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For more details on how to make great looking banners, buttons, headers, ads and more check out the 3 hour intensive Gimp Clinic here:
http://www.marketersmojo.com/gimp/

As you learn how to run a business it’s just unrealistic to think you can and should go it alone.

I mean if we think about how we learn all through our lives we have mentors for just about everything we do:

- Our parents are mentors as we are welcomed to the world and then try to figure out what it’s all about.
- Our friends are mentors when they’re learned something we don’t yet know.
- Our school teachers are mentors as we learn the skills we need to go get jobs (if we so choose to

So why do we sometimes think in business we should throw away the mentor mentality and figure it all out ourselves? Well, we shouldn’t!

I became a bit of a membership-site-aholic a few years ago and joined a lot of different ones. What I can tell you without a doubt is that not all membership sites are created equal.

Meet Lynn Terry:
I don’t know when exactly I first heard of Lynn Terry but I’ve been reading her Clicknewz blog for many years now, about five. I was certainly impressed by her story – a single mom who worked her way from not enough money for groceries to internet marketing success story. I was also impressed by the amount of seriously high quality content she gave away for free.

I don’t know what took me so long to join Lynn’s Elite Membership Forum. I knew Lynn knew her stuff, was a successful affiliate marketer and had a seriously loyal following.

Well if I think a little harder I guess I was tired of ‘wasting’ monthly membership fees and was weary of joining another membership group that I just used as a distraction to go ‘chat’ and not get anything done with.

But I bit the bullet and paid out the monthly membership cost to join the Elites.

Fast forward seven months and here are direct results from my time there:

1. $46+ Monthly Commish: As a result of November’s challenge I am now in the #2, #3, #4 & #10 positions for ‘Audio Acrobat Review’ and am earning a recurring profit of $46.08 in affiliate commissions every month. Considering I had no affiliate commissions from Audio Acrobat when I started the program this challenge alone has more than paid for my membership.

2. $125+ Sales Profits: I decided to write a report on my success hosting a virtual event last year. I wasn’t sure if I should sell it or give it away. Now while giving away quality reports is a great way to boost business, Lynn and the gang over at the elite forum suggested I sell it. And sell it I did! I put it into the 10 Day May Madness sale for just $5 and sold over 25. That’s an initial profit of over $125. Another four months of membership paid for.

3. Coaching Program Success: You probably know that I’m running a coaching program right now on how to create a website with WordPress. My planning of this event coincided perfectly with May’s challenge to create a product and so I accepted the challenge and posted my planning and progress on the forum. It was great to use the forum as a place to get feedback on how I was doing and suggestions on what else could be done. The coaching program has been a wonderful success for it’s first run with 21 students. Again, making the monthly membership payment easily paid up for a few years.

Now I know you know I can’t promise you’ll make your money back in the first week or the first month as your results may completely vary. What I can promise you is this:

“Lynn Terry and the Elite members are amoung the most dedicated online marketers out there. Lynn truely cares about helping her members and her market get from start to profit, and then repeat. “

The Self Starters Weekly Tips Elite membership is the ONLY membership program I now pay a monthly fee for and I’d be willing to pay double or triple for what I receive there.

So the membership has been closed for a while. Lynn’s been moving things around, making changes and improvements and gearing up for more members to join us.

Well I just got word the doors are open and you can sneek in before everyone else even knows about it!

Come join me on the forums (I visit and comment daily) and get the mentoring and support you need to get motivated and do greater things with your business. Here’s the link:
http://www.marketersmojo.com/recommends/elite

p.s. See you there!

Yea, I’m in a bit of a mood today.

I got an email from a well-known ‘internet marketer’ who said I should listen to a video from his drunk cousin and that at first he’s hiding it but then you can tell. So, ya, human nature says I click because I want to see what this drunk cousin who’s managed to make a mint looks like.

But then I find it’s just another pay-per-click video and I feel totally fooled!

I don’t know about you but again and again I’m tired of this bullshit that you can spend a few pennies and get rich. No, they didn’t say that in the video but isn’t lying by omission the same as lying?!

And so this one guy made tons of money in one niche – does that mean that I’m going to find a profitable and fullfilling business doing the same?

I mean. How much money did the guy WASTE before he became profitable in the first day? How many people like him have a crazy-rich cousin who knows every possible way to make a ton of cash online? How much help did he get from his millionaire friends before he made a profit? How much did he already have in his bank account before he started making a mint? These things get left out ALL the time.

My biggest beef with this type of hype and dreams is that as a service provider I get clients coming to me all the time with seriously unrealistic expectations.

Make no doubt about it: It takes time, skill, dedication, crazy-ass committment and a will like nothing else to run your own business! It’s not paint-by-numbers easy. There’s no simple formula and you won’t get rich overnight!!

And don’t get me wrong here: Dreams can come true, you can make a lot of money online and it does get easier. But for the 95% of us who struggle seeing these videos about how easy it can be can be a real kick in the face.

Let’s get realistic, ok?

RANT OVER!

So, yea. I’m not some big guru. I didn’t get rich overnight. In fact I’m not rich at all. I’m a single mom, makin my way in the sometimes sharky, snarky world of online business. And I know a few things that have made me a few bucks.

If you want to learn from someone who won’t get your hopes sky high only to have them dashed back to earth with a spirit-crushing crash, someone who can show you how to make a few thousand a month online (sometimes working damn hard – sometimes not so much) because that’s where she’s at then check out my stuff ok?

I’ll never send you bullshit emails just to make a fast buck selling you dreams and fairy-tales.

K?