My name is Michelle and I confess that I HATE to work…day jobs, that is. I have done more donkey-work jobs than you can shake a minimum-wage paycheck at, and I just….got….fed up with it all. The last “day job” I had was working as a customer service rep at a closet design company (who shall remain nameless) and was run by a sneaking, conniving, nearly broke, robbing-Peter-to-pay-Paul husband and wife. One of my former co-workers (when I was doing one of my many market research gigs) used to say, ”Is this any way to run a railroad?”  Well, in this case, the railroad was not only running late, but was in the process of flying off the track, flipping over, and causing incredible mayhem.

Paychecks were late, angry vendors called to cancel shipments because the office’s credit card declined for the umpteenth time, the “highly specialized installation specialists” were a bunch of unkempt Neanderthals who reeked of pot (when they bothered to show up at all) and regularly showed up at installations late, with material that was chipped, cracked, the wrong dimensions, or all of the above. I’ll never forget the time one mental midget stepped on (and crushed) part of a client’s plumbing system, which not only ruined the job but also her living room. I wish I had a dollar for every customer who either A: threatened to come down to the office and kick the owners’ butts; B: threatened to call the BBB, the corporate office, the attorney general, the media, and every other organization they could find;  C: called in tears because they took an entire day off to accomodate the installation and no one showed up; or D: all of the above and then some. The list was long, my friends. Eventually I split and thanks to my now-frazzled, completely stressful gig that I had struggled through in the past three months, I took a long disability “vacation,” courtesy of the State of New Jersey. (Thanks, Governor Corzine!) Nearly a year and several thousand milligrams of Prozac later I am finally getting my head together (although I would still love to set fire to this crazy pair’s office) and am once again ready to tackle whatever Life thows my way. 

 So why am I dumping all this garbage on you when you don’t know me from a hole in the wall and have your own issues to deal with? Because if I can reach out and help one person, JUST ONE PERSON, get out of Day Job Hell I’ll be thrilled beyond belief. If you’ve had it with the asinine dress codes, gas-guzzling expeditions to your office, staring wistfully out of your “cube” at a bright, sunny day that you can’t enjoy because you come home after dark, the cliques and gossip (I’ve never had a job that wasn’t infected with THAT nonsense), the magical shrinking paycheck, the dread you feel while watching “60 Minutes’ because you know that in a matter of hours you’ll be trapped in the hamster wheel all over again…I’ve been there, folks.

 So what is this job hater doing now? Well, as corny as it sounds, when you do something really cool and fun for a living, you end up bouncing out of bed at 5am (ok, 6am sometimes) and going full speed ahead into the wee hours. And no, I’m not taking speed to accomplish this. I’m just throwing myself into learning as much as I can about making some serious cash on the Internet while making as few mistakes as possible, and learning from the ones I’ve already made.

Don’t expect me to boast about the multi-million-dollar mansion, the 10 luxury cars, or the yacht I have at my disposal. That’s not happening, and even if I made that much moolah, I wouldn’t spend it on toys. In fact, my hubby is the primary breadwinner right now. He has a 2 hour commute (one way) to NYC to work at a bank that is paying him chicken feed. Then he gets to hit the trains all over again and hopefully comes home in time to wolf down his dinner, flop in front of the TV for a little while, and go to bed. Fun, huh? Especially now that he’s thinking of taking a weekend gig as well. (“Would you like fries with that?”) 

OK, enough of my whining. I just want some warm bodies who have been in my shoes, or at least relate to it, and are looking to the Internet as a source of income. You may be a stay-at-home-mom who just wants a few hundred a month to pay some bills, or you may indeed be that person who dreams of the multi-million-dollar home. You may be on public assistance, stuck in the same hell as I was, or 35 years old and still living with your parents. It doesn’t matter. I just want to help you.

If you’ve been poking around the Net at all checking out marketing stuff, you’ve probably seen that it’s just like the old Phil Collins song–a “Land Of Confusion.” Everyone out there is screaming that they are the latest internet marketing “guru” who for $17, $47 or $97 will disclose the untold secrets that will get money flooding into your PayPal or Clickbank account. Watch it, folks. I’ve spent too much money on garbage and I don’t want you to do the same.

Let me guess–you probably think I’m going to push selling items on Ebay as your road to freedom. Uh…no. While it’s always a cool thing to put up some auctions and make a little extra cash in the process (I volunteer at a thrift shop that gives me shopping credits for each day I work, so guess where all those primo Abercrombie and Ralph Lauren stuff ends up? ) I’m not trashing the people who bust their butts to sell on Ebay, but since I’m too lazy to bother much with posting photos, non-paying bidders, and the ever-rising fees, I found another way. And this is something you can do on the weekends, when the kids are napping, or the last half hour or so before you hit the sack.

The way is AFFILIATE MARKETING.

Ever been on a website, any website, where you see those ads placed somewhere, like a banner or small ad placed on the side of the text? Give that webmaster points for using his/her brain. That person placed the ad on their site because if a visitor gets a click on it, they get a cut of whatever the person buys. So let’s say you’re on a book review site, and you see an ad for Barnes & Noble. If you click on that ad, and you end up buying something, the website owner gets a commission–just by sending you to the website. It’s a win-win situation–the merchant gets free advertising, and the web owner gets a cut of whatever the visitor buys. Pretty cool, huh?

Think about it. Nothing to stock, no worries about where to find products to sell or who to sell it to. It’s all set up for you. Another awesome thing about affiliate marketing is that there are literally hundreds of merchants with an affiliate program. Who says you have to stick with just one company when you can get commisions from 4 or 5…or even more?

Now, if you’re a newbie like me, you are probably tearing your hair out because you don’t have a website yet. No worries–I don’t either. (Yet.) Can you still promote affiliate programs? You bet your bippy! One of the biggest selling products on the Internet today are INFORMATION PRODUCTS. Let’s say that there’s someone out there who’s going camping, and is tired of cooking the same bacon n’eggs every time they go. You can market an e-book (more on that later) that has a ton of great camping recipes. Or there’s someone who wants to make some extra bucks working outdoors. You can promote an e-book showing you how to grow and sell root cuttings. Or, you’ve made some inroads into your internet marketing career and you want to take it to another level. There’s a great bunch of seasoned marketers out there who have made it to the top and are eager to share how they can help you get there too. Guess what…you can promote e-books promising exactly that.  And there’s no need to have a website…yet.

This post is rapidly turning into a book, so I’ll sign off for now. For all the folks who are not yet familiar with e-books, you are in for a treat. They are a cinch to promote and sell like hotcakes. I’ll also share some resources where you can start marketing this stuff absolutely free. Look, I’m not an expert, and like you, I’m starting at the bottom. But if you check out my blog every now and then and we all band together with the common goal of kicking our day jobs to the curb where they belong, there’s no stopping us. (Cue the theme to “Rocky” here.) Sure, I’m going to post links to information products that have worked for me….and they’re not free.  But I’ll only post the stuff that I’ve personally tested for myself. Then you can make the decision if you want to spring for it, and I have plenty of free goodies to share with you as well. Hey, we all have to start somewhere.

As you’ve probably seen by now I’m not the average marketer. I just want the freedom to have more control over my life and how much money I’m making. No, you are not going to make mega-bucks in the beginning. I’m not–yet. But the more you learn (and yes, you’ll make mistakes too) the more you’ll know about affiliate marketing, and how to ride on the coattails of someone’s product while earning a nice chunk of change. Before you know it, you’re few measly drops will evolve into a trickle, then a stream, then a river, and then a mighty flood. Because there’s one more thing I forgot to mention…eventually, when you get to the point of investing a bit in your business and springing for some tools that I will recommend to you, you’ll be practically running this on autopilot. But right now, let’s just focus on the grassroots stuff. We can haul out the big guns later and you’ll be the proud king (or queen) of your very own internet marketing empire.

Are you beginning to get excited yet?

Anyhoo, thanks for reading this post and let’s stay in touch. If you’ve already gone beyond putting your toes in the water, please share what works for you. I’d love to hear about it. Or if you just want to drop me a line to tell me how crazy this post was, that’s OK too. I would just love to hear from anyone on the same page as I am.

I’m looking forward to helping you make some bucks so you can make your Day Job Hell into Day Job HISTORY. I know we can do it.

Keep smiling!

Michelle

goodbyedayjob@live.com–Open 24 hours a day with free parking!