Planning, Startups, Stories
How Do I Spell Trivial?
I apologize. It's the schoolteacher in me. I'm annoying and old fashioned. It's a character flaw. But when somebody emails me and writes
"I have obtained legal advise from a patent professional..."
And, later on,
...how hard will it be to get some capitol investors to hear me out?
That puts me off. It's advice, not advise. It's capital, not capitol. Is it just me? I can't help noticing. I was raised that way. When I make spelling mistakes, it's almost always by accident and I want to be corrected (thanks Steve).
I want to answer flippantly. Certainly it will be easier to get those investors to listen to you than to read your writing.
Sigh ... sorry, I couldn't help it.
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January 22, 2008 in Writing | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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C'est La Vie. You Never Can Tell
The title line is from one of my favorite Chuck Berry songs (I hope he's a relative, but I don't know) (I like the Emmy Lou Harris version too):
C'est la vie say the old folks. It goes to show you never can tell.
So I'm doing the old folks line today. Here's a local club that looks either dead or dying. I wonder, as I go by, what their story might be, with the darkened windows and apparently empty space. It was a brewery restaurant near our Palo Alto Software office for a few years, we lunched there often, but that died. Before that it was an auto dealership, but that died. Bad luck? Bad location? Bad management? It seemed like a good location with a hitch in parking, and it seemed like a good restaurant. Then, for several years now, it seemed like dead or dying.
Then I discover (thanks Chelle) that it's actually a very successful nightclub haunt. Cool, I guess; I like surprises. But it also means I'm not very good at guessing who's doing okay. Take a look at the place:
No signage, dark windows. Who'd think it was really hopping? I guess you can tell I don't get out much at night. I thought it was always empty. But I discover that it's successful and trendy. Last month the local Eugene Register Guard reported:
"Crowds are starting to understand the Indigo District’s new role in the music scene. Teenagers have gone there to bounce around to the frenetic hip-hop of Pigeon John or sit quietly in the corner to listen to David Bazan. The mix of fans is reminiscent of the WOW Hall, although the Indigo is not quite as crowded, at least not yet."
Okay, I stand corrected. Maybe anonymity during the day leads to success at night. I've posted recently on the importance of knowing who isn't your target market. Maybe they needed to make it clear that I'm definitely not their target market.
Like I say, I like surprises. Do things your own way, be different, and you have the essence of strategy. Or, as I've written elsewhere, simply, strategy is focus. Consider this quote, from the Eugene Weekly:
[Owner Justin] Gibbs acknowledges that the legacy of the Indigo District involves a rather schizophrenic past. When the bar first opened its heavy, wooden doors, the menu advertised a business lunch, gourmet coffee and bar food served long into the night, well after the liquor stopped flowing.
"The new direction has refined the scope of what we're trying to do," he explains. "When we first started, it was like 'It's a restaurant, it's a bar, it's a music venue, it's an Internet café.' We were going all day every day with just me managing. And as much as I loved being a restaurateur, it happened at the expense of doing music. That's my primary passion."
So success involved more focus. Ironically, keeping me and people like me out of the loop probably helped. Quoting the weekly again:
In the last year, the Indigo District has been keeping primarily evening hours, hosting music regularly, throwing raging dance parties and "doing a few things well," as Gibbs would say. After trying out so many types of business plans and suffering some low points, he and his staff are excited to settle into being "a music venue that serves food and drinks and does club nights."
"We had some growing pains in the last year. 2006 was an awkward point between being a new bar and an established bar. We had to adjust our vision."
This new vision will capitalize on what Gibbs refers to as the "cross-pollination between hip hop, rock and electronic" emerging in the independent music scene. He hopes that by bringing bands who blend the best of the best musically, the Indigo District will, by extension, provide the optimal nightlife experience for those committed to keeping the funk alive in Eugene.
Which is obviously working. What is it, stealth marketing? I go by there a lot, I read the local paper every day, but I hadn't seen it. The target market, however, had seen it. C'est la Vie.
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January 22, 2008 in Business Stories, Marketing | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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All About Leadership
I was at an interesting event Saturday. The Annual Nonprofit Organization Board Training organized by Financial Stewardship Resources. More than 500 people, almost all of them volunteers, almost all of them running nonprofits, gathering together on a cold and gray Saturday in Corvallis, OR, to learn about nonprofit taxation, leadership, better management, better planning, incorporating a new generation, and so on.
That's an interesting group. Most of them over 40, dressed comfortably, eager to learn. Very few of them are paid to come. Most of them pay to come. Most were from Oregon, but a lot of other states, and a couple of other countries, were represented. I was with the organizers when they scrambled to find the translator they'd arranged for Polish/English.
I think we all know we're in tough economic times, and that of course flows over to nonprofits. But that was a pretty good group. What's important, I think, aside from any single message, is that they were there.
I felt my plan-as-you-go business plan talk went very well. They got it. It's not just the plan, it's planning: start with a review schedule, make sure you have focus, metrics, specifics of who-what-when, and build it over strategy. Form follows function.
John Blount, keynote speaker, was recently selected as one of the 17 members of the International Rotary board of directors. He's also a dentist, lives in Sebastopol, CA, and does a pretty good talk on leadership. He sandwiched his talk around a short video about John Kennedy and NASA and the moon shot in the 1960s. I've searched the web for "It's All About Leadership," and I've come up with a lot of hits, but not that video. Too bad. That's a great example. John put leadership into three words: bold, competent, creative. I'm taking the liberty to change bold to courage, for alliteration's sake, and add my own words as explanation.
1. Courage: as in having the courage to stick your neck out for a decision, put your ideas on the line, take a stand. Courage to raise your voice in a crowd.
2. Competence: Yes, I know, as we grow up in the world of adults, it's surprising to discover how few people are truly competent. John shared a study about what people want in their dentist. Competence. That's what people want in their leaders too. What a temptation to get into politics. But no, never mind.
3. Creativity: Are leaders creative? Maybe. Creativity is about focus, perspective, looking at things from the right position, and often from a new position, one that others couldn't think of. John mentioned the importance of quantity of ideas, more than quality. That's an important concept.
Finally, one of several amusing quotes in his warmup was this quote from a baseball player named Larry Anderson. I'd never heard of him, or this quote, but:
If at first you don't succeed, failure may be your thing.
And Steve Lange, a good editor, read my early version of this post (which changed a lot with this version) and tipped me off to Demotivators.com, which has some posters based on similar sentiments.
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January 22, 2008 in Entrepreneurship | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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Why My New Kindle is Like the Treadmill in the Basement
I'm getting used to my new Amazon Kindle. It finally arrived while I was gone the second week in January, and was waiting for me when I returned. So far it's serving mainly as a reminder that I'm not getting as much time as I'd like to read. It's functioning sort of like an unused exercise machine. I had a treadmill in the basement for several years. I'd go by it going in and out of the garage, each time remembering that I should get more exercise. But I didn't get more exercise.
Aside from that rather personal note, which obviously isn't the Kindle's fault, my initial surprises were pleasant:
1. It's much smaller and slimmer than it looks like in the pictures. Even the pictures with the kindle in hand make it look bigger and clumsier than it really is.
2. It really is easy on the eyes, quite comfortable even for 60-year-old eyes. The black type on gray (almost white) background is crisp and clear. I know I can adjust the type to make it more comfortable, but I'm still in the default.
3. The wireless connection to Amazon.com is brilliant. It's easy to use, intuitive, a great implementation of hardware and software.
4. Most of the books available offer a first chapter free, so you can read a few pages before you decide whether or not you want to buy. I love this feature, which Amazon hasn't advertised. I'm afraid I've bought a lot of books that disappointed me, and I'm curious, so this is a very useful feature.
5. Pricing gives me some advantage in buying Kindle vs. buying regular books. Topping every book off at $9.95, for example.
And, of course, some minor disappointments:
1. Some of those first chapters aren't really first chapters; they're like tables of contents. You don't really get to read and decide. That's what I found on several books, all of which were non-fiction, related to business planning. (Teri Epperly at Palo Alto Software is working with me to get my Hurdle:the Book on Business Planning into Kindle format; we're going to make sure our first chapter is really the first chapter.
2. This is a product that really could have used Apple-level design. While it is really small and easy to carry, the buttons and tabs and such are clunky, old-fashioned. No iPod designers on this project. I keep pushing next page and previous page buttons that I didn't want to push.
3. Not Amazon's fault, but it occurs to me that the Kindle will have to power off during takeoff and landing on commercial flights. That's a bummer. One of the best advantages of books is you can read them when you can't do anything else, like during those airline moments. Can't we establish that having the Kindle on, with its super low power and static technology, won't crash the plane?
Finally, about pricing:
I would immediately buy a Kindle for two or three people in my family if it were priced at $199 instead of $399. The price strikes me as out of whack, sort of like that initial iPhone $600 price that went down a couple of months later. It's an eBook reader, not a PDA, not a computer.
Still, there is something fundamental about keeping prices related to demand. Amazon couldn't meet all the demand they had for early Kindle buyers. I ordered mine in early December, and I had to wait until early January. That's not a time to lower prices.
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January 21, 2008 in Current Affairs, Technology, Writing | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
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Back to the Mac
I'm writing this using Mars Edit on a new iMac, which has just replaced my Windows Media computer as my main system on my home desktop. This is after about 12 years on Windows, which, in turn, came after about 10 years with a Mac as my main computer.
I had one of those original Macintosh units within a month of its introduction, and it became my main system when they finally had hard drives some time in 1985. I wrote my second book, which was published by McGraw-Hill Microtext, on a Mac; and laid it out using very early desktop publishing techniques and an Apple Laserwriter.
AppleImac1.png I stayed with Macs as the main system, upgrading every so often, until 1994. I moved to Windows as we developed Business Plan Pro for Windows, in 1994.
As our business moved heavily over to the Windows side, so did I, with my main computers. The Macs stayed around for a while, but our home was without Macs until about a year ago when I installed an old Mac mini.
In Palo Alto Software, meanwhile, as the Windows market took over we tried to continue with Macs, but it became so much more drag than sales justified that we finally, in 2003, dropped the Mac products. Sadly, the market wasn't there. We embarked on projects to port Business Plan Pro to Mac three times in the 12 years since the first version, but the numbers were just impossible to make -- 10X development costs for 1/100 the sales just don't work, no matter how much I like the Mac.
However, times are changing. Our COO has a Mac laptop. One of our best programmers works on a Mac using Windows via Parallels. And now I, president and founder, have a new iMac as my main system at home.
Since it's been 12 years, I realize I'll have a long move-in time for the new iMac. I mean missing the things I'm used to, like Windows Live Writer, SnagIt screen capture, Roboform. On the good side, I've gotten used to iTunes because of my iPods and iPhone, so that will help. And Firefox seems like a familiar friend too.
If you know me and Palo Alto Software, you might wonder how far we are from yet another attempt at a Mac version of Business Plan Pro. We're not supposed to say. You know the paraphrased old saying, "we announce no software before it's time."
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January 20, 2008 in Technology | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
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Essential Business Planning for Nonprofits
I believe that nonprofits and social enterprises need good business planning as much or more than the rest of us. The old mentality that left the nonprofits in their own world, unconcerned with business-like things like planning and performance, are over. Happily, most of the people I talk to in that world agree with me. The nonprofits want and need planning for the same reasons the rest of us do: develop and implement long-term strategy. Manage towards long-term objectives. Develop the right metrics. Set down tracks you can review and revise. Develop accountability. Control your destiny. Be proactive.
Just a few years ago I felt the nonprofits wanted to live in their own world. The language of standard business planning -- sales, for example, and profits, and return on investment, similar business terms -- was uncomfortable to them. It made me feel cynical when we'd take the standard terms in Business Plan Pro and mask them with appropriate equivalents. Sales became funding. Profit became surplus, and loss was deficit.
Change the vocabulary, but not the core. The core is essentially the same. It's almost (with my apology to zealots) like dealing with religions, in which different groups apply different words to the same thing. We want to dress our similar realities in our own specific costumes. Whoops, that may be more than I want to take on in this post. So, back to nonprofits. Or, as Gilda Radner would say, "never mind."
Tomorrow I'll be presenting Essentials of Business Planning for Nonprofits at the Annual Nonprofit Organization Board Training organized by Financial Stewardship Resources. That's at the LaSells Stewart Center on campus at Oregon State University. The occasion has me thinking about how the Plan-As-You-Go Business Plan fundamentals apply very well to planning a nonprofit organization.
Happily, in the last few years there's been a steady increase in the sense of metrics and accountability in the world of nonprofits. At least that's what I'm seeing, that's what reaches me in my travels. I certainly don't claim any expertise on the subject of nonprofits, but in my work on business planning, I do get exposed to the growing trend for social enterprises and what feels like steadily increasing demand for accountability and metrics in nonprofits. If I'm wrong on that, please tell me.
One result of this, it seems, is steadily increasing interest in doing the business planning better.
If you're interested, you're welcome to download my presentation handouts. I'll be doing my presentation twice, each one an hour and 10 minutes. I plan to summarize the basic principles of plan-as-you-go business planning, with only very slight modifications for application in nonprofits.
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January 18, 2008 in Business Planning, Current Affairs, Nonprofits | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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Separate the Plan from its Information Background and Support
I've been focusing lately on the difference between your core business plan and the information and analysis and presentation additions that are really dressing, not plan. Too many people assume that a business plan necessarily includes background and supporting information. In fact, the plan itself is your strategy and the concrete steps and specifics you need to run the business. This is one of the core concepts in The Plan-As-You-Go Business Plan book that I'm now writing.
Consider this: every business needs to plan strategy and who does what, when, how much it costs, how much it brings in, and how much money is in the bank. That's absolutely essential for everybody. That's also what a plan has to include.
The plan should meet the business needs. Not all businesses need to do research and analysis on markets, the industry, the competition, and related topics as they develop their plan. Those that do know who they are. Also, perhaps more important, those that don't want or need to do this extensive analysis shouldn't confuse that with the plan itself.
You might be running or growing or starting your own one-person business. You feel very comfortable about knowing your customers and your market and you've got a strategy. Why are you writing all this down, formalizing it, making a big project that you don't really need? No good reason. Planning is about the decisions it causes, it's not about showing off your knowledge.
Example: you're doing a new coffee roasting business. It's just you and your spouse, and a close family friend who is also investing. You want to develop your strategy and cash flow projections and who does what, and you want to track progress against goals, so you do need a plan. But it's not going to be a formal business plan document with a heavy market analysis and competitive analysis. It's going to stay on your computer. You may or may not do a special research and analysis project for this plan, but either way, you're comfortable with your sense of the market and the strategy you're developing.
So if you don't have to do the formal plan, because you're not required to by the investor or the bank, then don't. And when you do want to do the plan, because things are changing (maybe you're entering a contest, or looking for an investor, or the bank asks for it), then you take the next step of developing the document with all the supporting information.
Some businesses need to explain and present the background information to investors, bankers, directors, members of the management team, or others. In that case, by all means, put it into your business plan document, and/or your presentation, summary, elevator speech, or whatever. But keep in mind that it's dressing.
The heart of the plan is its strategy, and no matter which kind of plan output you're using you still need to understand who you're selling to, what you're selling, why they buy, how they know about you, and how you're different from other offerings. You can write that down, put it in slides, talk it through with others, or keep it in your head, but you really have to understand where and how you fit. It's a combination of your identity, your market, and your business offering.
The flesh and bones of the plan are its review schedule, metrics, responsibility assignments, dates, deadlines, budgets, and financial forecasts. You need those as much as you need anything. It isn't necessarily a document, or a presentation, or a speech, or a summary; it's what you're doing and what's supposed to happen.
The output of that might vary. Its actual physical existence might be as simple as thoughts in your head, at the beginning, and -- I really hope -- quickly becomes a collection of words and pictures and numbers you keep on your computer.
You do what the business needs: no more, no less.
And you never run a business without a plan, and you never think you have a plan unless you have a plan review schedule of meetings set up and you follow through with it, plus realistic metrics, a cash flow plan, and accountability.
Selasa, 22 Januari 2008
Medical Specialty Solutions
Medical Specialty Solutions
New Owners Keep Their Company Going & Growing in Portland, OR
October 1999 was not a good month for Medical Specialty Solutions of Portland, OR. The company, which provided billing, collection, and other support services for area physician groups, learned that its largest client planned to dissolve at the end of the year. In a matter of months, Medical Specialty Solutions would lose almost half its business, leaving the future of the company and its employees very much in doubt.
Julie Karrasik, Director of Business Development, didn't panic. She simply put her job in high gear, touting the company's services and recruiting new clients. But Medical Specialty Solutions' management didn't share her confidence. Given the company's uncertain future, several clients decided to take their billing operations in-house. Before long, management decided that they had little choice but to split up the company and sell the various components to interested buyers.
That prospect left both clients and employees nervous, but it also presented Julie with an opportunity. She and Director of Operations Diana Smith could team up to buy the medical billing part of the business and keep Medical Specialty Solutions going. "We had never thought of ourselves as business owners," Julie says. "But we realized that we had invested too much time and effort in the company to leave. We had also made many promises to our new and ongoing clients; going back on our word at this point would not be good business."
"Harry Kane and Dan Williamson gave unselfishly of their time and brilliant backgrounds to help Medical Specialty Solutions move forward. People often praise Julie and me for saving the company, but SCORE deserves an equal share of the credit."
Diana Smith, Co-Owner and Director of Operations,
Medical Specialty Solutions
Julie and Diana felt they knew how to run a company, but had no idea about how to buy it or set up a corporation. Julie's husband, a business broker, suggested she contact the SBA for advice. That call led to a referral to the Portland chapter of SCORE. "I explained that we needed help fast because time was of the essence," Julie recalls. "They immediately put me in touch with Harry Kane, the former CFO of Georgia Pacific. He was 100 percent fantastic."
Harry and his fellow volunteer counselor Dan Williamson, a former consulting engineer, helped Julie and Diana formulate their strategy for purchasing Medical Specialty Solutions. Because both women had to literally keep their day jobs to keep the company functioning, most of the counseling sessions took place at night and on weekends. "Harry and Dan took a lot of time out of their private lives to help us," Diana says. "They knew we were making tough decisions, and they were always there to support us. They made sure we knew how the outcomes would affect the company."
Julie adds that the two counselors stuck to them like Velcro. "They were with us every step of the way," she says. "Harry sat in on our purchase negotiations, and joined me for my meeting with the loan officer at the bank."
Of particular importance to Julie and Diana was the guidance Harry and Dan provided that helped Medical Specialty Solutions successfully transition to new ownership. "There are so many things to consider, but Harry and Dan made sure we focused first on the mission-critical needs," Julie says. "That included reassuring our clients and staff, who were naturally nervous about whether the changeover would succeed."
The strategy worked; since Julie and Diana officially took ownership of Medical Specialty Solutions in June 2000, the company has not lost a client or a staff member. In fact, the company has surpassed its previous revenue totals, and has brought in a number of large clients in and around the fast-growing Portland area. "We're particularly proud that this growth has come without advertising," Diana says. "It has all been through recommendations from physician administrators who know our work."
Julie and Diana continue to work with their SCORE counselors on a monthly basis. They meet to review financials, fine-tune the strategic plan, and consider key decisions such as remodeling the company's offices to handle its growth. "Harry and Dan challenge us to think of things that we might not have considered," Julie says. "They want to be sure we spend our money wisely, and not commit some of the mistakes that cripple other fast-growing companies."
Julie adds that looking back at the events of the past two years, it's hard to believe just how far she and Diana have come, and how much they have learned. They are also gratified that Harry Kane and Dan Williamson devoted so much time to assist them. "They made it possible for us to achieve the difficult goal of putting this deal together," she says. "We still rely on them for advice and guidance when we have a problem or a new idea. They are mentors in every sense of the word."
New Owners Keep Their Company Going & Growing in Portland, OR
October 1999 was not a good month for Medical Specialty Solutions of Portland, OR. The company, which provided billing, collection, and other support services for area physician groups, learned that its largest client planned to dissolve at the end of the year. In a matter of months, Medical Specialty Solutions would lose almost half its business, leaving the future of the company and its employees very much in doubt.
Julie Karrasik, Director of Business Development, didn't panic. She simply put her job in high gear, touting the company's services and recruiting new clients. But Medical Specialty Solutions' management didn't share her confidence. Given the company's uncertain future, several clients decided to take their billing operations in-house. Before long, management decided that they had little choice but to split up the company and sell the various components to interested buyers.
That prospect left both clients and employees nervous, but it also presented Julie with an opportunity. She and Director of Operations Diana Smith could team up to buy the medical billing part of the business and keep Medical Specialty Solutions going. "We had never thought of ourselves as business owners," Julie says. "But we realized that we had invested too much time and effort in the company to leave. We had also made many promises to our new and ongoing clients; going back on our word at this point would not be good business."
"Harry Kane and Dan Williamson gave unselfishly of their time and brilliant backgrounds to help Medical Specialty Solutions move forward. People often praise Julie and me for saving the company, but SCORE deserves an equal share of the credit."
Diana Smith, Co-Owner and Director of Operations,
Medical Specialty Solutions
Julie and Diana felt they knew how to run a company, but had no idea about how to buy it or set up a corporation. Julie's husband, a business broker, suggested she contact the SBA for advice. That call led to a referral to the Portland chapter of SCORE. "I explained that we needed help fast because time was of the essence," Julie recalls. "They immediately put me in touch with Harry Kane, the former CFO of Georgia Pacific. He was 100 percent fantastic."
Harry and his fellow volunteer counselor Dan Williamson, a former consulting engineer, helped Julie and Diana formulate their strategy for purchasing Medical Specialty Solutions. Because both women had to literally keep their day jobs to keep the company functioning, most of the counseling sessions took place at night and on weekends. "Harry and Dan took a lot of time out of their private lives to help us," Diana says. "They knew we were making tough decisions, and they were always there to support us. They made sure we knew how the outcomes would affect the company."
Julie adds that the two counselors stuck to them like Velcro. "They were with us every step of the way," she says. "Harry sat in on our purchase negotiations, and joined me for my meeting with the loan officer at the bank."
Of particular importance to Julie and Diana was the guidance Harry and Dan provided that helped Medical Specialty Solutions successfully transition to new ownership. "There are so many things to consider, but Harry and Dan made sure we focused first on the mission-critical needs," Julie says. "That included reassuring our clients and staff, who were naturally nervous about whether the changeover would succeed."
The strategy worked; since Julie and Diana officially took ownership of Medical Specialty Solutions in June 2000, the company has not lost a client or a staff member. In fact, the company has surpassed its previous revenue totals, and has brought in a number of large clients in and around the fast-growing Portland area. "We're particularly proud that this growth has come without advertising," Diana says. "It has all been through recommendations from physician administrators who know our work."
Julie and Diana continue to work with their SCORE counselors on a monthly basis. They meet to review financials, fine-tune the strategic plan, and consider key decisions such as remodeling the company's offices to handle its growth. "Harry and Dan challenge us to think of things that we might not have considered," Julie says. "They want to be sure we spend our money wisely, and not commit some of the mistakes that cripple other fast-growing companies."
Julie adds that looking back at the events of the past two years, it's hard to believe just how far she and Diana have come, and how much they have learned. They are also gratified that Harry Kane and Dan Williamson devoted so much time to assist them. "They made it possible for us to achieve the difficult goal of putting this deal together," she says. "We still rely on them for advice and guidance when we have a problem or a new idea. They are mentors in every sense of the word."
my tutor
My Tutor and Me, LLC
SCORE Offers Advice & Encouragement to Growing Tutoring Service
Shannon and Fred Converse came from different business experiences to start a successful new company. Shannon has an education background and continues to teach students with multiple and severe disabilities at the Therapeutic Learning Center at Ox Ridge Elementary in Darien, CT. Fred, meanwhile, boasts business expertise from working for Viacom for many years, then later for a Denver-based media dot-com.
The couple decided that instead of only answering to others, they would become entrepreneurs. They shared a passion for children and education, so it seemed a natural fit. Neither had owned a business before, so Fred first began looking into franchise opportunities.
When they couldn’t find exactly what they wanted, they decided to start their own business—My Tutor and Me, LLC, which offers private, in-home tutoring for public and private school students, from kindergarten through high school, in Southern Connecticut and Westchester County. State-certified and professional teachers are carefully selected from among the brightest in their fields, including highly qualified reading specialists and special education teachers.
These teachers instill confidence and motivate students to excel in the classroom. Professional instructors also help prepare children for critical classroom exams and standardized tests, as well as offer customized test preparation and college support services.
While doing start-up business research, Fred found information about SCORE, and the couple began face-to-face counseling at the local office in Norwalk. They began meeting monthly with SCORE Counselor Ray Wolfe. “Ray talked about the basics of creating a business plan, and also provided competitive research advice,” Shannon says. “He became sort of a cheerleader for us, encouraging us on our marketing. He also referred us to other counselors for legal and accounting advice.”
“SCORE Counselor Ray Wolfe keeps in touch to find out how the business is going. It’s not just us calling SCORE. He also stops by our home office for counseling sessions. It’s been a very personal and rewarding experience.”
—Shannon and Fred Converse, co-directors, My Tutor and Me, LLC
Fred adds, “In our first year, we needed to keep our expenses low. It’s great getting all of this advice for free from SCORE.” Five years later, the business is still growing. Last year, My Tutor and Me doubled its profits.
“We’re getting a healthy mix of new customers and repeat clients as children get older,” Fred says. “For instance, they may have previously come to us for a math tutor, and now they need help with SATs.” Fred and Shannon know their SCORE counselor is always there to help.
“Ray keeps in touch to find out how the business is going,” Shannon says. “It’s not just us calling SCORE. He also stops by our home office for counseling sessions. It’s been a very personal and rewarding experience.”
SCORE Offers Advice & Encouragement to Growing Tutoring Service
Shannon and Fred Converse came from different business experiences to start a successful new company. Shannon has an education background and continues to teach students with multiple and severe disabilities at the Therapeutic Learning Center at Ox Ridge Elementary in Darien, CT. Fred, meanwhile, boasts business expertise from working for Viacom for many years, then later for a Denver-based media dot-com.
The couple decided that instead of only answering to others, they would become entrepreneurs. They shared a passion for children and education, so it seemed a natural fit. Neither had owned a business before, so Fred first began looking into franchise opportunities.
When they couldn’t find exactly what they wanted, they decided to start their own business—My Tutor and Me, LLC, which offers private, in-home tutoring for public and private school students, from kindergarten through high school, in Southern Connecticut and Westchester County. State-certified and professional teachers are carefully selected from among the brightest in their fields, including highly qualified reading specialists and special education teachers.
These teachers instill confidence and motivate students to excel in the classroom. Professional instructors also help prepare children for critical classroom exams and standardized tests, as well as offer customized test preparation and college support services.
While doing start-up business research, Fred found information about SCORE, and the couple began face-to-face counseling at the local office in Norwalk. They began meeting monthly with SCORE Counselor Ray Wolfe. “Ray talked about the basics of creating a business plan, and also provided competitive research advice,” Shannon says. “He became sort of a cheerleader for us, encouraging us on our marketing. He also referred us to other counselors for legal and accounting advice.”
“SCORE Counselor Ray Wolfe keeps in touch to find out how the business is going. It’s not just us calling SCORE. He also stops by our home office for counseling sessions. It’s been a very personal and rewarding experience.”
—Shannon and Fred Converse, co-directors, My Tutor and Me, LLC
Fred adds, “In our first year, we needed to keep our expenses low. It’s great getting all of this advice for free from SCORE.” Five years later, the business is still growing. Last year, My Tutor and Me doubled its profits.
“We’re getting a healthy mix of new customers and repeat clients as children get older,” Fred says. “For instance, they may have previously come to us for a math tutor, and now they need help with SATs.” Fred and Shannon know their SCORE counselor is always there to help.
“Ray keeps in touch to find out how the business is going,” Shannon says. “It’s not just us calling SCORE. He also stops by our home office for counseling sessions. It’s been a very personal and rewarding experience.”
SCORE Helps Retiree Start a New Online Venture
Chicago Condos Online
SCORE Helps Retiree Start a New Online Venture
While editing magazines and books for Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, Ric Cox learned a lot about “the power of positive thinking.” That power helped him start ChicagoCondosOnline.com. But it was “the power of positive doing,” which Ric learned about from his counselors at Chicago SCORE, that helped transform his struggling business into a more viable one.
ChicagoCondosOnline.com is a subscriber-only Internet service that provides access to comprehensive information on more than 4,200 condominium buildings in Chicago to more than 250 agents and loan originators and hundreds of their customers.
"I’ve had a dozen sessions with counselors, not counting phone calls and emails. We focused on strategic planning and marketing. It was all free! Who knows what this counseling would cost on the open market."
—Ric Cox, owner, ChicagoCondosOnline.com
Ric first came to Chicago SCORE in 2005. He had retired after 32 years as a magazine editor, 20 years with Reader’s Digest and 12 with Dr. Peale. Ric says, “In my editing career, I learned to gather, organize and disseminate disparate data.” Those abilities, coupled with his investments in nine condos, led him to create ChicagoCondosOnline.com.
“My Web site offers what I call DDT—data, documents and tools,” Ric says. “When I went to SCORE, I had what I thought was a great idea, but I needed help turning it into a profitable enterprise.”
In his first meeting at Chicago SCORE’s downtown office, Ric was matched with SCORE counselor Elaine Waxman. She had owned her own real-estate firm and—after selling it—had held senior sales and management positions with one of the giants of the Chicago real-estate market.
“What a connection!” Ric says. “Elaine’s first recommendation was to complete the Web site. It was a multi-thousand dollar risk, but it helped land Fifth Third Bank as our first lender marketing partner, creating a new revenue stream.”
“At SCORE, I also learned of a web developer who saved me tens of thousands of dollars in development costs,” he adds. “Tough criticism by a second counselor, Jerry Hicks, drove me to re-examine and adjust my strategy. The improved business plan won me a $1,000 award from the City of Chicago and strategic advice from MBA candidates at the University of Chicago.” Ric hopes to partner with a local multiple listing service soon, then take the concept to other cities.
“I’ve had a dozen sessions with counselors, not counting phone calls and e-mails,” Ric says. “We focused on strategic planning and marketing. It was all free! Who knows what this counseling would cost on the open market.”
SCORE Helps Retiree Start a New Online Venture
While editing magazines and books for Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, Ric Cox learned a lot about “the power of positive thinking.” That power helped him start ChicagoCondosOnline.com. But it was “the power of positive doing,” which Ric learned about from his counselors at Chicago SCORE, that helped transform his struggling business into a more viable one.
ChicagoCondosOnline.com is a subscriber-only Internet service that provides access to comprehensive information on more than 4,200 condominium buildings in Chicago to more than 250 agents and loan originators and hundreds of their customers.
"I’ve had a dozen sessions with counselors, not counting phone calls and emails. We focused on strategic planning and marketing. It was all free! Who knows what this counseling would cost on the open market."
—Ric Cox, owner, ChicagoCondosOnline.com
Ric first came to Chicago SCORE in 2005. He had retired after 32 years as a magazine editor, 20 years with Reader’s Digest and 12 with Dr. Peale. Ric says, “In my editing career, I learned to gather, organize and disseminate disparate data.” Those abilities, coupled with his investments in nine condos, led him to create ChicagoCondosOnline.com.
“My Web site offers what I call DDT—data, documents and tools,” Ric says. “When I went to SCORE, I had what I thought was a great idea, but I needed help turning it into a profitable enterprise.”
In his first meeting at Chicago SCORE’s downtown office, Ric was matched with SCORE counselor Elaine Waxman. She had owned her own real-estate firm and—after selling it—had held senior sales and management positions with one of the giants of the Chicago real-estate market.
“What a connection!” Ric says. “Elaine’s first recommendation was to complete the Web site. It was a multi-thousand dollar risk, but it helped land Fifth Third Bank as our first lender marketing partner, creating a new revenue stream.”
“At SCORE, I also learned of a web developer who saved me tens of thousands of dollars in development costs,” he adds. “Tough criticism by a second counselor, Jerry Hicks, drove me to re-examine and adjust my strategy. The improved business plan won me a $1,000 award from the City of Chicago and strategic advice from MBA candidates at the University of Chicago.” Ric hopes to partner with a local multiple listing service soon, then take the concept to other cities.
“I’ve had a dozen sessions with counselors, not counting phone calls and e-mails,” Ric says. “We focused on strategic planning and marketing. It was all free! Who knows what this counseling would cost on the open market.”
ALS Northwest Arkansas Partner
ALS Northwest Arkansas Partner
SCORE Helps Nonprofit Meet the Needs of Individuals with ALS
In January 2006, several individuals in Northwest Arkansas watched their friends and loved ones die the quick and horrible death of ALS. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease, is a neuromuscular disease for which there is no known cure or prevention.
After dealing with the grief of losing her husband, Steve Kressen, to ALS, Sylvia knew she had to act. “I wanted to do something to honor my wonderful husband Steve and to be there for others with ALS,” she says. “I knew all too well that caring for someone with ALS is a 24/7 job and yet I recalled the love, support and friendship that helped Steve and our children through to the very end. I had to do something; I had to be there for others facing the ravages of this disease. I knew that they needed all the support they could to maintain a high quality of life as long as they could.”
Sylvia Kressen and a few volunteers whom she had recruited tried to establish a Northwest Arkansas ALS chapter. The legal requirements of incorporating, generating fiscal procedures and creating a nonprofit organization were overwhelming. Some of the fledgling organization’s initial volunteer leaders had to drop out for one reason or another. While Sylvia had good business experience, she had no experience with nonprofits.
“We would never have succeeded without the help of SCORE. When I had a question, SCORE helped me find the answer. When our fundraising efforts were slow to start, SCORE Counselor Bill Powell showed us how to be successful.”
—Sylvia Kressen, Executive Director, ALS Northwest Arkansas Chapter
Sylvia turned to Northwest Arkansas SCORE. She found encouragement, support and a wealth of knowledge of nonprofit organizations. Sylvia says, “The entire chapter deserves thanks for its willingness to help, but the counselor they assigned to help me has been so helpful. Without Bill Powell’s wisdom and in-depth knowledge, we would have floundered and failed.”
Bill helped them apply the key elements of simple SCORE business and marketing plans. In addition to these principles, he introduced the key elements of the SCORE presentation, “Nonprofit Capacity-Building Strategies.” Using these SCORE tools and example after example from his decades of nonprofit leadership, Bill helped the Northwest Arkansas ALS Partner to organize, incorporate and determine what it really wanted to be.
Sylvia says, “We have done so much.” Patients had no one to go to for encouragement and answers, but now a support group meets monthly with 30 members. ALS patients often didn’t know how specialized medical equipment could improve their quality of life or how to acquire such equipment. Now, through the generous help of an Arkansas Rotary Club and the Rotary Medical Supply Network in Tulsa, Okla., a free medical equipment loan program has been developed. ALS patients’ special speech needs were not being met, and now they have regular access to Dr. Barbara Shadden of the University of Arkansas Speech and Language Department.
In addition, the Northwest Arkansas ALS Chapter had no board of directors and no funds with which to operate. Now, with the help of their SCORE counselor, the ALS chapter has formed a board that provides leadership and personal involvement. Using basic fundraising techniques, the ALS chapter has raised funds for patient services, education and awareness. It is building its fiscal capacity so that it can employ full time staff dedicated to meeting the needs of ALS patients in Northwest Arkansas.
Sylvia says, “We would never have succeeded without the help of SCORE. When I had a question, SCORE helped me find the answer. When our board members needed leadership, our SCORE counselor met with them one-on-one. When our fundraising efforts were slow to start, Bill showed us how to be successful.”
Doug Schrantz, board member, says, “Life is better for patients with ALS in Northwest Arkansas partly because of the support, the encouragement, the wisdom and the personal commitment of our SCORE counselor, Bill Powell. Thank you SCORE.”
Lisa Shimmelpfenning, board member, adds, “The entire board of the Northwest Arkansas ALS Chapter thanks SCORE. Because of your help and encouragement, ALS patients in Northwest Arkansas will have a brighter future. We hope that some day the efforts we put into helping ALS patients will no longer be needed when research underway provides a cure for ALS. Until then we will serve those who need us the most. Thank you SCORE, for when we needed you the most, you were there.”
SCORE Helps Nonprofit Meet the Needs of Individuals with ALS
In January 2006, several individuals in Northwest Arkansas watched their friends and loved ones die the quick and horrible death of ALS. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease, is a neuromuscular disease for which there is no known cure or prevention.
After dealing with the grief of losing her husband, Steve Kressen, to ALS, Sylvia knew she had to act. “I wanted to do something to honor my wonderful husband Steve and to be there for others with ALS,” she says. “I knew all too well that caring for someone with ALS is a 24/7 job and yet I recalled the love, support and friendship that helped Steve and our children through to the very end. I had to do something; I had to be there for others facing the ravages of this disease. I knew that they needed all the support they could to maintain a high quality of life as long as they could.”
Sylvia Kressen and a few volunteers whom she had recruited tried to establish a Northwest Arkansas ALS chapter. The legal requirements of incorporating, generating fiscal procedures and creating a nonprofit organization were overwhelming. Some of the fledgling organization’s initial volunteer leaders had to drop out for one reason or another. While Sylvia had good business experience, she had no experience with nonprofits.
“We would never have succeeded without the help of SCORE. When I had a question, SCORE helped me find the answer. When our fundraising efforts were slow to start, SCORE Counselor Bill Powell showed us how to be successful.”
—Sylvia Kressen, Executive Director, ALS Northwest Arkansas Chapter
Sylvia turned to Northwest Arkansas SCORE. She found encouragement, support and a wealth of knowledge of nonprofit organizations. Sylvia says, “The entire chapter deserves thanks for its willingness to help, but the counselor they assigned to help me has been so helpful. Without Bill Powell’s wisdom and in-depth knowledge, we would have floundered and failed.”
Bill helped them apply the key elements of simple SCORE business and marketing plans. In addition to these principles, he introduced the key elements of the SCORE presentation, “Nonprofit Capacity-Building Strategies.” Using these SCORE tools and example after example from his decades of nonprofit leadership, Bill helped the Northwest Arkansas ALS Partner to organize, incorporate and determine what it really wanted to be.
Sylvia says, “We have done so much.” Patients had no one to go to for encouragement and answers, but now a support group meets monthly with 30 members. ALS patients often didn’t know how specialized medical equipment could improve their quality of life or how to acquire such equipment. Now, through the generous help of an Arkansas Rotary Club and the Rotary Medical Supply Network in Tulsa, Okla., a free medical equipment loan program has been developed. ALS patients’ special speech needs were not being met, and now they have regular access to Dr. Barbara Shadden of the University of Arkansas Speech and Language Department.
In addition, the Northwest Arkansas ALS Chapter had no board of directors and no funds with which to operate. Now, with the help of their SCORE counselor, the ALS chapter has formed a board that provides leadership and personal involvement. Using basic fundraising techniques, the ALS chapter has raised funds for patient services, education and awareness. It is building its fiscal capacity so that it can employ full time staff dedicated to meeting the needs of ALS patients in Northwest Arkansas.
Sylvia says, “We would never have succeeded without the help of SCORE. When I had a question, SCORE helped me find the answer. When our board members needed leadership, our SCORE counselor met with them one-on-one. When our fundraising efforts were slow to start, Bill showed us how to be successful.”
Doug Schrantz, board member, says, “Life is better for patients with ALS in Northwest Arkansas partly because of the support, the encouragement, the wisdom and the personal commitment of our SCORE counselor, Bill Powell. Thank you SCORE.”
Lisa Shimmelpfenning, board member, adds, “The entire board of the Northwest Arkansas ALS Chapter thanks SCORE. Because of your help and encouragement, ALS patients in Northwest Arkansas will have a brighter future. We hope that some day the efforts we put into helping ALS patients will no longer be needed when research underway provides a cure for ALS. Until then we will serve those who need us the most. Thank you SCORE, for when we needed you the most, you were there.”
helium flash
Helium Flash
SCORE Helps High-Tech Company Set a New Course to Success
While attending a local business networking event, Helium Flash CEO Tristan Chitty heard SCORE “Counselors to America’s Small Business” mentioned as a resource for entrepreneurs and small business owners.
Tristan decided to contact the local Orlando chapter for advice on how to reinvigorate his technology company, which provides clients with efficient and cost-effective Web solutions.
While Helium Flash had long-term customers and revenue, sales were flat and new customers were lacking. To find a business solution for this challenge, Tristan turned to SCORE.
Tristan and Derek Francis, Helium Flash’s manager of business development, first worked with SCORE Counselor Louis Kickhofel. After learning about their situation, Louis realized that Helium Flash needed to address partnership issues before it could move forward.
“I credit SCORE with a lot of our success. They made us ask the right questions about our business and set us on a new course that brought us new clients and high revenue growth.”
—Tristan Chitty, CEO, Helium Flash
Louis l felt Tristan and Derek needed to step back and look at the big picture. “They had to focus more on their vision,” Louis says. “They needed to identify steps they could take in the immediate future and in the months to come to get their business moving.” Louis gave them financial and operations advice to better manage and grow the business.
Next, Tristan and Derek met with SCORE Counselor Ken Peach, an expert on communications and marketing issues. Ken worked with them to ask the right questions about the advantages of using their products. “In my opinion, it’s important to differentiate what you do and create a unique customer experience.”
“I credit SCORE with a lot of our success,” says Tristan. “They made us ask the right questions about our business and set us on a new course that brought us new clients and high revenue growth.”
SCORE Helps High-Tech Company Set a New Course to Success
While attending a local business networking event, Helium Flash CEO Tristan Chitty heard SCORE “Counselors to America’s Small Business” mentioned as a resource for entrepreneurs and small business owners.
Tristan decided to contact the local Orlando chapter for advice on how to reinvigorate his technology company, which provides clients with efficient and cost-effective Web solutions.
While Helium Flash had long-term customers and revenue, sales were flat and new customers were lacking. To find a business solution for this challenge, Tristan turned to SCORE.
Tristan and Derek Francis, Helium Flash’s manager of business development, first worked with SCORE Counselor Louis Kickhofel. After learning about their situation, Louis realized that Helium Flash needed to address partnership issues before it could move forward.
“I credit SCORE with a lot of our success. They made us ask the right questions about our business and set us on a new course that brought us new clients and high revenue growth.”
—Tristan Chitty, CEO, Helium Flash
Louis l felt Tristan and Derek needed to step back and look at the big picture. “They had to focus more on their vision,” Louis says. “They needed to identify steps they could take in the immediate future and in the months to come to get their business moving.” Louis gave them financial and operations advice to better manage and grow the business.
Next, Tristan and Derek met with SCORE Counselor Ken Peach, an expert on communications and marketing issues. Ken worked with them to ask the right questions about the advantages of using their products. “In my opinion, it’s important to differentiate what you do and create a unique customer experience.”
“I credit SCORE with a lot of our success,” says Tristan. “They made us ask the right questions about our business and set us on a new course that brought us new clients and high revenue growth.”
wings
Wings Unlimited, Inc.
Entrepreneur Makes SCORE Advice a Family Tradition
In the start up phase of Wings Unlimited, Inc., more than 20 years ago, Ann Gilmartin attended a SCORE workshop on how to start your own business. She was so impressed with the quality of assistance being offered that she began working with several counselors at the local SCORE chapter on her own corporate meeting and incentive planning company.
The SCORE counselors provided a wide range of advice, covering legal, financial, accounting and insurance issues. Soon, Ann’s business was off and running, providing meeting, team-building, incentive and logistics planning for Fortune 100 companies.
Over the years, Ann continued to meet with SCORE counselors at their chapter as well as at her then home-based business. As computers became more complex, she consulted with SCORE about her technology needs.
In the mid-‘90s, as Ann’s company continued to grow and two of her daughters became involved, she talked to SCORE about expanding the business. Eventually she moved her business into outside office space to accommodate her growing needs. Ann continued to work with SCORE at different stages of her business growth, including attending various workshops.
“The professional support from SCORE has been of great value as our business grows and evolves. The ability to get advice from the right people at the right time has been phenomenal.”
—Tara Dolan, Senior Vice President, Wings Unlimited, Inc.
After her bookkeeper of 15 years retired, Ann’s daughter, Tara, took over the financials. Tara began working with SCORE Counselors Bill Hall and Ken Futter on the transition. “Ken is involved with a family business himself,” Tara says, “and he has helped me to handle issues in this area.”
Bill and Ken meet with Tara and Ann quarterly to talk about marketing and financial management. The business continues to grow in both awareness and revenue, more than doubling its staff and office space in the past three years.
Tara credits SCORE for helping her family’s business succeed. “The professional support from SCORE has been of great value as our business grows and evolves,” she says. “SCORE has never let us down.”
“The ability to get the right people, at the right time, has been phenomenal,” she adds. “The excitement and encouragement our counselors have shown for our business has been wonderful.”
For more success stories, visit the Archives.
Entrepreneur Makes SCORE Advice a Family Tradition
In the start up phase of Wings Unlimited, Inc., more than 20 years ago, Ann Gilmartin attended a SCORE workshop on how to start your own business. She was so impressed with the quality of assistance being offered that she began working with several counselors at the local SCORE chapter on her own corporate meeting and incentive planning company.
The SCORE counselors provided a wide range of advice, covering legal, financial, accounting and insurance issues. Soon, Ann’s business was off and running, providing meeting, team-building, incentive and logistics planning for Fortune 100 companies.
Over the years, Ann continued to meet with SCORE counselors at their chapter as well as at her then home-based business. As computers became more complex, she consulted with SCORE about her technology needs.
In the mid-‘90s, as Ann’s company continued to grow and two of her daughters became involved, she talked to SCORE about expanding the business. Eventually she moved her business into outside office space to accommodate her growing needs. Ann continued to work with SCORE at different stages of her business growth, including attending various workshops.
“The professional support from SCORE has been of great value as our business grows and evolves. The ability to get advice from the right people at the right time has been phenomenal.”
—Tara Dolan, Senior Vice President, Wings Unlimited, Inc.
After her bookkeeper of 15 years retired, Ann’s daughter, Tara, took over the financials. Tara began working with SCORE Counselors Bill Hall and Ken Futter on the transition. “Ken is involved with a family business himself,” Tara says, “and he has helped me to handle issues in this area.”
Bill and Ken meet with Tara and Ann quarterly to talk about marketing and financial management. The business continues to grow in both awareness and revenue, more than doubling its staff and office space in the past three years.
Tara credits SCORE for helping her family’s business succeed. “The professional support from SCORE has been of great value as our business grows and evolves,” she says. “SCORE has never let us down.”
“The ability to get the right people, at the right time, has been phenomenal,” she adds. “The excitement and encouragement our counselors have shown for our business has been wonderful.”
For more success stories, visit the Archives.
beta centauri, LLc
Beta Centauri Project, LLC
SCORE Online Counselors Help Entrepreneur Build a Business Foundation while Serving in Iraq
In most respects, Bill Rasmussen is no different from the thousands of aspiring entrepreneurs who have looked to SCORE for help in launching a small business. What sets him apart, however, is that much of the counseling and planning work took place during his recent one-year deployment in Iraq.
A respiratory therapist in civilian life, Bill got the idea for a medical product that would help speed care to victims of disaster situations when he was a corpsman with the U.S. Marines in 1995. “I realized that the weak link in the chain of care for a wounded Marine is at the field level,” he says. “I looked at what could be done to help medics care for a larger number of advanced life support patients at the same time.”
Bill subsequently discussed the feasibility of his product with a SCORE counselor, but the idea stayed on the shelf until 2006 when he arrived in Iraq to conduct convoy escort missions with the 1041 Engineering Company from Rock Springs, Wyoming.
“There were many decisions to make, such as how to structure my business and secure patents,” Bill says. After reviewing the SCORE Web site’s listing of online counselors, he began an email correspondence with David Sneed of Cheyenne SCORE. “David had the varied expertise and background that I was looking for,” Bill says. “Plus, he was based near my home in northern Colorado, so we had a lot in common.”
“SCORE Counselor Elaine Jeveli directed me to the right contacts in the Food and Drug Administration and provided advice on the manufacturing part of our venture. I will continue to collaborate with her as we move forward.”
—Maureen Greene, CEO, Beta Centauri Project, LLC
As Bill began communicating with various medical and research organizations, David helped him to determine what questions to ask and to make sure that Bill’s ideas were safeguarded from infringement. David also served as a valuable information conduit to Bill’s primary business and administrative partner, Maureen Greene of Las Cruces, New Mexico.
“David provided Maureen with the information she needed to develop our business plan while I continued to work on the product development and patents,” Bill says. “SCORE also put me in touch with Ed Crabtree, a patent attorney who provided us with information and documents to use to file a patent on our prototypes.”
Taking a cue from Bill, Maureen teamed up with SCORE Counselor Elaine Jeveli in Las Cruces. “Elaine has been helpful in starting this process off and getting the appropriate focus to move forward,” Maureen says. “She directed me to the right contacts in the Food and Drug Administration and provided advice on the manufacturing part of our venture. I will continue to collaborate with her as we move forward.”
Given the highly complex nature of gaining regulatory approval for medical products and bringing them to market, Bill expects it will take approximately two years before his business is in full swing.
“All of us are dealing with school, deployments and other jobs, as well as laying the groundwork for this business,” Bill says. “That’s why I’m encouraging all our core people to work with SCORE representatives in their area or online to learn as much as they can about setting ourselves up and running the right way,” he says. “Thanks to David, we’ve already made one key decision—establish ourselves as a limited liability company in Colorado.”
Now home safely from Iraq, Bill plans to call on his SCORE counselor more frequently to make his dream a reality. “Our future will include working with many different companies around the country and overseas,” he says. “None of us has any expertise with this, but we’ll be camping out at a lot of people’s doors—especially those of our SCORE counselors.”
SCORE Online Counselors Help Entrepreneur Build a Business Foundation while Serving in Iraq
In most respects, Bill Rasmussen is no different from the thousands of aspiring entrepreneurs who have looked to SCORE for help in launching a small business. What sets him apart, however, is that much of the counseling and planning work took place during his recent one-year deployment in Iraq.
A respiratory therapist in civilian life, Bill got the idea for a medical product that would help speed care to victims of disaster situations when he was a corpsman with the U.S. Marines in 1995. “I realized that the weak link in the chain of care for a wounded Marine is at the field level,” he says. “I looked at what could be done to help medics care for a larger number of advanced life support patients at the same time.”
Bill subsequently discussed the feasibility of his product with a SCORE counselor, but the idea stayed on the shelf until 2006 when he arrived in Iraq to conduct convoy escort missions with the 1041 Engineering Company from Rock Springs, Wyoming.
“There were many decisions to make, such as how to structure my business and secure patents,” Bill says. After reviewing the SCORE Web site’s listing of online counselors, he began an email correspondence with David Sneed of Cheyenne SCORE. “David had the varied expertise and background that I was looking for,” Bill says. “Plus, he was based near my home in northern Colorado, so we had a lot in common.”
“SCORE Counselor Elaine Jeveli directed me to the right contacts in the Food and Drug Administration and provided advice on the manufacturing part of our venture. I will continue to collaborate with her as we move forward.”
—Maureen Greene, CEO, Beta Centauri Project, LLC
As Bill began communicating with various medical and research organizations, David helped him to determine what questions to ask and to make sure that Bill’s ideas were safeguarded from infringement. David also served as a valuable information conduit to Bill’s primary business and administrative partner, Maureen Greene of Las Cruces, New Mexico.
“David provided Maureen with the information she needed to develop our business plan while I continued to work on the product development and patents,” Bill says. “SCORE also put me in touch with Ed Crabtree, a patent attorney who provided us with information and documents to use to file a patent on our prototypes.”
Taking a cue from Bill, Maureen teamed up with SCORE Counselor Elaine Jeveli in Las Cruces. “Elaine has been helpful in starting this process off and getting the appropriate focus to move forward,” Maureen says. “She directed me to the right contacts in the Food and Drug Administration and provided advice on the manufacturing part of our venture. I will continue to collaborate with her as we move forward.”
Given the highly complex nature of gaining regulatory approval for medical products and bringing them to market, Bill expects it will take approximately two years before his business is in full swing.
“All of us are dealing with school, deployments and other jobs, as well as laying the groundwork for this business,” Bill says. “That’s why I’m encouraging all our core people to work with SCORE representatives in their area or online to learn as much as they can about setting ourselves up and running the right way,” he says. “Thanks to David, we’ve already made one key decision—establish ourselves as a limited liability company in Colorado.”
Now home safely from Iraq, Bill plans to call on his SCORE counselor more frequently to make his dream a reality. “Our future will include working with many different companies around the country and overseas,” he says. “None of us has any expertise with this, but we’ll be camping out at a lot of people’s doors—especially those of our SCORE counselors.”
adsense advertising
How to Make Money with Your Publication
Adsense Advertising
Adsense is a great way to make money with your publication. Since AdSense is such an important part of Internet advertising, it is important that you know some basic information about it.
I was looking for a good definition of Adsense and the best that I found is from Wikipedia.
AdSense is an advertising program run by Google. Website owners can enroll in this program to enable text and image advertisements on their sites. These ads are administered by Google and generate revenue on a per-click basis. Google utilizes its search technology to serve ads based on website content, the user's geographical location, and other factors.
The way AdSense works is you sign up as an affiliate of the Adsense program. Adsense provides you with a snippet of HTML code that you insert in your web page where you want the Adsense ads to appear. Google reads the content of the page where the code is placed and it automatically places ads on the page that match the page’s theme or content.
When a reader clicks on an AdSense ad on your page and makes a purchase, you receive a commission on the sale. All you have to do is allow the AdSense program on your pages and Google does the rest. It is an ingenious system to make money with your publication and is one that has revolutionized advertising on the Internet.
I am going to include a set of Adsense ads at the end of this page paragraph so you can see what they are. I know that you have seen them on many Web pages, but you may not have known what they were. They are a good way to make money with your publication.
It is very easy to join Adsense. If you are interested in learning more or if you want to join the Adsense program, click the link below. Come back after you have looked around so we can continue your Internet education.
Make Recommendations
You can make recommendations to your readers to buy items from which you make a commission or referral fee. On the Internet, this is called an affiliate relationship.
We will cover affiliates in another section since it is a very complex subject and needs more space than we can give it here where we are concentrating on publishing. Just remember that affiliates are one of the best ways to make money with your publication.
Selling Advertising
It will probably not happen on your first issue, but as you build your circulation, people and businesses will pay you to place their ads in your publication.
Move Traffic to Your Other Web Sites
Some people use their publications to drive traffic to their other websites. You will notice on the Boomer eZine that we publish, our associated websites are links at the bottom of the page. This attracts people to click on them and check them out. We also make reference to the other sites occasionally when we have something of interest on them.
If you have items for sale on the other sites, this is indirectly selling using your publication.
Now that we have a basic idea of how you make money with your publication, let’s look at various publications and how to publish them.
Adsense Advertising
Adsense is a great way to make money with your publication. Since AdSense is such an important part of Internet advertising, it is important that you know some basic information about it.
I was looking for a good definition of Adsense and the best that I found is from Wikipedia.
AdSense is an advertising program run by Google. Website owners can enroll in this program to enable text and image advertisements on their sites. These ads are administered by Google and generate revenue on a per-click basis. Google utilizes its search technology to serve ads based on website content, the user's geographical location, and other factors.
The way AdSense works is you sign up as an affiliate of the Adsense program. Adsense provides you with a snippet of HTML code that you insert in your web page where you want the Adsense ads to appear. Google reads the content of the page where the code is placed and it automatically places ads on the page that match the page’s theme or content.
When a reader clicks on an AdSense ad on your page and makes a purchase, you receive a commission on the sale. All you have to do is allow the AdSense program on your pages and Google does the rest. It is an ingenious system to make money with your publication and is one that has revolutionized advertising on the Internet.
I am going to include a set of Adsense ads at the end of this page paragraph so you can see what they are. I know that you have seen them on many Web pages, but you may not have known what they were. They are a good way to make money with your publication.
It is very easy to join Adsense. If you are interested in learning more or if you want to join the Adsense program, click the link below. Come back after you have looked around so we can continue your Internet education.
Make Recommendations
You can make recommendations to your readers to buy items from which you make a commission or referral fee. On the Internet, this is called an affiliate relationship.
We will cover affiliates in another section since it is a very complex subject and needs more space than we can give it here where we are concentrating on publishing. Just remember that affiliates are one of the best ways to make money with your publication.
Selling Advertising
It will probably not happen on your first issue, but as you build your circulation, people and businesses will pay you to place their ads in your publication.
Move Traffic to Your Other Web Sites
Some people use their publications to drive traffic to their other websites. You will notice on the Boomer eZine that we publish, our associated websites are links at the bottom of the page. This attracts people to click on them and check them out. We also make reference to the other sites occasionally when we have something of interest on them.
If you have items for sale on the other sites, this is indirectly selling using your publication.
Now that we have a basic idea of how you make money with your publication, let’s look at various publications and how to publish them.
Life Cover
The HealthCare International Life Insurance Policy is an annually renewable policy which is designed to provide continuous coverage for a person until normal retirement.
The policy provides for a lump sum settlement to dependents or a nominated beneficiary of the life assured (or policy owner) in the event of your death. It also provides for a settlement to you in the event that you were to suffer a permanent or total disability. The policy provides worldwide coverage, and is designed to cover a wide variety of occupations, locations and circumstances. Coverage can be for any amount between US$50,000 up to US$15 million, depending on your individual requirements. This plan is also underwriten in British Sterling and Euro.
Income Protection
Our Income Protection Insurance Policy is designed to cover your ongoing financial obligations in the event that you were to suffer an illness or injury, which is serious enough that it necessitates you being away from your work for an extended period of time.
Our policy provides for a payment of up to 75% of your annual income once you have been away from work for a period of longer of 3 months, and this benefit will continue to be paid until you recover, return to work or until the selected retirement age if the illness or injury is permanent and serious enough that you cannot return to work at all. In addition, should you be able to return to work, but are unable to work in your previous field of employ due to the injury or illness, and as a result are earning a lesser salary, our policy can pay the difference between your current income and your previous income.
The HealthCare International Life Insurance Policy is an annually renewable policy which is designed to provide continuous coverage for a person until normal retirement.
The policy provides for a lump sum settlement to dependents or a nominated beneficiary of the life assured (or policy owner) in the event of your death. It also provides for a settlement to you in the event that you were to suffer a permanent or total disability. The policy provides worldwide coverage, and is designed to cover a wide variety of occupations, locations and circumstances. Coverage can be for any amount between US$50,000 up to US$15 million, depending on your individual requirements. This plan is also underwriten in British Sterling and Euro.
Income Protection
Our Income Protection Insurance Policy is designed to cover your ongoing financial obligations in the event that you were to suffer an illness or injury, which is serious enough that it necessitates you being away from your work for an extended period of time.
Our policy provides for a payment of up to 75% of your annual income once you have been away from work for a period of longer of 3 months, and this benefit will continue to be paid until you recover, return to work or until the selected retirement age if the illness or injury is permanent and serious enough that you cannot return to work at all. In addition, should you be able to return to work, but are unable to work in your previous field of employ due to the injury or illness, and as a result are earning a lesser salary, our policy can pay the difference between your current income and your previous income.
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Belford University Contact Us | My Area
Belford University Students
New Visitors Start Here Belford University
Belford University Home Belford University Degree Programs Belford University Majors Belford University Fee Structure Belford University Why Belford? Belford University Q&As Belford University Order Now
healthcare internasional
private health, worldwide cover, health insurance abroad, expatriate insurance, international health insurance, annual travel insurance, expat health
International Health Insurance
An unbeatable package, comprehensive and affordable,
designed for expatriates and travellers
private health, worldwide cover, health insurance abroad, expatriate insurance, international health insurance, annual travel insurance, expat health
ENTER
HealthCare International capitalising on more than 35 years experience in the Global International Health and Private Medical Insurance area.
Throughout the world, the demand for first class International Health Insurance has never been greater. As social health insurance services that could once be relied upon are no longer able to keep pace with the ever increasing cost of medical treatment, so the need to make alternative arrangements has become of crucial importance, particularly to the expatriate.
For those expats living and working abroad, accessing the right kind of health insurance cover can turn out to be a nightmare, with the cost of medical treatment often expensive and difficult to arrange particularly in an emergency.
Healthcare International is a specialist provider of global private health and related personal insurances, designed to provide not just the basic health cover, but also a wide range of benefits providing peace of mind for you, your family or your personnel.
comprehensive and affordable expat insurance cover
Bringing together quite possibly, the most comprehensive range of expatriate health insurance plans currently available.
Whether you are looking for an all-inclusive policy or simply one that provides just the basics, then the chances are that we have a plan that's right for you. Our family of tailor made, affordable international healthcare insurance plans have been created to cover most eventualities. And remember, membership is open to virtually everyone, provided you join before your 75th birthday.
We provide an unbeatable package, comprehensive and affordable
Looking after you 24 hours-a-day, 365 days-a-year
Emergencies and Accidents do happen, particularly when you or your family are travelling abroad on business or pleasure.
So in the unlikely event that you need assistance anywhere in the world, either a medical emergency or perhaps a loss through a missed flight or even a lost passport. We are here to help.
One single call to our emergency help line, is all it takes, and we do the rest.
annual travel plan
International Health Insurance
An unbeatable package, comprehensive and affordable,
designed for expatriates and travellers
private health, worldwide cover, health insurance abroad, expatriate insurance, international health insurance, annual travel insurance, expat health
ENTER
HealthCare International capitalising on more than 35 years experience in the Global International Health and Private Medical Insurance area.
Throughout the world, the demand for first class International Health Insurance has never been greater. As social health insurance services that could once be relied upon are no longer able to keep pace with the ever increasing cost of medical treatment, so the need to make alternative arrangements has become of crucial importance, particularly to the expatriate.
For those expats living and working abroad, accessing the right kind of health insurance cover can turn out to be a nightmare, with the cost of medical treatment often expensive and difficult to arrange particularly in an emergency.
Healthcare International is a specialist provider of global private health and related personal insurances, designed to provide not just the basic health cover, but also a wide range of benefits providing peace of mind for you, your family or your personnel.
comprehensive and affordable expat insurance cover
Bringing together quite possibly, the most comprehensive range of expatriate health insurance plans currently available.
Whether you are looking for an all-inclusive policy or simply one that provides just the basics, then the chances are that we have a plan that's right for you. Our family of tailor made, affordable international healthcare insurance plans have been created to cover most eventualities. And remember, membership is open to virtually everyone, provided you join before your 75th birthday.
We provide an unbeatable package, comprehensive and affordable
Looking after you 24 hours-a-day, 365 days-a-year
Emergencies and Accidents do happen, particularly when you or your family are travelling abroad on business or pleasure.
So in the unlikely event that you need assistance anywhere in the world, either a medical emergency or perhaps a loss through a missed flight or even a lost passport. We are here to help.
One single call to our emergency help line, is all it takes, and we do the rest.
annual travel plan
diet
The Best (and Worst!)
New Diet Books
by Maureen Callahan
Here, the truth about these 5 popular new weight-loss guides.
Ready to start your New Year diet? Don't get caught up in the hype. Health looked at this year's hottest new diet books and compiled this tip sheet for you. Can't find your diet? go to our Diet Guide to compare more than 40 other diets.
The Enlightened Diet
by Deborah Kesten and Larry Scherwitz, PhD (Ten Speed Press; $16)
In a nutshell: The fix for food woes, according to the authors, is spiritual well-being. They say having balanced emotions and sharing meals in positive social settings are just as important as the food you eat.
Try this if you’re ready to make major, introspective life changes. The bottom line: This easy-to-read little book is full of worksheets to help you understand your relationship with food, and self-reflective exercises to improve it.
The SuperFoods Rx Diet
by Wendy Bazilian, RD, Kathy Matthews, and Steven Pratt, MD (Rodale; $26)
In a nutshell: The authors expand their list of 14 foods in 2003’s Super-Foods Rx to include new picks and spices like cinnamon and turmeric. Plus, menus, shopping lists, and recipes help you drop pounds.
Try this if you need a plan to change how you eat. This book gives you smart ways to add fruits and veggies to your meals.
The bottom line: Eating nutrient-dense fruits and vegetables to lose weight is a slam-dunk strategy.
Weight Watchers Start Living, Start Losing
by Weight Watchers (John Wiley & Sons Inc.; $23)
In a nutshell: More than 60 successful dieters tell personal stories about how they managed to take weight off—and keep it off, too.
Try this if you need diet motivation. One of these first-hand accounts will give you a second wind. Sorry, no formal diet-and-exercise plan.
The bottom line: The tips from fellow dieters could provide the spark you need.
The 30-Minute Celebrity Makeover Miracle
by Steve Zim (John Wiley & Sons Inc.; $25)
In a nutshell: Hollywood-star trainer Steve Zim helps you get an A-list body through the combination of cardio and strength training into a one 30-minute work-out three times a week. If you add his eating plan with six meals a day, then you will be lean and toned in 10 weeks, he says.
Try this if you don’t mind planning six meals a day. Oh, and be sure you’re ready to devote yourself to an aggressive exercise program.
The bottom line: As a personal trainer, Zim excels at fitness but gives short shrift to eating.
The GenoType Diet
by Peter J. D’Adamo with Catherine Whitney (Broadway Books; $25)
In a nutshell: Eleven years after publishing Eat Right for Your Type, naturopathic physician Peter J. D’Adamo puts out a new book that calls for using diet and exercise to manipulate genes that influence weight. You measure parts of your body and complete written tests to determine where you fit among six different GenoTypes with unique eating and exercise strategies.
Try this if you’re curious. We defintely can’t call this a plan for success. The book’s strategy is based on anecdotal reports and one physician’s loose interpretation of the complex genetic-science field.
The bottom line: While most of these dieting strategies won’t harm you, there’s no proof they’ll help you lose weight, either.
Honorable Mention
Confessions of a Carb Queen
by Susan Blech (Rodale; $16)
This memoir gets an honorable mention. Susan Blech, 42, talks candidly about fat sex, unfeeling doctors, and how she used food to numb painful emotions. She shares her successes, too, chronicling the sometimes funny points of her journey to shed more than half her size—250 pounds—without surgery. A must-read for anyone who lets her emotions influence her eating.
New Diet Books
by Maureen Callahan
Here, the truth about these 5 popular new weight-loss guides.
Ready to start your New Year diet? Don't get caught up in the hype. Health looked at this year's hottest new diet books and compiled this tip sheet for you. Can't find your diet? go to our Diet Guide to compare more than 40 other diets.
The Enlightened Diet
by Deborah Kesten and Larry Scherwitz, PhD (Ten Speed Press; $16)
In a nutshell: The fix for food woes, according to the authors, is spiritual well-being. They say having balanced emotions and sharing meals in positive social settings are just as important as the food you eat.
Try this if you’re ready to make major, introspective life changes. The bottom line: This easy-to-read little book is full of worksheets to help you understand your relationship with food, and self-reflective exercises to improve it.
The SuperFoods Rx Diet
by Wendy Bazilian, RD, Kathy Matthews, and Steven Pratt, MD (Rodale; $26)
In a nutshell: The authors expand their list of 14 foods in 2003’s Super-Foods Rx to include new picks and spices like cinnamon and turmeric. Plus, menus, shopping lists, and recipes help you drop pounds.
Try this if you need a plan to change how you eat. This book gives you smart ways to add fruits and veggies to your meals.
The bottom line: Eating nutrient-dense fruits and vegetables to lose weight is a slam-dunk strategy.
Weight Watchers Start Living, Start Losing
by Weight Watchers (John Wiley & Sons Inc.; $23)
In a nutshell: More than 60 successful dieters tell personal stories about how they managed to take weight off—and keep it off, too.
Try this if you need diet motivation. One of these first-hand accounts will give you a second wind. Sorry, no formal diet-and-exercise plan.
The bottom line: The tips from fellow dieters could provide the spark you need.
The 30-Minute Celebrity Makeover Miracle
by Steve Zim (John Wiley & Sons Inc.; $25)
In a nutshell: Hollywood-star trainer Steve Zim helps you get an A-list body through the combination of cardio and strength training into a one 30-minute work-out three times a week. If you add his eating plan with six meals a day, then you will be lean and toned in 10 weeks, he says.
Try this if you don’t mind planning six meals a day. Oh, and be sure you’re ready to devote yourself to an aggressive exercise program.
The bottom line: As a personal trainer, Zim excels at fitness but gives short shrift to eating.
The GenoType Diet
by Peter J. D’Adamo with Catherine Whitney (Broadway Books; $25)
In a nutshell: Eleven years after publishing Eat Right for Your Type, naturopathic physician Peter J. D’Adamo puts out a new book that calls for using diet and exercise to manipulate genes that influence weight. You measure parts of your body and complete written tests to determine where you fit among six different GenoTypes with unique eating and exercise strategies.
Try this if you’re curious. We defintely can’t call this a plan for success. The book’s strategy is based on anecdotal reports and one physician’s loose interpretation of the complex genetic-science field.
The bottom line: While most of these dieting strategies won’t harm you, there’s no proof they’ll help you lose weight, either.
Honorable Mention
Confessions of a Carb Queen
by Susan Blech (Rodale; $16)
This memoir gets an honorable mention. Susan Blech, 42, talks candidly about fat sex, unfeeling doctors, and how she used food to numb painful emotions. She shares her successes, too, chronicling the sometimes funny points of her journey to shed more than half her size—250 pounds—without surgery. A must-read for anyone who lets her emotions influence her eating.
Pacific Healthcare Specialist Centre
Pacific Healthcare Specialist Centre
A one-stop integrated specialist centre that provides you with a diverse range of specialist care. At the Pacific Healthcare Specialist Centre, you will be greeted by our friendly and dedicated patient relations officers who will be on hand to direct you to the respective specialist.
While waiting for your consultation, you can enjoy the centre’s wireless internet access or simply just sit back and relax at our lounge with your favourite beverage.
Our Specialists seek to provide utmost care and attention to all patients. With state-of-the-art equipment and modern medical facilities, the medical centre prides on delivering medical excellence and quality patient care.
Pacific Healthcare Specialist Centre’ Services include:
Age Management
Hormone deficiency can lead to increasing weight, lethargy and even diseases like diabetes, heart disease and cancers. Looking at certain markers of ageing as well as hormone levels will allow our doctors to identify problem areas as well as assess your risk factors for diseases. You can then start to take control of your health in a more targeted fashion with the help of our specialists.
Dermatology
You deserve to look good and feel good. With an extensive range of aesthetics and dermatology services available, you can kiss goodbye to bad skin. Our specialities include non-invasive facial rejuvenation treatments such as lasers, fillers, as well as mesotherapy for body contouring. For dermatology services, you can seek treatment for pigmentation and acne, and rejuvenation of sensitive skin types.
General, Cosmetic & Implant Dentistry
Do you seek to create a more aesthetically pleasing smile? We provide cosmetic dentistry services like dental implants, braces, porcelain veneers, crowns, bonding, bridges and oral maxillofacial surgery. With our comprehensive services, you can now be proud of your pearly whites.
Hand, Wrist & Microsurgery
Our experienced hand & wrist surgeon specialises in microsurgical techniques to provide optimal care for your hand and wrist. Common hand conditions include sports injuries, joint replacements, arthritis and tumours of the hand and wrist. Our centre also offers services for reconstruction of upper and lower limbs and treatment for severe injuries.
Health screening
We provide a range of comprehensive health screening packages for both private and corporate patients. Our specialised health assessments are customised for the early detection and prevention of disease and medical conditions. Take charge of your health and make an appointment with us today!
Obstetrics & Gynaecology
Catering to the various needs of women, our centre provides a broad span of general obstetrics & gynaecology services. You can expect personalised services for your pre-pregnancy, delivery, post-natal care and routine check ups. Ladies contemplating motherhood can consult our fertility specialists to undergo fertility screening and treatment, as well as pre-pregnancy screening.
Paediatrics
A spaceship-themed paediatric centre, iKids Paediatric Practice provide services for the little ones including baby screening, child immunisation, early detection and treatment, and provision of specialised care for emergency cases. Your children will be able to explore their space fantasies and watch their favourite cartoons while waiting for their consultation.
Plastic Surgery & Aesthetics
Using the latest techniques and technology, our specialists will help you achieve the appearance you desire using surgical and non-invasive methods. You can seek an aesthetically satisfying new look with procedures like Vaser Liposelection, Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) Therapy and Aurora Polaris Therapy.
For more information, please contact:
Pacific Healthcare Specialist Centre
290 Orchard Road #19-01 Paragon Singapore 238859
Tel: (65) 6883 6966 Fax: (65) 6883 6964
customerservice@pachealthholdings.com
A one-stop integrated specialist centre that provides you with a diverse range of specialist care. At the Pacific Healthcare Specialist Centre, you will be greeted by our friendly and dedicated patient relations officers who will be on hand to direct you to the respective specialist.
While waiting for your consultation, you can enjoy the centre’s wireless internet access or simply just sit back and relax at our lounge with your favourite beverage.
Our Specialists seek to provide utmost care and attention to all patients. With state-of-the-art equipment and modern medical facilities, the medical centre prides on delivering medical excellence and quality patient care.
Pacific Healthcare Specialist Centre’ Services include:
Age Management
Hormone deficiency can lead to increasing weight, lethargy and even diseases like diabetes, heart disease and cancers. Looking at certain markers of ageing as well as hormone levels will allow our doctors to identify problem areas as well as assess your risk factors for diseases. You can then start to take control of your health in a more targeted fashion with the help of our specialists.
Dermatology
You deserve to look good and feel good. With an extensive range of aesthetics and dermatology services available, you can kiss goodbye to bad skin. Our specialities include non-invasive facial rejuvenation treatments such as lasers, fillers, as well as mesotherapy for body contouring. For dermatology services, you can seek treatment for pigmentation and acne, and rejuvenation of sensitive skin types.
General, Cosmetic & Implant Dentistry
Do you seek to create a more aesthetically pleasing smile? We provide cosmetic dentistry services like dental implants, braces, porcelain veneers, crowns, bonding, bridges and oral maxillofacial surgery. With our comprehensive services, you can now be proud of your pearly whites.
Hand, Wrist & Microsurgery
Our experienced hand & wrist surgeon specialises in microsurgical techniques to provide optimal care for your hand and wrist. Common hand conditions include sports injuries, joint replacements, arthritis and tumours of the hand and wrist. Our centre also offers services for reconstruction of upper and lower limbs and treatment for severe injuries.
Health screening
We provide a range of comprehensive health screening packages for both private and corporate patients. Our specialised health assessments are customised for the early detection and prevention of disease and medical conditions. Take charge of your health and make an appointment with us today!
Obstetrics & Gynaecology
Catering to the various needs of women, our centre provides a broad span of general obstetrics & gynaecology services. You can expect personalised services for your pre-pregnancy, delivery, post-natal care and routine check ups. Ladies contemplating motherhood can consult our fertility specialists to undergo fertility screening and treatment, as well as pre-pregnancy screening.
Paediatrics
A spaceship-themed paediatric centre, iKids Paediatric Practice provide services for the little ones including baby screening, child immunisation, early detection and treatment, and provision of specialised care for emergency cases. Your children will be able to explore their space fantasies and watch their favourite cartoons while waiting for their consultation.
Plastic Surgery & Aesthetics
Using the latest techniques and technology, our specialists will help you achieve the appearance you desire using surgical and non-invasive methods. You can seek an aesthetically satisfying new look with procedures like Vaser Liposelection, Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) Therapy and Aurora Polaris Therapy.
For more information, please contact:
Pacific Healthcare Specialist Centre
290 Orchard Road #19-01 Paragon Singapore 238859
Tel: (65) 6883 6966 Fax: (65) 6883 6964
customerservice@pachealthholdings.com
online vet consultation
Consider the many ways pets contribute to our enjoyment of life:
Pets provide companionship
There are few things more satisfying than the attention and affection of a good friend. Wagging tails, contented purrs and adoring looks are all ways companion animals communicate with humans and demonstrate their devotion. Many people talk to their pets and consider them to be part of the family. A pet always wants to be with you and is always ready to listen with a sympathetic ear.
Pets give us something to care for
When you add up the small daily acts of caring for a pet— feeding, grooming, exercising— the sum total is a pet owner with a feeling of being needed. Having that sense of purpose and responsibility can help fight loneliness, boredom and depression, especially in the elderly or socially isolated.
Pets help people to be more sociable
People out walking their dogs have a greater tendency to socialize with passersby—their pet gives them a sense of security around strangers and provides a ready-made topic for conversation. Even among family and friends, pets provide a focus of conversation and activity.
Pets are a stimulus to exercise
Pets promote vitality through active exercise—like brisk walking and outdoor games—or quiet therapy for disabled hands, such as brushing a long coat. Pets comfort with touch. The gentle stroking of a pet can reduce stress and lower blood pressure and, when combined with quiet talk, create a feeling of relaxation, intimacy and closeness.
Services
No one is denying the positive impact of a pet presence in one’s life. Researchers say, for example, that people who have a pet live longer and happier lives, and programs that bring animals to nursing homes have been shown to have a positive effect on the residents of those facilities. Dogs and other animals have also been used effectively as part of the treatment for people with autism.
Pets today are considered family members, best friends, confidants, and so much more. Taking care of them requires dedication, love, and nurturing. Our service was designed to allow pet owners to pose specific questions regarding their pets and receive a detailed, and case oriented consultation from the online veterinarian.
Our veterinarians are experienced in traditional and alternative pet medicine and can help examine and treat wide range of veterinary conditions.
This service is not intended to replace a traditional appointment with a veterinarian and a complete physical exam, it is not an emergency consultation facility and does not provide advice or consultation regarding immediate emergency attention. If your pet has been in an accident, or is in immediate medical need, you need to contact your regular veterinarian or local animal hospital immediately. This service is only designed to be informative and supplemental.
Pets provide companionship
There are few things more satisfying than the attention and affection of a good friend. Wagging tails, contented purrs and adoring looks are all ways companion animals communicate with humans and demonstrate their devotion. Many people talk to their pets and consider them to be part of the family. A pet always wants to be with you and is always ready to listen with a sympathetic ear.
Pets give us something to care for
When you add up the small daily acts of caring for a pet— feeding, grooming, exercising— the sum total is a pet owner with a feeling of being needed. Having that sense of purpose and responsibility can help fight loneliness, boredom and depression, especially in the elderly or socially isolated.
Pets help people to be more sociable
People out walking their dogs have a greater tendency to socialize with passersby—their pet gives them a sense of security around strangers and provides a ready-made topic for conversation. Even among family and friends, pets provide a focus of conversation and activity.
Pets are a stimulus to exercise
Pets promote vitality through active exercise—like brisk walking and outdoor games—or quiet therapy for disabled hands, such as brushing a long coat. Pets comfort with touch. The gentle stroking of a pet can reduce stress and lower blood pressure and, when combined with quiet talk, create a feeling of relaxation, intimacy and closeness.
Services
No one is denying the positive impact of a pet presence in one’s life. Researchers say, for example, that people who have a pet live longer and happier lives, and programs that bring animals to nursing homes have been shown to have a positive effect on the residents of those facilities. Dogs and other animals have also been used effectively as part of the treatment for people with autism.
Pets today are considered family members, best friends, confidants, and so much more. Taking care of them requires dedication, love, and nurturing. Our service was designed to allow pet owners to pose specific questions regarding their pets and receive a detailed, and case oriented consultation from the online veterinarian.
Our veterinarians are experienced in traditional and alternative pet medicine and can help examine and treat wide range of veterinary conditions.
This service is not intended to replace a traditional appointment with a veterinarian and a complete physical exam, it is not an emergency consultation facility and does not provide advice or consultation regarding immediate emergency attention. If your pet has been in an accident, or is in immediate medical need, you need to contact your regular veterinarian or local animal hospital immediately. This service is only designed to be informative and supplemental.
six figure adsense publisher
ProBlogger - Make Money Online ProBlogger Blog Tips
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Written on May 19th, 2006 at 01:05 am by Darren Rowse
Six Figure AdSense Publisher Shares How He Did It
Adsense 60 comments
AdsenseEarlier in the week I was visiting a discussion forum (I don’t remember which one) and came across a product that I wish I’d stumbled across in my first months of blogging (and not now 3 years later). It’s called AdSense Videos (aff) and it’s produced and presented by a British AdSense publisher by the name of Michael Cheney.
Michael earns over $19,000 USD per month using AdSense (that’s more than $600 a day) and has obviously spent a lot of time researching how to get the most out of the ad network.
In this product he’s produced a series of 9 videos that take you from the basics through to more advanced tips.
As I wrote earlier today in my email newsletter - I like Michael’s videos not only because he knows what he’s talking about but because he presents in a non hyped up way. He also has a great balance between showing the potential that someone using AdSense can earn with it but also making it clear that it’s not ‘easy’ money (ie it takes hard work). He’s obviously put some hard work into it himself (as he has these videos) and over time he’s managed to build his earnings up from just a little a day (the way we all start) into well over six figures per year.
While I’ve managed to build my own AdSense earnings up to levels that I never would have imagined I can’t begin to imagine how much quicker I’d have gotten there if someone had put these videos in front of me three years ago.
So Who is it for?
I’m not going to recommend this for all AdSense publishers. If you’ve been in the game for a while you probably won’t learn heaps from these videos. While I always enjoy hearing different publishers talk about AdSense (especially those who make good money) I didn’t learn a lot that was new. However if you’re at the start of your AdSense journey you might want to seriously consider the investment. It will also be good for intermediate AdSense users wanting a brush up or wanting to see how others do it.
The beauty of a resource like this is you get to see and hear someone explain their approach all in one place. Those critiquing resources like this will always say that you can get most of it for free online in forums and blogs - this is true - but here you get it all in one spot.
So if you’re newer to the AdSense game or you’ve been at it for a while and want to hear and see someone who’s using AdSense successfully head over to AdSense Videos and get yourself hooked up either with the full product or his free taste and see 5 day video course (which will give you a taster to help you see if it’s the product for you.
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60 Responses to “Six Figure AdSense Publisher Shares How He Did It”
*
Yuga
May 19th, 2006 1:41 am
Hi Darren,
A friend asked me if this is a good purchase but I could not asnwer him. However, is it safe to say that if I’ve been reading very post here at ProBlogger.net in the last 12 months, there’s nothing much in that video that discusses something new?
In your observation how much percentage in the video you did not know about optimizing Adsense? Would 10-20% perhaps be a fair assumption?
*
Brian Clark
May 19th, 2006 1:52 am
Nice job Darren (and you know exactly how I mean it). :)
*
Andy Merrett
May 19th, 2006 2:04 am
Sorry I’m a cynic.
Oh look, a large-font ad-heavy, pop-up laden splash page, with garish colours.
Oh look. $97. Plus all these free bonuses.
Oh well, I guess if his AdSense business ever goes down, he’ll have made plenty from everyone buying his course.
*
Andy Merrett
May 19th, 2006 2:05 am
…plus I expect anyone earning that much money to be able to put their courses on DVD ;)
*
Brian Clark
May 19th, 2006 3:30 am
Just to be clear, I have nothing to do with this product, and I’m no fan of AdSense.
Andy, it’s backed by a NO RISK, 100% Money Back Guarantee in addition to the things you point out.
Since you have not hesitated to cast a disparaging opinion about a product based solely upon your prejudices against its marketing, why not get it, and if it doesn’t deliver, you can simply get a refund?
Then you can blog about your experience one way or the other, and educate the rest of us. Contrary to current popular belief, most people cannot learn everything there is to know about business models by reading blogs or other free resources. It just doesn’t work that way.
In “real” businesses, both entrepreneurs and established business people happily spend thousands of dollars annually to get an edge on the competition. The question you have to ask yourself is, am I willing to invest in success, or will I be cynical and flounder around, smug in my knowledge that at least I didn’t risk $97?
Oh wait, it’s not really a risk, because you can get your money back AND keep the product!
I’m not saying you shouldn’t be skeptical. I sure as hell am, about everything. But I don’t let it get in the way of looking into things, because even one small good idea from a product can make me huge multiples off the initial investment.
Raw cynicism is useful to no one, including yourself. And if you’re not willing to invest money into your business, you don’t really have a business.
OK, rant over. :)
*
gasmonso
May 19th, 2006 3:30 am
I’ll sum up adsense success in a few sentences…
1. Generate lots of new and interesting material for your readers.
2. Update on daily basis to keep people coming back.
3. Place ads on site as to not annoy readers.
4. Repeat for several sites.
That’s about it in a nutshell. You can send me whatever dollar amount you see fit :)
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Brian Clark
May 19th, 2006 3:40 am
Yeah, that’s it in a nutshell. Except I bet there’s a bit of necessary detail missing, or else everyone would be an AdSense millionaire and no one would be reading this blog.
Again, I personally could care less about this product. But it’s rare that I meet someone who is really successful who thinks they know it all already. In fact, the most successful people pay very large amounts for information and tools that can help them succeed even more.
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clester
May 19th, 2006 3:41 am
Hello Darren and readers of this post,
I bought the AdSense videos and did a revamp on my blog.
Here’s the old one (on TypePad):
http://lesters.blogs.com/a_free_life/
Here’s the new one (on WordPress) after learning from Adsense videos:
http://www.afreelife.info
I think there’s a big difference.
And, as to the Adsense income, I have to see yet as my blog has 0-5 unique daily visitors yet. I’ll see if the video instructions work when my blog traffic increases.
Will keep you posted if time permits…
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Rick
May 19th, 2006 4:04 am
Andy - You could have expressed your opinion differently and not portrayed yourself as such an ass.
Brian - Well put!
clester - Your site looks great.
Darren - Thanks for the recommendation, I am gonna check it out.
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James
May 19th, 2006 4:21 am
I bought that program a little over a week ago and thought it was well worth it. There was one tip in particular that tripled my clicks. Also, he his enthusiasm helps motivate you…
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A.H
May 19th, 2006 4:36 am
Is that a leaked video Darren? : http://www.websitemarketingbible.com/adsensevideo/
A.H
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deleted for spamming
May 19th, 2006 5:12 am
deleted for spamming
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Blackbeard
May 19th, 2006 6:40 am
Wow cool! I don’t know if this means you read the blog post I sent you or not, but you are definately working up the advertising food chain by posting this Darren. At least my post helped someone.
For those of you who aren’t clued in to ClickBank, the affiliate referrals can be pretty awesome, especially on a product like this. Sure, Amazon might pay 4-8% to sell a camera, but 50% ClickBank payouts sure make a lot more money than $0.10 AdSense clicks or 4% Amazon comissions. I’d take 100 clicks to make $40 over 100 clicks to make $5 any day. Wouldn’t you?
Sure, this guy is making $19,000/month on AdSense, but he’s also making a killing by having this video series. With his ClickBank gravity so high, I wouldn’t be surprised if he is making more on selling these videos than he is by doing AdSense. Being an “expert” at AdSense - that’s where the real money is.
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Andy Merrett
May 19th, 2006 7:53 am
Thanks Rick - nice to know you judge as well as I do. Brian, for someone who could(’nt) care less about the program, you seem to talk a lot about it.
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Brian Clark
May 19th, 2006 8:06 am
Andy, you’ll notice I’m not actually talking about the product, I’m talking about an attitude amongst some people who think they are going to become wealthy on the Internet but are dismissive of properly investing in that goal.
It’s a pet peeve of mine, so please don’t take it personally. :)
And thanks for pointing out my slight typo… lord knows I aim for quality control when dashing off comments on other people’s blogs.
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Darren Rowse
May 19th, 2006 8:37 am
Ok - I knew some people wouldn’t like this product or would be cynical about it. That’s why I don’t recommend products like this very often.
All I’ll say again is that if you feel you need to learn about AdSense then this is as good as any other resource out there. It’s visual, it’s auido, it’s enthusiastic, it’s not overly hyped, it’s all in one spot. It also has a money back guarantee which I’m sure will be honored if you’re not satisfied.
I didn’t learn much from it (I think I’d heard virtually everything in it before) but I’m already making hundreds a day from AdSense. I’d probably have even added a coule of strategies - but if you’ve got $97 and you’re starting out in AdSense you’ll find this very useful despite the big long sales page :-)
When it all comes down to it though - it’s a take it or leave it thing. No one is forcing anything on anyone so feel free to ignore this post if you’re not interested and everyone will be happy :-)
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Rebort
May 19th, 2006 8:41 am
I’m one who is too cynical a shopper to believe in instant rebates and “no risk 100% money back guarantees.”
That said, this guy’s presentation is too much late-night-informercial for me to take him seriously. If Darren hadn’t posted with a (slight) recommend, then I’d dismiss him entirely. As it stands, I don’t know what to make of it.
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The banker
May 19th, 2006 8:48 am
Rick wrote..Andy, you’ll notice I’m not actually talking about the product, I’m talking about an attitude amongst some people who think they are going to become wealthy on the Internet but are dismissive of properly investing in that goal..
I think the keyword here is properly investing in that goal
Investing $97 in a product that you know nothing else about than that it comes with a $97 money back gurantee is probably not a good investment. Personally I prefer to order books because you can always check out the user reviews at amazon. The reviews are a better source of information than the marketing hype that you usually see from clickbank.
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Martin
May 19th, 2006 10:08 am
This is an interesting discussion going on here. Regardless of the topic, it’s a great insight into what people think of such infomation products in general.
At the end of the day, it’s a niche product for a niche audience. It’s not for everyone.
Brian is absolutely correct. In business, you pay for information that’s concise and delivers on its promise, even though you could spend the time researching and finding it for yourself. Many people simply do not have the time to struggle through all the clutter on the web to get what they want and are willing to pay for it if it can save them time.
Most information publishers (hopefully) want to be selling a range of info products for years to come, so If it’s rubbish they’ll soon be caught out.
What I’m interested about is how such products are being marketed. I sense a strong sense of cynicism of such tactics: long sales pages, infomerical like, the little tricks to sway you etc., I’m wondering if there needs to be a different approach to selling such products in a world of growing marketing cycniscim.
Hey … I should be writing this as a post on my own blog :-)
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eSearing
May 19th, 2006 10:26 am
What Darren has done here is apply a link to an affiliate program embeded in an article that works within his niche. If you buy the program Darren gets a commission. (A nice way to thank him for his great articles.)
This is what we all should be learning. Why get $1 per click when you can get $50 commission. The ad revenues will follow.
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Brian Clark
May 19th, 2006 10:39 am
Martin, excellent perspective.
The fact is, I shouldn’t have been so hard on Andy (although I wasn’t really addressing him personally). People DO hate those cheesy looking sales letters, and even though I’m a copywriter and direct marketer, I don’t even use them myself for the majority of my projects.
But… I’ve bought plenty of excellent info products that had cheesy sales letters, perhaps only becasue I’m in the biz and I can filter through it. Plus, I’ve been disappointed by many, many products, and I’ve never had a problem getting my money back.
These people are not thieves just because you personally don’t respond to their marketing.
You’ll generally find that direct marketers use cheesy sales letters for two reasons:
1. Outside of the media savvy blogosphere, those sales letter work quite well; and
2. That’s what they’ve been taught to do (and see #1).
In many ways, bloggers are at the leading edge of a new marketing paradigm (which I am actively exploring). But that doesn’t necessarily mean you should simply dismiss those that have come before you and the methods they use, especially when they make hundreds of thousands (or millions) of dollars a year, and you don’t.
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Dennis
May 19th, 2006 11:46 am
I have to agree with Darren. I bought the course because I buy just about everything to do with AdSense and AdWords. I bought it knowing that it was a Clickbank product, and I had 60 days to decide if I wanted a refund, and if it didn’t deliver, I’d ask for a refund.
I thought it was well done. But I don’t think I learned anything new. Like Darren, I wish it would have been the first or second thing I purchased about AdSense because it would have helped tremendously in the beginning.
So am I asking for a refund? Probably not. I actually got some value out of one of the bonuses. Plus the main videos were a good review, and reinforced some theories I had, compelling me to actually act on the knowledge I already had. Rather than just knowing the tricks and thinking “that’s neat”, now I know that they actually work, and I’ll put those changes on priority.
My feeling on a course of this price is that all I have to do is get out of it is an extra dollar a day, and it will only take 90 days to be in profits (the original price was $87, now it’s $97). It all comes down to the traffic you get as to whether this course is going to help you make an extra dollar a day. If you have no traffic now, you won’t go from $0 to $1. If you have good traffic, you’ll easily make that dollar, or five, or ten, every day from the day you take action on the techniques in the course.
And if you already know everything and have a perfectly optimized site, you’ll at least see an example of how to make $250,000 selling Camtasia video courses, which Michael claimed he did in the first couple weeks of availability.
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Martin
May 19th, 2006 12:34 pm
Dennis - spot on about the $1 a day over 90 days. That’s what any business person should be thinking off on any investment they make in their business. It all comes down to ROI. My view is that if you’re questioning such prices deep down you don’t have that expectation that you’ll succeed. you know the old saying: you gotta spend money to make money.
Brian - “actively exploring”, eh! Well you’ve just booked yourself an invitation for an interview for my blog. I’ll be in touch. :-)
And that’s why I say that those kind of sales techniques (cheesy long sales letters) won’t neccessarily work for bloggers … but no way would I dismiss the older methods in finding new ways of marketing such products. Impossible to ignore, because 95% of it is still good, it’s just that we got to think of newer ways of implementing it - in other words, we got to get more savvy because the consumer is more savvier than ever.
I also believe selling through an affiliate channel is just about the ultimate way to go. Take Darren as an example (sorry Darren for using you as a case study on your own blog:-) ). He’s the Pro Blogger Guy. He has the credibility. If he says product x (in his niche) is good, then that endorsement transcends 80% of the sales pitch, imo. But to keep his credibility he better be selective.
One thing I don’t like is those selling and recommending clickbank-type products without ever reading it themselves. If you were a retail outlet would you just place any item on your shelves sight unseen? Of course not. It should be no different if you want to be a successful affiliate.
Now Darren, is there an eBook coming out of you or what? :-)
Ditto for you as well Brian.
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Darren Rowse
May 19th, 2006 1:22 pm
Watch this space Martin. Working furiously on it all but it’s a big job :-)
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Martin
May 19th, 2006 1:56 pm
Good stuff and about time :-)
Take your time to get it exactly right. Any more hints: title? how far off?
I’m guessing you’ll be using the affiliate route as a major sales channel? ProfCartSolutions is the way to go - as you would know from working with Andy Wibbels.
I’d stay away from ClickBank as you’ve already got a strong base of potential affiliates, and right or wrong ClickBank has a poor perception.
All the best and I’ll be watching.
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Kevin
May 19th, 2006 3:03 pm
Personally, I’m having fun playing “Fill in the blanks” on his web page… ;)
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Andy Merrett
May 19th, 2006 5:11 pm
Total aside, Brian (sorry) - I tihnk it’s an Americanism vs a British-ism - here we say ‘I couldn’t care less’ if we are totally dismissive of something, whereas I think in the US it’s “I could care less” (though to me that implies that it is possible to care less). Oh well, language eh?
I apologise to anyone I’ve offended by being a 10+ years jaded Internet user, burned a couple of times, and unfortunately now perhaps too cynical for my own good. You’re right cynicism doesn’t help anyone in the long run. - I’m working on it!
My financial margins are still quite tight at present. I know I haven’t sampled the product and I can’t judge whether it has useful info in it just by looking at the box, but unfortunately it just looks like a cookie-cutter, same-as-a-million-others template system, which doesn’t help its cause, for me at least.
I did invest in a program a few months ago which I believe was badly marketed (it didn’t explain system requirements, etc., until I’d bought it, and so I was unable to use it). I did claim my money back (within one day!) - so I don’t have any doubt about the mechanics of this kind of system.
I’ll try not to infect anyone with my cynicism in future. :) Thanks for letting me be an ass in a reasonably safe environment ;)
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Martin
May 19th, 2006 6:48 pm
Andy, nothing to be sorry about.
It’s just your opinion. Nothing wrong with that. And I’m guessing many more people look at it this way too ie: the generic cookie-cutter sales techniques.
I’m in the industry myself and trust me … I always have to work through the cynic in me.
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Ryan
May 19th, 2006 8:25 pm
Easily the best part about Darren reviewing a product like this in a blog (atmo)sphere is that it allows us all to discuss it. With Amazon affiliates you might get a brilliant review of a product, or a horrible review - but there’s little go-between, no discussion.
Hell, I’m not even in the market for this product directly as I just don’t have the traffic at my site to be serious about AdSense, just interested in learning more and more about Web-based marketing, and I read every single comment on here. So… yeah. I’m with Brian - blogs are the leading edge of information dispersion, and as such, the leading edge of marketing research… good stuff. ;-)
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Rick
May 19th, 2006 11:19 pm
Andy - I did not say you were an ass because I am sure you are not. Your comments made you sound like an ass. I have spent alot of money over the last 3 years on the “hot new programs” only to be dissapointed. Darren has created a blog that we all can trust and if he recommends a product then I think it is worth checking out. No different if you or Brian or Martin were to recommend checking out a product on your blogs, I would check them out because you guys have all “been there, done that.”
Giving your opinion on topics is expected but it should be done in a professional manner especially from successful veteran bloggers.
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Stuart Robertson
May 19th, 2006 11:29 pm
I knew there would be lots of discussion on this article. :-)
Great suggestion Darren.
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Darren Rowse
May 20th, 2006 12:13 am
Don’t worry Andy - I don’t mind some healthy cynicism and I know yours is the good kind. I actually value it because it helps to keep things in check. Thanks for being honest enough to share your views!
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raj
May 20th, 2006 4:24 am
Overall, not impressed with the core videos, but there are some gems hidden in them that have nothing to do with Adsense. Plus there’s the bonus videos which have tons of value. Unfortunately, Michael Cheney released some of them free on his own site in the past.
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Franck Silvestre
May 20th, 2006 8:44 pm
I am still with my $1 / months with adsense…
I will try to sell his video as an afiliate, then if I get some money, I’ll buy them.
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Andy Merrett
May 20th, 2006 9:33 pm
Brian, as per your advice, I have now done a brief review AdSense Videos
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Brian Clark
May 20th, 2006 9:43 pm
Andy, you’re a good man!
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Andy Merrett
May 21st, 2006 7:40 am
Rick: I wish I was a successful veteran blogger. I don’t feel like one yet! (My blog tells me I’m at 26%)
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Enrique
May 21st, 2006 9:21 am
I made the mistake of purchasing these videos. I have to admit it. I was stupid because I knew that they wouldn’t deliver what was promised.
I still don’t believe why everybody is so excited about the incredibly basic information inside these vastly overpriced videos. For example, no strategy for smart pricing, also, no strategy to raise your cpc and, worse, he ,mentions the “images near ads” trick as the best kept secret that google doesn’t want anybody to know! C’mon that’s old news and it doesn’t work as it did before.
Fortunately I was refunded the whole money I paid.
The most money you can make from these videos is by promoting them as an affiliate.
Enrique
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Johanka
May 21st, 2006 11:43 pm
There’s no way I’m going to buy the videos, but I’m currently dying of curiosity as to what the fill-in-the-blank for a “household item” that is supposed to help in the process is. :-) Could anyone enlighten me on this one, please?
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Andy Merrett
May 22nd, 2006 1:26 am
I could do - I’ll sell the answer to you for $50
Or… just head down to your local n - - - a - - - -
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Richer Brat
May 22nd, 2006 12:20 pm
I have to ask how much there is to learn about Adsense? I get a high click through rate, and it was just trial and error - messing about with different colours, different size ads and positioning. I dpn’t think I would want an even higher click through rate than I already have, as that would mean more people leaving my site.
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Jaron
May 25th, 2006 12:20 am
Viewed the video that A.H. posted, and after watching it I did a revamp of my website straight-away. Probably will even buy the video’s because as a newbie to the game I still got lots to learn. And that is inspite of being rated in the 3rd highest income bracket according to Darren’s “Poll Of The Week”.
Good luck to Michael Cheney if he can make a buck. A few bloggers here suffer from “Tall Poppy Syndrome”.
Just my two cents worth.
Cheers Jaron
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Andy Merrett
May 25th, 2006 5:18 pm
Tall Poppy Syndrome? Huh??
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Andy Merrett
May 25th, 2006 5:19 pm
Oh I see - good ol’ Wikipedia.
I wouldn’t say I have TPS - I have no problem with MC making money - I’m just a little tired with some of the cyclical marketing that goes on.
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Amy F.
May 29th, 2006 9:26 am
Wow! I’m so glad I found this site. I don’t have a blog yet but I do have a website that I use Adsense ads on. I just started a couple of weeks ago and have been making 1-2 bucks a day on average (a poxy $2 or whatever Michael Cheney says) so I have been on the fence about getting these videos. I’m still on the fence, but I’ve learned a lot just by checking out everyone elses sites - so thanks everyone! I’ll let you know if I get them!
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pcunix
June 1st, 2006 7:48 am
OK, I bought it.
My site generally makes about $1,000.00 U.S. monthly but lately had been slipping
a bit.
There’s nothing in these videos that you can’t find on-line for free. However, in stark contrast to the garish “in your face” advertising of the videos, the actual content is laid back, extremely well organized and presented.
Again: I can’t say I learned anything I hadn’t already seen elsewhere. However, I did implement some changes based on the concepts presented and saw an immediate increase of $5 - $10.00 per day.
It’s quite possible that’s just from making a change - any change can sometimes
take away ad blindness from regular visitors. However, “regulars” only account for
maybe 10-15% of my traffic, so I doubt that’s it.
For those of you making $1.00 a day or less: it’s probably not worth the money because although you might improve your earnings, it’s unlikely you’ll be rocketed
upward enough to justify the cost. But.. if you just want good advice, well packaged and presented, this is worth it.
If your income has been slipping lately, you might consider this even if you feel you already know it all. As happened with me, it just might remind you of some things you already know you should be doing.
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fallout
June 4th, 2006 10:21 am
I’m still at the first part trying to make that 1$/day mark… and it’s not coming yet… I guess I need to do some serious link exchanging… which I already started but no luck yet :(
It’s sad to see that practicaly nothing is coming in, and thus 0 clicks…
I do know it’s not the best “niche” but I did it to “test” my way into all this adsense stuff, and the competition on my targeted keyword is not so hard to overpower…
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Steve
June 4th, 2006 7:21 pm
Hi Darren
I bought the videos and Im happy I did. I have been in the adsense game for a while and i found them very informative, even though i know a lot of it the new tricks etc were helpful. The guy is switched on and that helps motivate me. Im not in the 100’s per day erena yet, but in just over a year Im heading that way.
It’s a good buy, if you waant a jump start to your Adsense fortune.
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The Reckless Yachtsman
June 10th, 2006 2:51 pm
The secret no that stands above all the rest is this
No traffic - no income
1. Write good content
2. Get traffic
2. Get income from your site/blog - traffic = $$$$$
Any other approach is a waste
The Reckless Yachtsman 2
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NonSense
July 16th, 2006 8:22 pm
Save yourself the cash, and ask yourself why ProBlogger recommends the video. If the ProBlogger link weren’t an affiliate link, then maybe things would be different, but clearly, cash is to be made from recommending the videos, and there are plenty of people who pay up. Good for everyone involved who has something to gain from it.
The whole 100% money back scheme works because most people are too “sensitive” to ask for their money back, even if they are not happy with the product. If you have the guts to ask for your cash back, then you have indeed nothing to lose.
The video content is marginally useful at any AdSense level, most of the content presented it essentially a few years old, and things that worked well in 2003 are not working all that well anymore as everyone and their child is doing them.
No matter what you do, and no matter how many “get rich quick” schemes you invest your cash in, at the end of the day there is only one way to actually get rich, and that is to work hard.
Create content that is worth reading, and you will make a handsome return, no need to buy an Adsense video to tell you that.
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adsensepublishing.com »
August 18th, 2006 3:27 pm
[…] Six Figure AdSense Publisher Shares How He Did It Oh well, I guess if his AdSense business ever goes down, he ll have made plenty from everyone buying his course. Andy Merrett Says: … […]
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Ashwin Foogooa
November 24th, 2006 9:24 am
Hi
Thanks for all the advice. I’ve now created my fifth blog within a week.
I’ve come across one issue though - there are times when Google Adsense pays very well for the adverts it places on my sites. Then, on some days, it pays a lot less - about $0.01 per click! Why?
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Delta
December 12th, 2006 5:27 am
Well I’ve found that his methods work great.
Why do you get different amounts per click? Well, different advertisers pay varying amounts for certain keywords. One of the reasons I’d never base my sole income of AdSense alone.
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Caroline
February 16th, 2007 5:28 am
In your quest for financial independence you MUST learn to force yourself to use the information you have at your disposal. Many people do have the information necessary to optimize their adsense income. Guess what, they just can’t use the information and implement a successful strategy. The videos can be given to some people for free, they still won’t use it to optimize their adsense income. OK. No one (but YOU) is going to force you to become successful in anything that you chose to do. The rules of success have not changed. Adsense does produce good income for those who follow the adsense rules of success.
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» Monetize your blog or website - Earn money from your passions Blog Yack Yack
March 2nd, 2007 9:38 pm
[…] I’m not going to go into the fine specifics of how its done as there are already lots of little tips and sites out there discussing this. I like Michael’s videos not only because he knows what he’s talking about but because he presents in a non hyped up way. He also has a great balance between showing the potential that someone using AdSense can earn with it but also making it clear that it’s not ‘easy’ money (ie it takes hard work). […]
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Jason
June 25th, 2007 4:54 am
I just got through AdSense Videos after your site referred me. Loved it. Thanks for the info!
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sharlene
July 26th, 2007 11:14 am
its great that theres a place where people can give there honest
opinion,but for the beginner, like me its been hard to find out really
whats real and whats not, at heart l’m a cynical as well, to buy or not to
buy,some real honesty would be refreshing.
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Malcolm Lambe
August 12th, 2007 5:36 pm
@ sharlene
“some real honesty would be refreshing”. That’s about it. There are so many of these Adsense programmes out there that you’ve got to ask yourself “why”? I think the answer is that these people are making more from showing other how to tweak Adsense than they are actually making off Adsense. I thinbk the way to go is to have a really good niche site like Marcus Frind’s plentyoffish.com dating site - he’s making $10,000 a day off Adsense. But he’s got a unique site - it’s not just a dating site but a FREE dating site and he has algorithms (he’s a programmer) where he matches people to what he sees them actually clicking on not what they say they’re looking for in their profile - Unique. In other words if he finds a girl is clicking on a “bad guy’s” profile rather than the “nice respectable man” they say they’re looking for - he matches them with badboys. BUT he does have enormous traffic - Millions of unique visitors a day. I’ve tweaked my site and have had days where I’ve made $20 but I only average about $3 a day over a month - but it’s a blog not a niche site. I wish I could find a really good niche - still working on it. Finally…the more traffic you can attract - the more clicks you’ll get - but sometimes the ads they serve you only bring cents. It’s a struggle. /:-) Malkie, an Australian blogger/vlogger in Paris.
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Google SEO tips
January 11th, 2008 4:54 am
Great article, is it free
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Harrold
January 20th, 2008 12:49 am
I considered buying this program, but when I click on ‘Now only 97 dollars’ to pay this amount with my creditcard, suddenly it became 144 dollars, so I canceled. It hate misleading.
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Written on May 19th, 2006 at 01:05 am by Darren Rowse
Six Figure AdSense Publisher Shares How He Did It
Adsense 60 comments
AdsenseEarlier in the week I was visiting a discussion forum (I don’t remember which one) and came across a product that I wish I’d stumbled across in my first months of blogging (and not now 3 years later). It’s called AdSense Videos (aff) and it’s produced and presented by a British AdSense publisher by the name of Michael Cheney.
Michael earns over $19,000 USD per month using AdSense (that’s more than $600 a day) and has obviously spent a lot of time researching how to get the most out of the ad network.
In this product he’s produced a series of 9 videos that take you from the basics through to more advanced tips.
As I wrote earlier today in my email newsletter - I like Michael’s videos not only because he knows what he’s talking about but because he presents in a non hyped up way. He also has a great balance between showing the potential that someone using AdSense can earn with it but also making it clear that it’s not ‘easy’ money (ie it takes hard work). He’s obviously put some hard work into it himself (as he has these videos) and over time he’s managed to build his earnings up from just a little a day (the way we all start) into well over six figures per year.
While I’ve managed to build my own AdSense earnings up to levels that I never would have imagined I can’t begin to imagine how much quicker I’d have gotten there if someone had put these videos in front of me three years ago.
So Who is it for?
I’m not going to recommend this for all AdSense publishers. If you’ve been in the game for a while you probably won’t learn heaps from these videos. While I always enjoy hearing different publishers talk about AdSense (especially those who make good money) I didn’t learn a lot that was new. However if you’re at the start of your AdSense journey you might want to seriously consider the investment. It will also be good for intermediate AdSense users wanting a brush up or wanting to see how others do it.
The beauty of a resource like this is you get to see and hear someone explain their approach all in one place. Those critiquing resources like this will always say that you can get most of it for free online in forums and blogs - this is true - but here you get it all in one spot.
So if you’re newer to the AdSense game or you’ve been at it for a while and want to hear and see someone who’s using AdSense successfully head over to AdSense Videos and get yourself hooked up either with the full product or his free taste and see 5 day video course (which will give you a taster to help you see if it’s the product for you.
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60 Responses to “Six Figure AdSense Publisher Shares How He Did It”
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Yuga
May 19th, 2006 1:41 am
Hi Darren,
A friend asked me if this is a good purchase but I could not asnwer him. However, is it safe to say that if I’ve been reading very post here at ProBlogger.net in the last 12 months, there’s nothing much in that video that discusses something new?
In your observation how much percentage in the video you did not know about optimizing Adsense? Would 10-20% perhaps be a fair assumption?
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Brian Clark
May 19th, 2006 1:52 am
Nice job Darren (and you know exactly how I mean it). :)
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Andy Merrett
May 19th, 2006 2:04 am
Sorry I’m a cynic.
Oh look, a large-font ad-heavy, pop-up laden splash page, with garish colours.
Oh look. $97. Plus all these free bonuses.
Oh well, I guess if his AdSense business ever goes down, he’ll have made plenty from everyone buying his course.
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Andy Merrett
May 19th, 2006 2:05 am
…plus I expect anyone earning that much money to be able to put their courses on DVD ;)
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Brian Clark
May 19th, 2006 3:30 am
Just to be clear, I have nothing to do with this product, and I’m no fan of AdSense.
Andy, it’s backed by a NO RISK, 100% Money Back Guarantee in addition to the things you point out.
Since you have not hesitated to cast a disparaging opinion about a product based solely upon your prejudices against its marketing, why not get it, and if it doesn’t deliver, you can simply get a refund?
Then you can blog about your experience one way or the other, and educate the rest of us. Contrary to current popular belief, most people cannot learn everything there is to know about business models by reading blogs or other free resources. It just doesn’t work that way.
In “real” businesses, both entrepreneurs and established business people happily spend thousands of dollars annually to get an edge on the competition. The question you have to ask yourself is, am I willing to invest in success, or will I be cynical and flounder around, smug in my knowledge that at least I didn’t risk $97?
Oh wait, it’s not really a risk, because you can get your money back AND keep the product!
I’m not saying you shouldn’t be skeptical. I sure as hell am, about everything. But I don’t let it get in the way of looking into things, because even one small good idea from a product can make me huge multiples off the initial investment.
Raw cynicism is useful to no one, including yourself. And if you’re not willing to invest money into your business, you don’t really have a business.
OK, rant over. :)
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gasmonso
May 19th, 2006 3:30 am
I’ll sum up adsense success in a few sentences…
1. Generate lots of new and interesting material for your readers.
2. Update on daily basis to keep people coming back.
3. Place ads on site as to not annoy readers.
4. Repeat for several sites.
That’s about it in a nutshell. You can send me whatever dollar amount you see fit :)
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Brian Clark
May 19th, 2006 3:40 am
Yeah, that’s it in a nutshell. Except I bet there’s a bit of necessary detail missing, or else everyone would be an AdSense millionaire and no one would be reading this blog.
Again, I personally could care less about this product. But it’s rare that I meet someone who is really successful who thinks they know it all already. In fact, the most successful people pay very large amounts for information and tools that can help them succeed even more.
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clester
May 19th, 2006 3:41 am
Hello Darren and readers of this post,
I bought the AdSense videos and did a revamp on my blog.
Here’s the old one (on TypePad):
http://lesters.blogs.com/a_free_life/
Here’s the new one (on WordPress) after learning from Adsense videos:
http://www.afreelife.info
I think there’s a big difference.
And, as to the Adsense income, I have to see yet as my blog has 0-5 unique daily visitors yet. I’ll see if the video instructions work when my blog traffic increases.
Will keep you posted if time permits…
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Rick
May 19th, 2006 4:04 am
Andy - You could have expressed your opinion differently and not portrayed yourself as such an ass.
Brian - Well put!
clester - Your site looks great.
Darren - Thanks for the recommendation, I am gonna check it out.
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James
May 19th, 2006 4:21 am
I bought that program a little over a week ago and thought it was well worth it. There was one tip in particular that tripled my clicks. Also, he his enthusiasm helps motivate you…
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A.H
May 19th, 2006 4:36 am
Is that a leaked video Darren? : http://www.websitemarketingbible.com/adsensevideo/
A.H
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deleted for spamming
May 19th, 2006 5:12 am
deleted for spamming
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Blackbeard
May 19th, 2006 6:40 am
Wow cool! I don’t know if this means you read the blog post I sent you or not, but you are definately working up the advertising food chain by posting this Darren. At least my post helped someone.
For those of you who aren’t clued in to ClickBank, the affiliate referrals can be pretty awesome, especially on a product like this. Sure, Amazon might pay 4-8% to sell a camera, but 50% ClickBank payouts sure make a lot more money than $0.10 AdSense clicks or 4% Amazon comissions. I’d take 100 clicks to make $40 over 100 clicks to make $5 any day. Wouldn’t you?
Sure, this guy is making $19,000/month on AdSense, but he’s also making a killing by having this video series. With his ClickBank gravity so high, I wouldn’t be surprised if he is making more on selling these videos than he is by doing AdSense. Being an “expert” at AdSense - that’s where the real money is.
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Andy Merrett
May 19th, 2006 7:53 am
Thanks Rick - nice to know you judge as well as I do. Brian, for someone who could(’nt) care less about the program, you seem to talk a lot about it.
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Brian Clark
May 19th, 2006 8:06 am
Andy, you’ll notice I’m not actually talking about the product, I’m talking about an attitude amongst some people who think they are going to become wealthy on the Internet but are dismissive of properly investing in that goal.
It’s a pet peeve of mine, so please don’t take it personally. :)
And thanks for pointing out my slight typo… lord knows I aim for quality control when dashing off comments on other people’s blogs.
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Darren Rowse
May 19th, 2006 8:37 am
Ok - I knew some people wouldn’t like this product or would be cynical about it. That’s why I don’t recommend products like this very often.
All I’ll say again is that if you feel you need to learn about AdSense then this is as good as any other resource out there. It’s visual, it’s auido, it’s enthusiastic, it’s not overly hyped, it’s all in one spot. It also has a money back guarantee which I’m sure will be honored if you’re not satisfied.
I didn’t learn much from it (I think I’d heard virtually everything in it before) but I’m already making hundreds a day from AdSense. I’d probably have even added a coule of strategies - but if you’ve got $97 and you’re starting out in AdSense you’ll find this very useful despite the big long sales page :-)
When it all comes down to it though - it’s a take it or leave it thing. No one is forcing anything on anyone so feel free to ignore this post if you’re not interested and everyone will be happy :-)
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Rebort
May 19th, 2006 8:41 am
I’m one who is too cynical a shopper to believe in instant rebates and “no risk 100% money back guarantees.”
That said, this guy’s presentation is too much late-night-informercial for me to take him seriously. If Darren hadn’t posted with a (slight) recommend, then I’d dismiss him entirely. As it stands, I don’t know what to make of it.
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The banker
May 19th, 2006 8:48 am
Rick wrote..Andy, you’ll notice I’m not actually talking about the product, I’m talking about an attitude amongst some people who think they are going to become wealthy on the Internet but are dismissive of properly investing in that goal..
I think the keyword here is properly investing in that goal
Investing $97 in a product that you know nothing else about than that it comes with a $97 money back gurantee is probably not a good investment. Personally I prefer to order books because you can always check out the user reviews at amazon. The reviews are a better source of information than the marketing hype that you usually see from clickbank.
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Martin
May 19th, 2006 10:08 am
This is an interesting discussion going on here. Regardless of the topic, it’s a great insight into what people think of such infomation products in general.
At the end of the day, it’s a niche product for a niche audience. It’s not for everyone.
Brian is absolutely correct. In business, you pay for information that’s concise and delivers on its promise, even though you could spend the time researching and finding it for yourself. Many people simply do not have the time to struggle through all the clutter on the web to get what they want and are willing to pay for it if it can save them time.
Most information publishers (hopefully) want to be selling a range of info products for years to come, so If it’s rubbish they’ll soon be caught out.
What I’m interested about is how such products are being marketed. I sense a strong sense of cynicism of such tactics: long sales pages, infomerical like, the little tricks to sway you etc., I’m wondering if there needs to be a different approach to selling such products in a world of growing marketing cycniscim.
Hey … I should be writing this as a post on my own blog :-)
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eSearing
May 19th, 2006 10:26 am
What Darren has done here is apply a link to an affiliate program embeded in an article that works within his niche. If you buy the program Darren gets a commission. (A nice way to thank him for his great articles.)
This is what we all should be learning. Why get $1 per click when you can get $50 commission. The ad revenues will follow.
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Brian Clark
May 19th, 2006 10:39 am
Martin, excellent perspective.
The fact is, I shouldn’t have been so hard on Andy (although I wasn’t really addressing him personally). People DO hate those cheesy looking sales letters, and even though I’m a copywriter and direct marketer, I don’t even use them myself for the majority of my projects.
But… I’ve bought plenty of excellent info products that had cheesy sales letters, perhaps only becasue I’m in the biz and I can filter through it. Plus, I’ve been disappointed by many, many products, and I’ve never had a problem getting my money back.
These people are not thieves just because you personally don’t respond to their marketing.
You’ll generally find that direct marketers use cheesy sales letters for two reasons:
1. Outside of the media savvy blogosphere, those sales letter work quite well; and
2. That’s what they’ve been taught to do (and see #1).
In many ways, bloggers are at the leading edge of a new marketing paradigm (which I am actively exploring). But that doesn’t necessarily mean you should simply dismiss those that have come before you and the methods they use, especially when they make hundreds of thousands (or millions) of dollars a year, and you don’t.
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Dennis
May 19th, 2006 11:46 am
I have to agree with Darren. I bought the course because I buy just about everything to do with AdSense and AdWords. I bought it knowing that it was a Clickbank product, and I had 60 days to decide if I wanted a refund, and if it didn’t deliver, I’d ask for a refund.
I thought it was well done. But I don’t think I learned anything new. Like Darren, I wish it would have been the first or second thing I purchased about AdSense because it would have helped tremendously in the beginning.
So am I asking for a refund? Probably not. I actually got some value out of one of the bonuses. Plus the main videos were a good review, and reinforced some theories I had, compelling me to actually act on the knowledge I already had. Rather than just knowing the tricks and thinking “that’s neat”, now I know that they actually work, and I’ll put those changes on priority.
My feeling on a course of this price is that all I have to do is get out of it is an extra dollar a day, and it will only take 90 days to be in profits (the original price was $87, now it’s $97). It all comes down to the traffic you get as to whether this course is going to help you make an extra dollar a day. If you have no traffic now, you won’t go from $0 to $1. If you have good traffic, you’ll easily make that dollar, or five, or ten, every day from the day you take action on the techniques in the course.
And if you already know everything and have a perfectly optimized site, you’ll at least see an example of how to make $250,000 selling Camtasia video courses, which Michael claimed he did in the first couple weeks of availability.
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Martin
May 19th, 2006 12:34 pm
Dennis - spot on about the $1 a day over 90 days. That’s what any business person should be thinking off on any investment they make in their business. It all comes down to ROI. My view is that if you’re questioning such prices deep down you don’t have that expectation that you’ll succeed. you know the old saying: you gotta spend money to make money.
Brian - “actively exploring”, eh! Well you’ve just booked yourself an invitation for an interview for my blog. I’ll be in touch. :-)
And that’s why I say that those kind of sales techniques (cheesy long sales letters) won’t neccessarily work for bloggers … but no way would I dismiss the older methods in finding new ways of marketing such products. Impossible to ignore, because 95% of it is still good, it’s just that we got to think of newer ways of implementing it - in other words, we got to get more savvy because the consumer is more savvier than ever.
I also believe selling through an affiliate channel is just about the ultimate way to go. Take Darren as an example (sorry Darren for using you as a case study on your own blog:-) ). He’s the Pro Blogger Guy. He has the credibility. If he says product x (in his niche) is good, then that endorsement transcends 80% of the sales pitch, imo. But to keep his credibility he better be selective.
One thing I don’t like is those selling and recommending clickbank-type products without ever reading it themselves. If you were a retail outlet would you just place any item on your shelves sight unseen? Of course not. It should be no different if you want to be a successful affiliate.
Now Darren, is there an eBook coming out of you or what? :-)
Ditto for you as well Brian.
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Darren Rowse
May 19th, 2006 1:22 pm
Watch this space Martin. Working furiously on it all but it’s a big job :-)
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Martin
May 19th, 2006 1:56 pm
Good stuff and about time :-)
Take your time to get it exactly right. Any more hints: title? how far off?
I’m guessing you’ll be using the affiliate route as a major sales channel? ProfCartSolutions is the way to go - as you would know from working with Andy Wibbels.
I’d stay away from ClickBank as you’ve already got a strong base of potential affiliates, and right or wrong ClickBank has a poor perception.
All the best and I’ll be watching.
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Kevin
May 19th, 2006 3:03 pm
Personally, I’m having fun playing “Fill in the blanks” on his web page… ;)
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Andy Merrett
May 19th, 2006 5:11 pm
Total aside, Brian (sorry) - I tihnk it’s an Americanism vs a British-ism - here we say ‘I couldn’t care less’ if we are totally dismissive of something, whereas I think in the US it’s “I could care less” (though to me that implies that it is possible to care less). Oh well, language eh?
I apologise to anyone I’ve offended by being a 10+ years jaded Internet user, burned a couple of times, and unfortunately now perhaps too cynical for my own good. You’re right cynicism doesn’t help anyone in the long run. - I’m working on it!
My financial margins are still quite tight at present. I know I haven’t sampled the product and I can’t judge whether it has useful info in it just by looking at the box, but unfortunately it just looks like a cookie-cutter, same-as-a-million-others template system, which doesn’t help its cause, for me at least.
I did invest in a program a few months ago which I believe was badly marketed (it didn’t explain system requirements, etc., until I’d bought it, and so I was unable to use it). I did claim my money back (within one day!) - so I don’t have any doubt about the mechanics of this kind of system.
I’ll try not to infect anyone with my cynicism in future. :) Thanks for letting me be an ass in a reasonably safe environment ;)
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Martin
May 19th, 2006 6:48 pm
Andy, nothing to be sorry about.
It’s just your opinion. Nothing wrong with that. And I’m guessing many more people look at it this way too ie: the generic cookie-cutter sales techniques.
I’m in the industry myself and trust me … I always have to work through the cynic in me.
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Ryan
May 19th, 2006 8:25 pm
Easily the best part about Darren reviewing a product like this in a blog (atmo)sphere is that it allows us all to discuss it. With Amazon affiliates you might get a brilliant review of a product, or a horrible review - but there’s little go-between, no discussion.
Hell, I’m not even in the market for this product directly as I just don’t have the traffic at my site to be serious about AdSense, just interested in learning more and more about Web-based marketing, and I read every single comment on here. So… yeah. I’m with Brian - blogs are the leading edge of information dispersion, and as such, the leading edge of marketing research… good stuff. ;-)
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Rick
May 19th, 2006 11:19 pm
Andy - I did not say you were an ass because I am sure you are not. Your comments made you sound like an ass. I have spent alot of money over the last 3 years on the “hot new programs” only to be dissapointed. Darren has created a blog that we all can trust and if he recommends a product then I think it is worth checking out. No different if you or Brian or Martin were to recommend checking out a product on your blogs, I would check them out because you guys have all “been there, done that.”
Giving your opinion on topics is expected but it should be done in a professional manner especially from successful veteran bloggers.
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Stuart Robertson
May 19th, 2006 11:29 pm
I knew there would be lots of discussion on this article. :-)
Great suggestion Darren.
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Darren Rowse
May 20th, 2006 12:13 am
Don’t worry Andy - I don’t mind some healthy cynicism and I know yours is the good kind. I actually value it because it helps to keep things in check. Thanks for being honest enough to share your views!
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raj
May 20th, 2006 4:24 am
Overall, not impressed with the core videos, but there are some gems hidden in them that have nothing to do with Adsense. Plus there’s the bonus videos which have tons of value. Unfortunately, Michael Cheney released some of them free on his own site in the past.
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Franck Silvestre
May 20th, 2006 8:44 pm
I am still with my $1 / months with adsense…
I will try to sell his video as an afiliate, then if I get some money, I’ll buy them.
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Andy Merrett
May 20th, 2006 9:33 pm
Brian, as per your advice, I have now done a brief review AdSense Videos
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Brian Clark
May 20th, 2006 9:43 pm
Andy, you’re a good man!
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Andy Merrett
May 21st, 2006 7:40 am
Rick: I wish I was a successful veteran blogger. I don’t feel like one yet! (My blog tells me I’m at 26%)
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Enrique
May 21st, 2006 9:21 am
I made the mistake of purchasing these videos. I have to admit it. I was stupid because I knew that they wouldn’t deliver what was promised.
I still don’t believe why everybody is so excited about the incredibly basic information inside these vastly overpriced videos. For example, no strategy for smart pricing, also, no strategy to raise your cpc and, worse, he ,mentions the “images near ads” trick as the best kept secret that google doesn’t want anybody to know! C’mon that’s old news and it doesn’t work as it did before.
Fortunately I was refunded the whole money I paid.
The most money you can make from these videos is by promoting them as an affiliate.
Enrique
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Johanka
May 21st, 2006 11:43 pm
There’s no way I’m going to buy the videos, but I’m currently dying of curiosity as to what the fill-in-the-blank for a “household item” that is supposed to help in the process is. :-) Could anyone enlighten me on this one, please?
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Andy Merrett
May 22nd, 2006 1:26 am
I could do - I’ll sell the answer to you for $50
Or… just head down to your local n - - - a - - - -
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Richer Brat
May 22nd, 2006 12:20 pm
I have to ask how much there is to learn about Adsense? I get a high click through rate, and it was just trial and error - messing about with different colours, different size ads and positioning. I dpn’t think I would want an even higher click through rate than I already have, as that would mean more people leaving my site.
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Jaron
May 25th, 2006 12:20 am
Viewed the video that A.H. posted, and after watching it I did a revamp of my website straight-away. Probably will even buy the video’s because as a newbie to the game I still got lots to learn. And that is inspite of being rated in the 3rd highest income bracket according to Darren’s “Poll Of The Week”.
Good luck to Michael Cheney if he can make a buck. A few bloggers here suffer from “Tall Poppy Syndrome”.
Just my two cents worth.
Cheers Jaron
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Andy Merrett
May 25th, 2006 5:18 pm
Tall Poppy Syndrome? Huh??
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Andy Merrett
May 25th, 2006 5:19 pm
Oh I see - good ol’ Wikipedia.
I wouldn’t say I have TPS - I have no problem with MC making money - I’m just a little tired with some of the cyclical marketing that goes on.
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Amy F.
May 29th, 2006 9:26 am
Wow! I’m so glad I found this site. I don’t have a blog yet but I do have a website that I use Adsense ads on. I just started a couple of weeks ago and have been making 1-2 bucks a day on average (a poxy $2 or whatever Michael Cheney says) so I have been on the fence about getting these videos. I’m still on the fence, but I’ve learned a lot just by checking out everyone elses sites - so thanks everyone! I’ll let you know if I get them!
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pcunix
June 1st, 2006 7:48 am
OK, I bought it.
My site generally makes about $1,000.00 U.S. monthly but lately had been slipping
a bit.
There’s nothing in these videos that you can’t find on-line for free. However, in stark contrast to the garish “in your face” advertising of the videos, the actual content is laid back, extremely well organized and presented.
Again: I can’t say I learned anything I hadn’t already seen elsewhere. However, I did implement some changes based on the concepts presented and saw an immediate increase of $5 - $10.00 per day.
It’s quite possible that’s just from making a change - any change can sometimes
take away ad blindness from regular visitors. However, “regulars” only account for
maybe 10-15% of my traffic, so I doubt that’s it.
For those of you making $1.00 a day or less: it’s probably not worth the money because although you might improve your earnings, it’s unlikely you’ll be rocketed
upward enough to justify the cost. But.. if you just want good advice, well packaged and presented, this is worth it.
If your income has been slipping lately, you might consider this even if you feel you already know it all. As happened with me, it just might remind you of some things you already know you should be doing.
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fallout
June 4th, 2006 10:21 am
I’m still at the first part trying to make that 1$/day mark… and it’s not coming yet… I guess I need to do some serious link exchanging… which I already started but no luck yet :(
It’s sad to see that practicaly nothing is coming in, and thus 0 clicks…
I do know it’s not the best “niche” but I did it to “test” my way into all this adsense stuff, and the competition on my targeted keyword is not so hard to overpower…
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Steve
June 4th, 2006 7:21 pm
Hi Darren
I bought the videos and Im happy I did. I have been in the adsense game for a while and i found them very informative, even though i know a lot of it the new tricks etc were helpful. The guy is switched on and that helps motivate me. Im not in the 100’s per day erena yet, but in just over a year Im heading that way.
It’s a good buy, if you waant a jump start to your Adsense fortune.
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The Reckless Yachtsman
June 10th, 2006 2:51 pm
The secret no that stands above all the rest is this
No traffic - no income
1. Write good content
2. Get traffic
2. Get income from your site/blog - traffic = $$$$$
Any other approach is a waste
The Reckless Yachtsman 2
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NonSense
July 16th, 2006 8:22 pm
Save yourself the cash, and ask yourself why ProBlogger recommends the video. If the ProBlogger link weren’t an affiliate link, then maybe things would be different, but clearly, cash is to be made from recommending the videos, and there are plenty of people who pay up. Good for everyone involved who has something to gain from it.
The whole 100% money back scheme works because most people are too “sensitive” to ask for their money back, even if they are not happy with the product. If you have the guts to ask for your cash back, then you have indeed nothing to lose.
The video content is marginally useful at any AdSense level, most of the content presented it essentially a few years old, and things that worked well in 2003 are not working all that well anymore as everyone and their child is doing them.
No matter what you do, and no matter how many “get rich quick” schemes you invest your cash in, at the end of the day there is only one way to actually get rich, and that is to work hard.
Create content that is worth reading, and you will make a handsome return, no need to buy an Adsense video to tell you that.
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adsensepublishing.com »
August 18th, 2006 3:27 pm
[…] Six Figure AdSense Publisher Shares How He Did It Oh well, I guess if his AdSense business ever goes down, he ll have made plenty from everyone buying his course. Andy Merrett Says: … […]
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Ashwin Foogooa
November 24th, 2006 9:24 am
Hi
Thanks for all the advice. I’ve now created my fifth blog within a week.
I’ve come across one issue though - there are times when Google Adsense pays very well for the adverts it places on my sites. Then, on some days, it pays a lot less - about $0.01 per click! Why?
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Delta
December 12th, 2006 5:27 am
Well I’ve found that his methods work great.
Why do you get different amounts per click? Well, different advertisers pay varying amounts for certain keywords. One of the reasons I’d never base my sole income of AdSense alone.
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Caroline
February 16th, 2007 5:28 am
In your quest for financial independence you MUST learn to force yourself to use the information you have at your disposal. Many people do have the information necessary to optimize their adsense income. Guess what, they just can’t use the information and implement a successful strategy. The videos can be given to some people for free, they still won’t use it to optimize their adsense income. OK. No one (but YOU) is going to force you to become successful in anything that you chose to do. The rules of success have not changed. Adsense does produce good income for those who follow the adsense rules of success.
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» Monetize your blog or website - Earn money from your passions Blog Yack Yack
March 2nd, 2007 9:38 pm
[…] I’m not going to go into the fine specifics of how its done as there are already lots of little tips and sites out there discussing this. I like Michael’s videos not only because he knows what he’s talking about but because he presents in a non hyped up way. He also has a great balance between showing the potential that someone using AdSense can earn with it but also making it clear that it’s not ‘easy’ money (ie it takes hard work). […]
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Jason
June 25th, 2007 4:54 am
I just got through AdSense Videos after your site referred me. Loved it. Thanks for the info!
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sharlene
July 26th, 2007 11:14 am
its great that theres a place where people can give there honest
opinion,but for the beginner, like me its been hard to find out really
whats real and whats not, at heart l’m a cynical as well, to buy or not to
buy,some real honesty would be refreshing.
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Malcolm Lambe
August 12th, 2007 5:36 pm
@ sharlene
“some real honesty would be refreshing”. That’s about it. There are so many of these Adsense programmes out there that you’ve got to ask yourself “why”? I think the answer is that these people are making more from showing other how to tweak Adsense than they are actually making off Adsense. I thinbk the way to go is to have a really good niche site like Marcus Frind’s plentyoffish.com dating site - he’s making $10,000 a day off Adsense. But he’s got a unique site - it’s not just a dating site but a FREE dating site and he has algorithms (he’s a programmer) where he matches people to what he sees them actually clicking on not what they say they’re looking for in their profile - Unique. In other words if he finds a girl is clicking on a “bad guy’s” profile rather than the “nice respectable man” they say they’re looking for - he matches them with badboys. BUT he does have enormous traffic - Millions of unique visitors a day. I’ve tweaked my site and have had days where I’ve made $20 but I only average about $3 a day over a month - but it’s a blog not a niche site. I wish I could find a really good niche - still working on it. Finally…the more traffic you can attract - the more clicks you’ll get - but sometimes the ads they serve you only bring cents. It’s a struggle. /:-) Malkie, an Australian blogger/vlogger in Paris.
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Google SEO tips
January 11th, 2008 4:54 am
Great article, is it free
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Harrold
January 20th, 2008 12:49 am
I considered buying this program, but when I click on ‘Now only 97 dollars’ to pay this amount with my creditcard, suddenly it became 144 dollars, so I canceled. It hate misleading.
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