It’s kind of a strange week – that time that follows Christmas, but before New Year’s Eve. The kids are out of school – lots of people are off work travelling, but I’m back at work. I was fortunate enough to get a week off before Christmas, but had to get back to it on the 26th.
The pub is not too busy however with all the holiday festivities still kind of running long. But that’s ok, it gives me a chance to catch up on paperwork and such.
The Christmas break gave me a chance to re-focus on my fitness and kind of get inspired again. I’ve been running or biking practically everyday since we left for Big Bear. Of course I’d rather be there, but the dream still lives…
I was greatly blessed on Christmas with some wonderful gifts, but mostly to be surrouned by my loving family and great friends and to be employed at this turbulent time is a blessing in and of itself.
I hope the holidays were good to you, and that the new year brings blessings to you, your family and friends!
I have a friend of mine who is just getting his feet wet in the eCommerce arena. He’s reading everything he can get his hands (eyes) on, and his mind is starting to run with ideas on how he can generate some extra income online. I remember being in his shoes some 7 years ago – just starting to get heavy into making money online. I was trying all kinds of ‘get rich quick’ programs, spending more on the programs in a year than I made using them. But I always came back to what I considered the purist form of eCommerce – Affiliate programs.
Affiliate programs are where you get paid for sending some traffic/customers to someone else and getting paid for it. Sometimes the requirement is simply traffic, sometimes the visitor needs to click on something or buy something, but essentially you get paid for sending the traffic. It’s a CPA or ‘cost per action’.
I’ve made a lot of money over the years on various affiliate programs including Google Adwords/Adsense arbotrage, all kinds of independent affiliate programs and of course eBay’s affiliate program.
My friend was interested in opening a ProStores website and during our conversation about affiliate programs I gave him the link below:
In setting up that new website, he’s going to need a new domain name – so I sent him the link below:
You see it’s that simple – it doesn’t cost him a cent more and in some cases it’s a better deal, and I make a small kickback (commission) from the business I’m referring him to. If you have sites you can integrate them quite easily to capitalize on your existing traffic. Or you can create a site specifically to refer traffic to affiliate programs.
By far my most profitable and most consistent payouts have been from the eBay affiliate program – now called the eBay Partner Network. It’s free to join and I make money every month sending people to eBay to buy what they were already going to buy, but I get a small bit back. It’s not huge, maybe $100 to $200/month. It’s not enough to retire on, but it helps, and if you get more programs going it all adds up.
Check out this widget eBay let’s you create:
It’s all encoded with my affiliate link, so anyone that’s looking for say… snowshoes, clicks, buys and I get paid!
Another one I use regularly is the Vista Print affiliate program:
If you’ve followed my blog at all, you know we’ve been trying to move to Big Bear, California for a few years now, but with the current economy and housing market, it’s not looking so hot right now. Anyway, we spend every minute of vacation time we have up there.
Well it’s that time – vacation time. A week before Christmas and we’re here! We left late in the evening mid-week and literally 100 yards up the mountain – it started to snow. A mile in we chained up – and began the slow climb over 6000 feet to the lake in the sky.
It really wasn’t that bad, other than going slower than I’d have liked to – following a plow and a string of cars for 15 miles, but we arrived safely. By the following morning we awoke to nearly 4 feet of snow everywhere. My friend Pete who owns Equada Outfitters - a mountain shop in Big Bear, said it’s the most snow (at least at one time) that he’d seen in many, many years.
After a day of snow play we headed over to the Alpine Slide at Magic Mountain to go inner-tubing. What a blast! I’ve posted a video below:
It’s just kind of hit me all at once…that things are changing quickly in my life.
Not that long ago I went from being self-employed to being an employee. My oldest son just turned 18 and my daughter 16 – sheer craziness. My 12-year old son just earned his First Class rank in Boy Scouts – a great accomplishment. And my ‘little’ guy just isn’t litte anymore at almost 9!
Whereas a year ago we were hoping to move to Big Bear, today we’re lucky to have a home in the tumultuous times. I was at a job interview this morning and I realized how lucky I was for what I have. A fantastic family life, wonderful wife and kids, employment – even if it’s not the dream, it keeps food on the table and a roof over our heads.
So… as the holiday season is upon us and within weeks a new year begins – I have so much to be thankful for, and so much I want to still accomplish. It’ll take hard work, but I’ve never been afraid to work hard. Have a blessed holiday and start your year right!
It’s kind of a strange week – that time that follows Christmas, but before New Year’s Eve. The kids are out of school – lots of people are off work travelling, but I’m back at work. I was fortunate enough to get a week off before Christmas, but had to get back to it on the 26th. 
