The Headless Newbie - don't burn that credit card

Copyright © 2004 Marc Howlett

Are you a headless newbie?

I know I was when twelve month ago when I started looking into
setting up an online business. Whichever way I turned people
were willing to offer me advice, e-books, freebies, newsletters,
amazing money making opportunities, advertising, search engine
placement and much more. This was great but my head started
spinning and my credit card started to melt and worst of all I
wasn't making a cent.

I learnt a lot during this time and have started to see my
commission cheques increase so here are my top 5 tips to help
the newbie with the credit card rush to stop sit back and
actually start earning some money.

1: Before you sign up for anything read the sales page fully and
see what you are actually getting for your money. Many of these
pages contain a lot of information and the tendacy is to skim
them for the interesting parts ie: How much does it cost. This
is exactly what they are desinged to do, so slow down and read
everything fully. When I first started I signed up for several
programs just because they seemed to offer a lot for not a lot
of money, this was true but none of it was at all useful.

2: Join some relevant forums and ask questions about the
affiliate programs you are interested in. People are only too
happy to help and you will get some good honest feedback both
good and bad.

3: When you decide on a program give it time and if it doesn't
work straight away keep going. One of the biggest mistakes is
to jump from program to program to find one that will work. As
with any business it takes time to build and see results so
stick with it and keep telling yourself what brought you to
internet marketing.

4: Decide on a monthly budget and make sure you stick to it.
With the ease of online credit card transactions you will often
be tempted by amazing one time only offers, these are designed
to get a snap decision from you.

5: Don't keep checking your emails for sign ups. Firstly you
will be disappointed if you dont have any and secondly you will
be sent lots of emails offering you the world. Its very easy
when you are down to try something else and this often invloves
your credit card.

Thats my top five but the biggest piece of advice I have been
given lately is to take the odd day off and don't do anything,
especially at times when you are down and nothing seems to be
working. I did this recently and came back to five sign ups,
the feeling was great and I went about my business with new
vigour.

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Marc Howlett is a sales professional with several years
experience. Currently working full time as a sales director for
a large import wholesale company. I am also making a full time
living working part tme online. For help and advice check out
my website:
http://www.cash-attack.com
For personal advice contact me by email:
marc@cash-attack.com