and walk around the house, showing up in front of the kitchen window to see if it is their lucky day and mom tosses out an extra carrot or apple.

I also have 3 dogs who follow me wherever I go and give me a lot of love and companionship. They were all “rescue cases” when they entered my life, one was so tiny and underfed she was about to die and has now grown into one of the dearest animals I have ever had in my life, the other two were both up on “deathroll”, convicted without trial by their owners who claimed they were too dangerous or impossible to handle. They both turned out to be amazing creatures who atmost will lick visitors to death.

I have lived in this place for 3 years now, and when I first found this spot I was in a real hurry to find a place to live, having only 2 weeks to find a place suitable to have horses and dogs, close enough to my new job and most importantly, affordable. It was a real lucky break the moment I walked in the door and I felt at home straight away.

I finished moving only 1 day before I had to start working my new job (yep, as a car salesperson) and lived out of unpacked boxes for months, just not having the time and umpf to finish unpacking after the long hours I was putting in.

I must say, I have been really happy here, even though it is a rental place, but lately this nagging feeling won´t stop telling me it is about time for me to move on again. This time hopefully to a place I can really call my own. You see, many years ago all I dreamt was living in a peaceful place with my animals near me, but never did it occur to me that it should be on my own property. I got what I thought I wished for, but time has come to dream bigger.

Last week I was talking about it with my mom about different possibilities, maybe even running some holiday premises off of a property to bring in extra money, and only the day after I was sifting through a local magazine where I saw this “finca” (Spanish country home) announced for sale. I hesitated a bit since my financial position isn´t really ready to take on a mortgage at the moment, but picked up the phone anyways and made a call to inform about the place.

An hour later and a lot of information richer I had learned about another location available in my favorite area which just sounded too good to be true (and way over my budget, that is probably why it sounded too good to be true) but the guy on the other end of the phone offered to send me some pictures anyways so I could think about whether I wanted to have a look at the property or not.

A few days later I was having breakfast with my friend and when talking about this property she happened to know the owner and suggested to go and have a look since we were nearby, but she also said the property really wasn´t what I was looking for, the main house being in need of a lot more than just some TLC.

When arriving at the finca however, again I had this instant feeling of being at home.

There was a lot of damp on the walls, cracks, ugly tiles against the walls (something typically Spanish), a really awful tiny old fashioned kitchen and weird layout of all the rooms, but somehow I could just see through all of it and see real potential.

There was a huge terrace outside though and I could just see myself sitting there, in the shade, enjoying the absolutely fantastic views with my laptop in front of me, working away on my websites, having the occasional dip in the pool and picking fresh fruit from the trees or having a nice barbeque with my dearest friends and laugh the night away.
So we went on, looking at the rest of the property which also included another small house, reasonably new, two floors containing two apartments which were the main source of income for the current owner, functioning as holiday rentals with their separate entrance and own terraces. Things were already starting to look a bit brighter and we went on, down a little road to another house, a wooden one, which in the future was going to form part of the income as well and set in a beautiful spacious location, with several fruit trees and many plants, flowers and the occasional palm tree.

If that wasn´t enough yet, there was this huge area of flat land with trees offering shade on those hot summer days and I could already see my horses having an amazing time eventhough they would not be able to show up at my kitchen window anymore.

When leaving the property we started talking about the place and its ups and downs and my friend was really summing up all the negative sides of that particular finca, especially the part about the main house that she felt just wasn´t my style and I was almost agreeing with her, she made some very good points.

So why am I writing this, at 3.30 am while I should really already be sound asleep?

Simply because I can´t get that place out of my head, making calculations and going over all the things which need to be changed in order to make the investment profitable and even run a small business on the premises. To me it felt like much more than just some property, it felt so peaceful and quiet, so full of potential and vibration and just waiting there for me.

And the more I think about it, the more I start looking at the possibilities and options, the more I am becoming convinced I should really give it my best.

It is Time to Dare and Accomplish Bigger Dreams!

When opening my email this morning there was “A Note from the Universe”, little inspiring messages I receive, this one I wanted to share with you because of it´s spot-on relevance and kind of freaky coincidence:

Remember you once told me, Mirjam, that if ever all of the circumstances in your life were aligned just so, your soon-to-be friends were in all the right places at all the right times, and the financial markets, social climate, and global energies had all reached optimal points… you´d want to be gently nudged as a subtle sign that it was time to start doing new things, saying new things, and visualizing so that you might catch these gargantuan waves of change and surf to dazzling new heights?

TODAY IS THE DAY!

Hang ten!

The Universe

PS. Oh, Mirjam, I also wanted to remind you something about a fabulous large property with planty of land and Cadbury Fruit and Nut Bars… go figure. 

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