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December
28, 2001
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MY IBIZ WEEKLY!
Starting a Business on the Internet isn't impossible if you have
the right help...
December 28, 2001 Vol.2, Issue 6
"Live, Learn, then Promote..."
---Donesia Muhammad---
Proud Member of the Ezine Publishers Association
Join Free http://www.ezinepublishers.org
We are listed in http://ezinesearch.com
Is your ezine listed?
In This Weeks' Issue:
==> Top Sponsor
==> Note from the Publisher
==> What's New at http://MyIBizHelper.com
==> Feature Article: Rewarding The Internet Marketer's Spouse
By Joe Bingham
==> Middle Sponsor
==> Guest Article: Be SURE Before You Scream SPAM!
By Jan Tallent-Dandridge
==> Break Time: Laughter is Good Medicine
==> Free Ads/ My Wizard Ads/ 2Bucks an Ad Section
==> Contact Information/Subscription Info
Top Sponsors
~~~~<<~~>>~~<<~~>>~~<<~~>>~~<<~~>>~~<<~~>>~~<<~~>>~~<<~~>>~~<<~~~
Brief Note from the Publisher
~~~~<<~~>>~~<<~~>>~~<<~~>>~~<<~~>>~~<<~~>>~~<<~~>>~~<<~~>>~~<<~~~
Welcome everyone to the Next to the last issue of 2001. I hope
everyone enjoyed their holiday. I don't know about the other
publishers out there but sometimes its hard to come out with an
issue when there are so many other things on your mind. I'm not
talking about the usual day-to-day duties and family and business
obligations. It's been quite a year, and with the new year
coming, you reflect a lot on everything that has happened and
sometimes you just have to sit down and say "Wow, what next?"
I hope that this past year has changed us all for the better and
not for the worse. Everything is precious now...
I want to thank everyone who has been with this newsletter since
day one... I remember how nervous I was to send out my first
issue in November to 20 subscribers and half of them were family.
But as experts will tell you even if you have only one subscriber
the experience will help tremendously. And now as I have 710
subscribers the list grows day by day. As soon as I hit the 1,000
mark the ad rates will go out.
A new year will bring new and original content. More ebooks to
sell, exclusive interviews, and also some contest and trivia.
This weeks' issue is all about the joys and pain from an Internet
Marketers' perspective. That's why I call it my "Feel Good"
Issue. It feels good to know that you are not alone when
frustration hits.
So sit back, relax, and enjoy.. You never know what you might
find. Hint Hint!
~~~~<<~~>>~~<<~~>>~~<<~~>>~~<<~~>>~~<<~~>>~~<<~~>>~~<<~~>>~~<<~~~
Feature Article: Rewarding the Internet Marketer's Spouse
By Joe Bingham
~~~~<<~~>>~~<<~~>>~~<<~~>>~~<<~~>>~~<<~~>>~~<<~~>>~~<<~~>>~~<<~~~
Consider these factors:
I work at home, full time over the Internet.
I have a business that most people just plain do not understand.
I work in a field that most people do not even know exists.
I stay home all day.
I often stay up all night working and sleep in very late.
This looks very bad to 'regular' folks.
It's of no concern to me. I'm literally immune to other people's
opinions. I've always been a bit of a loner anyway.
What I'm wondering, though, is how does my wife deal with this?
I mean, she's not really sure just exactly what it is I'm doing
here anyway, and yet she backs me up. For that, I'll have to
reward her someday.
It's tough on her at times, though, and it's especially tough on
her when talking to others.
I've seen her try to handle the questions before. I remember
specifically what it was like when my wife's aunt and uncle first
met me. We were just starting to look into moving to Montana,
and we stopped by their house to let them know we would be coming
to the area.
"So, what does your husband do for a living?" her aunt asked, as
I sat across the room talking to her uncle.
"He works over the Internet," my wife answered. This is where
Aunt gave my wife one of those looks that's easier to read than a
10 foot neon sign.
Her look said, "But the Internet is a just a play toy for
computer geeks and college students. He can't be making any
money from that --- unless he's a scam artist."
"What does he do over the Internet?" Aunt replied politely in
spite of her thoughts.
"He sends out newsletters," my wife answered. (That's her take
on what I'm doing here. For a better explanation, see my web
site. It's actually just a LITTLE more complicated than that!)
"Uncle," Aunt called to her husband in return to my wife's
simplistic explanation of my business, "Joe there is looking for
work."
I can only imagine what my wife was feeling at that moment.
Wives like to be proud of their husbands. Heck, wives like to
BRAG about their husbands. So having a job that leaves people
thinking I'm, well, basically a bum and a thief is probably a
just little hard on her ego.
She tries to explain that yes, I do make money, and that no, I
won't be going to jail for it, and that yes, I do actually
accomplish something, and that no, I'm not just trying to get out of having a real job and...
It doesn't really work, though, and I feel for her. Someday I'll have to reward her for her loyalty.
It probably doesn't help when Aunt comes to visit at 11:30 a.m.
and I'm still in bed asleep either. She doesn't know that I was up until 5:30 a.m. working away. She doesn't know that I usually end up working at night because during the day I like to do things with my wife and kids.
All she sees is a bum that "sleeps in 'til Noon!" Of course, the relatives wouldn't dare say anything to me about their opinion. Instead, my wife gets blasted with it.
Friends don't help any either. I've heard the talk. "How can
you stand having your husband around all the time like that?"
Or, "Run him out of the house! Tell him to get a real job!" Or, "I bet all he does is sit at the computer looking at porno sites all day."
Whoa! Yes, I've been accused! Now, honestly, if there was a way a man could make money by doing nothing but sitting in front of the computer all day looking at naked women, I'm SURE that program would get a LOT of recruits, but until that happens...
Ahem. Anyway, uh... What was I saying?
It doesn't seem to make any difference that I make money at it
either. No matter how much time I've spent trying to explain it to people, most of my conversations usually end up with me shying away from job offers.
My wife is very understanding, though, and to her credit she
really has stuck by me. For that, she deserves a just reward.
In the very beginning, I convinced her to look at the Internet as an investment because I was spending money and not making any. In fact, the Internet remained in the 'investment' category for about seven months. That's hard on a wife. Especially considering I had told her I would have all our debts paid off in the first three. Yes, as a Newbie I fell long and hard for the hype of how easy it all was. I owe her for that statement as well, and I will reward her.
While the Internet is now running in the 'profit' category, there is still a desire and a growing need to boost it all the way up into the 'wealth' category. My business is growing, and making more each month so I know I'll get there. However, I'm not yet to the point where my money alone will shut the mouths of all the skeptics.
But by golly, I CAN'T WAIT until I am!
For my wife's sake, of course.
No, seriously, I am a nice guy. I'm not going to ridicule those that ridiculed me. I'm not going to shun those that shunned me. I understand why they view me the way they do. I know they don't really comprehend what I'm doing and so I understand their skepticism and their criticism of me.
Therefore, when I do reach the 'wealth' category, I'm not going
to thumb my nose at anyone. I'm not going to painfully remind
them of how they mistreated me in the past. Heck, I'm not even
going to gloat in my 'not working for a boss, self earned
wealth'.
I'll just let my wife do it.
Ha! Ha! There's your reward, baby! You go girl!!!
Pass this one on to your spouses everyone. Let them know their
reward is coming. Then let's all push our marketing into the
'wealth' category and enjoy it with them.
I know this ain't church, but there's only one thing that can be
said to that...
Amen!
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Written by Joe Bingham, Editor of the NetPlay Newsletters
Subscribe to One 3 Quality NetPlay Ezines, See which one fits you
at:
http://www.netplaynewsletters.com
Publish Your Own Quality Ezine with Little Work and a Lot of Help
http://www.netplaynewsletters.com/publisher.html
Guest Article: Be SURE Before You Scream SPAM!
By Jan Tallent-Dandridge
Spam and Scam hater
There is so much talk and controversy right now about certain
spam "patrol" vigalante groups and those who oppose them.
I, for one, detest REAL spam and would be the first to help if
there were, indeed, a CLEAR way of doing so.
But it is increasingly scary to me as both a publisher and an
internet marketer that although no one seems to agree on one
exact definition OF SPAM, the frivolous and mistaken reports seem to highly outweigh the real ones!
When I get 30 to 50 emails a week from smut, get-rich quick or
other UNWANTED avenues, I take the first step and ask to be
removed from their lists, even though I have never given these
senders permission to add me to their lists in the first
place...and not surprisingly, almost all of my removal requests
are ignored.
These unscrupulous, CLASSLESS individuals could care less about
honoring a legitimate "please stop" message, even though it is a waste of time and bandwidth to send repeatedly to people who they know do not want, nor will read, let alone visit or buy from their unwanted advertisings. In MY definition, this is SPAM in the fullest.
Newbies purchase "targeted lists" of thousands or millions of
email addresses that supposedly want their mailboxes filled up
with every offer under the sun. They need to be told gently (not reported to their ISP and host their first time!) that these are not really targeted at all and are almost always harvested.
I get mail TO my autoresponder and web pages with "information
you requested" and to ME, these are obvious spam.
On the other side, while no matter how many times we complain
about the smut/scam mails that still POUR in faster than anything else we will ever get in our mailboxes, some self appointed judge/jury groups are going HOG WILD with jumping on ezines, their owners/publishers and anyone who has run an ad, written an article or has any other content anywhere in said newsletter and instead of getting a nice "someone has reported you for spamming them with your ad/article/ezine/tip/discussion or whatever and have you or have you not done so?", we get a message saying, in effect, "You were reported for spamming, therefore you HAVE spammed and we will be reporting you and you do not have the right to defend yourself or answer this accusation, let alone find out WHO your accuser is because on the internet and dealing with Spam complaints, you are guilty IF charged".
Okay, SLIGHT exaggeration and I do mean slight! I have been
falsely accused of spamming on a PAID opt-in list I have belonged to for over 2 years. Luckily, for me, I called my small home town ISP right away and had also set up my four marketing domains with a host that KNOWS what I am doing and will back me up.
Most of the publishers who are getting falsely accused get shut
down FIRST and then MAYBE reinstated if they can prove to their
host and/or ISP that they are innocent. My question is, WHY
should we have to do this?
I was blasted yesterday by an irate subscriber to my ezine, Rim
Digest, who swore up and down she had not only NOT subscribed to mine but had been added, against her will, to several in the past couple of weeks. I assured her that I do not "add" people to my Rim roster that have not signed up themselves or used one of the subscriber growing ad services like EAMN, $2 ads, 2bucks ads, free ads for life, etc. and she was SURE I was kidnapping and holding her against her will.
For months I have kept on file not only every new subscribe
request and unsubscribe, but also every new subscriber I got from any of the subscriber growing services. I put her email address into the "search" option in Netscape mail and in one minute had the copy of her request TO the owner of EAMN with "sign me up for all ezines on your list" as her message and with her name and email address. I immediately sent the WHOLE thing to her, copied out with full headers, etc. in my reply to her accusation and told her I would promptly remove her from MY database and also forward the conversation to EAMN so the owner could remove her and warn all of the other publishers of this occurrence.
Five minutes later she had written back and not only apologized
for the error and forgetting she had subscribed this way but with a request to KEEP her subscribed! Believe me when I say I made sure she asked AGAIN and double checked before I added her back in to my Rim roster!
I get countless remove requests from an address that has never
been on my list at all and it usually takes several emails
explaining why I cannot remove someone who is NOT on there before they "find" that they had used a forwarding account or address that they forgot they were using.
I have asked the ones I cannot find to please hit "reply" on the next mailing they receive from me so I can see where it is going TO, but some are very reluctant to do this when they can,
instead, keep a running argument with me (guess this is
entertaining if your marketing goes so badly you have free time
on your hands!) so the fight goes on and some do wrongfully end
up filing a spam report.
On the other hand, I, too get really tired of this message:
"You have been subscribed to xyz ezine and if you do not want to be subscribed, reply or go to this web site and unsubscribe". THIS IS SPAMMING and these should be reported, in my humble opinion!
If I did NOT subscribe, and you admit it in your welcome telling me YOU subscribed me, why should I have to do ANYTHING to get OFF your list? I have been added to ezines, discussion lists and so-called "opt-in" lists and obviously that is BS because how can they be OPT IN if someone else is drafting you in?!
To ME, personally, even answering someone else's ad with your own is so rude I refuse to allow it on my OWN safe list of totally opt-in members. This is not, I would guess, spam, just a nuisance, but I have heard of people reporting those who reply TO them as Spammers...
All in all, I want to just ask that we all be careful of
screaming spam but do our best to instead channel our efforts to clean up the net from the real scum/smut/spammers and get on with business.
Respectfully,
Jan T-D
Copyright © 2000-2001 All Rights Reserved
Jan Tallent-Dandridge, Marketing Warrioress/Publisher
Charter Member of the International Council
of Online Professionals (iCop)http://www.i-Cop.org
http://www.marketingwarrioress.com
mailto:jtd@marketingwarrioress.com
Free & Affordable Software, ebooks and reports
http://www.softwarewarrioress.com
Complete Information businesses for $10 start up!
Sell for me and make 40% commissions!
~~~~<<~~>>~~<<~~>>~~<<~~>>~~<<~~>>~~<<~~>>~~<<~~>>~~<<~~>>~~<<~~~
BREAK TIME (New) Each week, I'll include a "Family Friendly"
Joke to help break up those long days. Laughter is the best
Medicine!!
~~~~<<~~>>~~<<~~>>~~<<~~>>~~<<~~>>~~<<~~>>~~<<~~>>~~<<~~>>~~<<~~~
Familiar story here, if you've ever had to go online for
any technical support of any kind. (I recently tried to cancel
an ISP account. They gave me a recorded message telling
me that the estimated wait would be 43 minutes. I timed it.
It was 44?!?!?!?!?!!!!!!)
Enjoy"
Calling For Technical Support:
Ring... Ring... Ring... Ring... Ring.... Ring... Ring...
Ring... Ring... Ring... Ring... Ring...Ring... Ring...
Ring... Ring... Ring... Ring... Ring... Ring...Ring...
Automated Answer:
"Thank you for calling Technical Support.
"All of our technicians are currently busy helping
people even less competent than you, so please
hold for the next available technician.
"The waiting time is now estimated at between 15 minutes
and eternity. In order to expedite your call, please punch
your 63-digit product identification number onto your telephone
touch pad, followed by your product serial number, which
can be found in a secret compartment inside your computer
where, for security purposes, it is printed in the smallest
typeface known to mankind.
"Do that now."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Reprinted with Permission from Yuk it UP! Daily Chuckle
http://www.gsezines.com
To SUBSCRIBE to Yuk It UP! Daily Chuckle send any
email to mailto:yukitup-subscribe@topica.com
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