Freelancing — one of the least talked-about areas of online income — can be one of the most lucrative ways of making money online, if you know the best and most efficient ways and methods.

My good friend Avani Misra has just released an entire step-by-step course outlining the secrets, tips, and tricks she’s used for the last several years to make her living freelancing online. This is a wealth of information — not JUST an ebook, but an ebook AND audio interviews with some of the best and brightest freelancers and marketers, AND a membership site to help you integrate all the new knowledge, AND BONUS in-depth guides to outsourcing (for expansion) and productivity (which, for many, can be elusive!).

I’m very excited to be able to help people get their feet under them in the arena of online freelancing.

Click here to get this amazing course!

This deal from Avani is a superb value — BUT — because I want to make sure you take advantage of it, I’m throwing in a bonus of my own: if you buy through my link (below), and send me your transaction number, I will send you a copy of The Next Generation Entrepreneur — a 120-page ebook that will help you to supercharge your business skills thinking and help propel you to the top of whatever field you happen to be working in. This ebook alone has dramatically improved my results since I stumbled upon it a few months ago.

It’s on a dimesale, which means the sooner you grab it, the less it will cost you. So hurry now and click below to get the best price on this priceless package.

Click here to get this amazing course!

And don’t forget to send me an email with your transaction info so I can link you to the bonus book that will also help you in whatever online area you choose to work in!

My email is michael@michaelthorsett.com — I hope to hear from you soon!

Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings so that you shall come easily by what others have labored hard for.
~~Socrates

Many only learns in two ways, one by reading, and the other by association with smarter people.
~~Will Rogers

The above are two similar quotes, both from www.inspirational-quotes.info, both from wildly different eras, both from wildly different men, but both alluding to the same principle: what I like to call On The Shoulders of Giants.

Essentially, there is nothing new in the world; everything that is developed now is simply a combination of older things juxtaposed in new ways.

All that you need to succeed is already out there, available just for the seeking. With the relatively recent advent of the internet, seeking out wisdom is easier than it has ever been in the entire history of mankind.

If you go to Project Gutenberg and search on timeless phrases (such as ‘success’ or ‘personal development’) you’ll find many public domain books on many diverse subjects, some a hundred years old or so, that are still mostly relevant today. Face it, the human condition doesn’t change all that much – we, as a society, are pretty much predictable.

In fact, if you happen to be an internet marketer who focuses on product creation, you can mine Project Gutenberg for years and never run out of ideas to repurpose and sell to people that are looking for answers.

In addition to reading the words of historical famous (and wise) people, you can associate with people who are smarter and wiser than you are. This is the entire premise behind the mastermind groups that are so popular (both online and off) today. People with similar interests gather together and share their thoughts and ideas, and the natural group dynamic that arises from this synergy of mutual ideas is enormously powerful. If you’ve never had a mastermind experience, I strongly encourage you to find a group in the area of your interest and join, and participate. It can be truly life-changing.

There are rare occasions where a new, true genius is born, but for most of us, we have to look back over the vista of human experience and pick and choose what works best and piece those things together into a new whole.

Nothing great is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig.
~~Epictetus

A terrific quote, gathered from http://www.inspirational-quotes.info — and it is very true.

Small, consistent actions over time is what it takes to build a huge empire. Do you think Sam Walton awoke one morning and suddenly had 3,819 Wal*Mart stores open? Not a chance. It took slow, steady expansion since 1962 until today -– fifty years! –- to reach that number.

Likewise, McDonald’s didn’t suddenly start selling billions and BILLIONS of hamburgers — no, Ray Kroc had a dream and took regular, consistent actions to achieve that dream. Now McDonald’s is the ubiquitous symbol that we all know and love throughout the world.

Take heart from these examples — you will NOT be able to wake up tomorrow, or next week, and have an online (or even offline) empire without taking time and consistent action to get yourself there.

Start by writing down your goals (if you haven’t already). If you’re not familiar with my plan for solidifying your goals, you can download my PowerPoint presentation on Goal Setting that outlines the major components of practical and usable goals.

Once you have a WRITTEN list (that’s important – to have a physical list of goals that you can refer back to as often as you need to) you can begin implementing the necessary steps to achieve those goals.

If you’re like me and have a problem with distractions, you may have to adjust your work habits to exclude your distractions in order to accomplish the things that are required to reach your goals. Be ruthless – if it’s not advancing your progress toward your goals, it’s an obstacle in your way and needs to be destroyed, gone around or plowed through.

But the main, unavoidable component in progress toward a goal is Action. Consistent, purposeful action is the key to actually reaching your goals.

As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve been busy working on several things. The first of these projects will be launched on Tuesday, November 1.

I can’t wait!

I also can’t tell you what it is (yet). Check back here on Tuesday, and you’ll get the terrific news!

There’s another project that is launching later in the week, after November 1; that one I can tell you about. It’s my new PLR content site, and it can be found at www.CertifiedPLR.com — but, if you visit, please bear in mind that it’s not officially live yet; so there may be less than total functionality. But go, look around, explore! More details on the offical launch of that website as they develop.

Fall and winter are my favorite times of the year. Spring is nice, too; but summer is absolutely my least favorite time of year. It’s too hot, and I get cranky, and I rarely get any productive work done.

Knowing this, I try to arrange my year so that most of the “larger” projects are worked on and launched in the dead of winter. It just works out best for me that way; and knowing your personal best way of working is one of the smaller keys to personal success.

So, this rambling is the long way of going about saying that you shold be on the lookout for a bunch of new projects from me in the coming months.

I’ve been working (slowly, to be sure) on a couple different websites, as well as some new informational marketing products that will be released in the next several months.

Be sure to stay tuned here, and also on my main mailing list, for news of each of these projects as they are launched!

I look forward to a very productive winter.

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

~~Michael

Want to take action NOW and read this post after? YES, Michael, I want to give back by clicking here!
 

I was talking to a colleague the other day, and we were commiserating over the state of internet marketing. We agreed that if we were independently wealthy, that we’d give away our services for free, but, the reality is that this is a business, and at the end of the day, we have bills to pay and mouths to feed.

However, that being said, there comes a time that you have to think more about how much you’re going to make off of a particular venture and just DO THE RIGHT THING.

There’s an internet marketer buy the name of Cori Padgett  — perhaps you’ve heard of her, perhaps not — and she recently lost her father. Now, even though he was seeking treatment for cancer, a complication arose and he passed away before being able to get his affairs in order.

Understandably, this sort of thing can be devastating. A sudden death in the family means not only heartbreak and terrible, unimaginable loss, but also a myriad of details, both large and small, that have to be attended to — and most of them RIGHT THIS VERY MINUTE. Even those matters that can wait even a day or so cannot be put off forever.

This is not the sort of thing you can really plan for, and it catches many people unawares every day.

A group of marketers are doing a great job at helping Cori out right now, and you can help too — PLUS you get a rare opportunity to grab a bunch of products that you might otherwise not have bought for yourself.  They’ve put together a bundle of almost TWENTY diverse and useful products (with original total value of almost $300!) and made them available for one small price.

You can help out a family that really could use some assistance right now, and help yourself out, too. Just click here.

It’s great to be among friends who really care. Won’t you join me?

Everywhere you look for the last day or so, all you see being talked about in certain places online is the final Harry Potter movie.

People — both teens and adults alike — were getting in costume, makeup, getting in the mood, camping out at movie theaters for a full day before the midnight showing, just so they could be among the first to experience the final installment of this blockbuster series.

It was all created by a woman who had a dream.

J. K. Rowling had the basic idea for Harry Potter on a train trip to London in 1990. The idea enthralled her to the point that she outlined the entire series of seven novels immediately. She began writing the first one five years later, even though at the time she had no job and was living on government benefits while training to teach in Scotland.

Having a dream, and fleshing it out in maximum detail as far as you are able, can be a miraculously liberating way to “keep your eyes on the prize” while you are still attending to the day-to-day minutiae of getting things done.

But that’s not what this blog post is about.

This blog post is about your fanbase. (Whether you have one yet or not!)

“But I’m not a Hollywood star!” you object.

This is true, I reply.

HOWEVER:

If you’re in the business of marketing, you have a brand (or you should — if not, see me after, we’ll talk about that).

Your brand is not just the “public” face of yourself, that everyone — customers and non-customers alike — sees; oh, no. Your brand is what is acting as a silent salesforce for you, 24/7. both on- and offline, to remind everyone who you are, and what you do.

If your brand hasn’t gotten enough exposure, you won’t be making enough sales, and you will be unfulfilled (not to mention broke).

What’s the one thing you’d like to communicate about yourself or your company through your brand?

More on branding in a few days. Watch this space!

I’m very excited today about many things. My July Intensive Workshop is going well (see the above link for Group Mindset Project) and it’s going so well that it’s booked SOLID through September!

I have been using Skype to communicate with my groups, as well as with other marketers I know. I’ve started a new MasterMind group, and through conversation with another professional colleague, might be starting a new membership-based website in the near future.

The one underlying thing that has made all of the above possible is the internet.

Years ago, when I was just learning marketing and customer care by way of my brick and mortar retail management job, the internet as it is today simply didn’t exist.

But today, with the internet and the myriad of simple, easy-to-use tools available at no cost and very low cost to users everywhere, you an do amazing things online that never even would have been fathomable 10 or twenty years ago.

I’m planning a video series on basic Skype functions, because I’m finding that Skype is more difficult than it looks; plus, I’ve seen other people having trouble navigating Skype.

I’m also working on a free eBook that will outline and review some of the best tools for online marketers, both beginner and expert alike. It’ll be announced here when it’s ready, don’t worry.

Also, I’ve gotten so busy lately that I’m searching for an intern to help me with my ever-increasing workload. If you’d like to be considered, or know someone that might be a good fit, send me an email to intern@michaelthorsett.com and I’ll get into the details.

So many possibilities online. And so little time. Ahh, such is life.

If you’re interested in exploring offline marketing, you should check out a great special offer here.

If you’re at all interested in getting the latest and greatest in online informarketing and related subjects, check this out. But hurry — it’s only got about 6 days left.

Yes, those are affiliate links. Don’t know how to get started in affiliate marketing? Click here.

It is a fact of life that you will have roadblocks. How you treat the roadblocks that come up will make all the difference in your success — whether in marketing, or life in general.

While we generally are in control of our lives, many times things will happen that are just external forces making themselves known to us in a way that we are not expecting. Many roadblocks can be prepared for, some cannot.

Having an alternate plan as a contingency for certain roadblocks can be extremely useful and timesaving.

For instance, if you know that there are specific times that your internet can be slow, plan to do most of your online work during other hours — hours where you are pretty much guaranteed to have a good, solid connection and can get some work done and get things accomplished.

The worst thing you can do when faced by an unexpected roadblock is to fall down to the ground and complain about it. Stopping your work and not proactively taking the effort to find another way to reach your goal is completely useless. You’d be amazed at how many otherwise responsible adults do this very thing without realizing it.

Please note that I am NOT saying that you should never take a break — by all means, if you’re at a point where you need to stop for a while to recharge, do so — but if you completely stop each and every time that you encounter an obstacle, you’ll never get very far.

Planning ahead can ease the impact of unexpected roadblocks, but that’s another blogpost for another day!