Dwayne Coots

Recently I’ve been having to deal with a client who lives in a remote area and is using a dialup internet access account.

His heart is in the game. He is working hard to promote his program and is making the right moves to stay connected socially. He has Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc… but what he does not have is a good solid Internet connection.

Grrr. So I’m chipping away at him to get with one of those internet satellite providers that are always advertising on TV. Don’t get me wrong this client has money. He is not afraid to invest in his business and Internet marketing program, but he is hesitant to get a broadband account.

These day – I keep telling him — you just have to have broadband to do anything worthwhile. How are you going to manage a viral video campaign if you can’t stay connected long enough to watch a Youtube video (much less upload one).  This is just one example of why he needs to just take the plunge.

I hooked him up with a link to myWildBlue so he can get started. It’s about $100 to get set up and starts at $50 per month. This is nothing for a marketer — particularly when it give you the freedom to run a mailing list, chatrooms, and other broadband features. Plus it frees up your phone line.

Since most of the folks who read me already have broadband, guess I’m preaching to the choir eh? LOL

Dwayne

New unemployment numbers out today and somehow the administration has tortured the figures to show a 9.7% unemployment rate. So of course the argument starts and the complaining continues.  It’s hard to have a conversation with anyone lately without the subject turning to no work and lost jobs and what are we going to do? I feel your pain.

But like we talked about earlier, there are still some great ways to make money out there. You can do it on the Internet or you can do it in your home town. For example, one of the coolest ways you can self-employ yourself and work part time while job hunting (if you must) is to set up as a booth, kiosk, or roadside vendor. It’s cheap to get started and you can make some great money.

One very nice company to work with is Moda Sunglasses. They provide nice packs with assortments of high quality wholesale sunglasses you can order and resell for a great markup and still have room to give excellent prices. Check out their site and see the styles and prices and do some thinking about how you could set up to sell these locally or even at online auctions.

Anyway, the world is changing and unless we figure out how to employ ourselves instead of running around trying to fight for the latest crappy job available things are only gonna get worse.

Lisa and I have been with the same car insurance company since we got married 18 years ago. In fact I was with them on my persoanl auto insurance even before that. No tickets, no accidents, good deal.

But it adds up over the years and with all the car insurance commercials on TV and different rates they promise you start to wonder. It does not help that we have never really got a break for being good drivers. Oh sure our rates don’t go up much, but then they have never ever ever went down either. I figure they owe me a free car by now.

So we’re doing the comparison thing to see if we can get some better rates. Particularly since we now have a teenage son behind the wheel. I’ll post the results.

Dwayne

Right now there is an opportunity that First Time Home Buyers can’t pass up. The Federal government is offering a tax credit of up to $8,000. If you are even just starting to think about buying a home for the first time you really need to look into this.
This is an opportunity that will end on April 30, 2010. Between now and April 30, 2010, first time homebuyers can receive a federal income tax credit of up to $8,000 if they purchase a home. This federal tax credit that will not be extended! This applies if you are a first time home buyers or those who have not owned a home in the past three years. This is a fantastic opportunity for first time homebuyers who have been thinking about getting into the real estate market. You won’t have an opportunity like this again in your lifetime. If you have an income level of less than $125,000 for singles or $225,000 for married couples you may qualify.
If you are going to take advantage of this opportunity, you really need to get moving. You have to sign the written binding agreement prior to April 30, 2010 and close on the home by June 30, 2010. The thing to do is contact your tax professional or your local Coldwell Banker since other restrictions may apply. This offer will not be extended so get moving. This is something that you will tell your grandchildren about.

Buying First Home

Kelly Asks:

Dwayne – You seem kind of like a guru on the online shopping stuff. My husband and I want to try and make some extra money by doing something online. We both have jobs but we figure we can spend about 3 hours on each weeknight and one weekend day to make a go of selling something on the net. We have a few hundred (maybe $500) to put into it. Can you suggest anything? We see the wholesale and dropship ads all over. Does that work?.

Answer:

Howdy Kelly;

Okay that is a great dream and a nice nest egg to start with. First you’re not going to replace your day job any time soon with a $500 investment, but with a little elbow grease and several weekends you can parlay that into something that will pay a car note and maybe create some mad money to boot.

First while I urge you to look into wholesale and dropship options, don’t just leap into anything just because of a sales pitch. Remember that landing page sales copy can be very persuasive and is designed to separate you from your money before you have time to carefully consider. So look into these options then come back and ask for any further advice once you find one you like.

Wholesale or Dropship products:

These are fun. There are aggregators like Doba and Simplix who you pay a fee to and they give you access to many ’so-called’ wholesale products. Be careful because they are usually closer to 25% off retail so not really wholesale. Read the rest of this entry »

My wife and I have been married for almost 30 years. We have been through good times and bad times, flush and lean times. The thing that has been consistent has been that she has always been there for me.
When we first got married I bought her a new watch. This was a very nice watch and she wore it all the time. Then one day, about 3 months ago, the band broke and the watch fell in the road as she was crossing the street. Well you know where this is going, a car ran over the watch and it ended up in a thousand pieces. She was devastated.

I told her to look online and compare watches and find one that she liked. She took my advice and did her research. She was drawn to the Movado Watches. She liked the style of the Esperanza Black Dial. I told her that we just couldn’t afford to spend over $1,100 for a new watch. She understood but was very disappointed. She doesn’t know the real story.
Read the rest of this entry »

San Francisco is a city that is often misunderstood. There are so many more things to see in San Francisco than someone can imagine. Most people know about Fisherman’s Wharf, Alcatraz, and the Golden Gate Bridge, but there is so much more. I’ve lived my entire life in San Francisco. I’ve traveled around the world and could live anywhere I choose, I choose to live in San Francisco.

San Francisco has some amazing weather at some odd times. The fact that San Francisco is surrounded by water has an effect on the weather. San Francisco rarely has snow, but rain on the other hand can happen most any month of the year. The weather in San Francisco is temperate all year around. The best time to visit is really from September to November.

The great weather in San Francisco allows the city to have festivals all year around. The San Francisco Sports and Boat Festival in January kicks the year off and the New Year’s Eve party closes it down. There is something for every taste. From the Cherry Blossom Festival in mid April with its martial arts displays to the San Francisco Fair with its sophisticated urban party, San Francisco has a festival for everyone to enjoy. Read the rest of this entry »

Dwayne,

I set up this little site for the Indy Falcons group. (volunteer). www.indyfalcons.com
If you go there, you will see I have embedded the webcams which are sponsored by the Indianapolis Star.
My question is this: if people come to this page and watch the webcams, does that score a hit on the Star site? I know one of the reasons they support the webcams is the number of hits they get during the season. If embedding the cam removes those hits, I need to take it out and find something else to put there….
Thanks
Susan

——-

Hi Susan;
Happy new year! That’s a good question and a worthy cause.

I looked at the page and checked your code to see what’s what and you are using an iframe to embed these cams onto your page. Since the iframe is just pulling their page into your page it will register as a hit from the visitor computer — your website will not be cited in their logs unless you have some other clickover kind of content.

So to their system it does register a visitor hit so it justifies their supporting the cams. But don’t forget to add some content onto your page also so it can be regarded as important enough to be indexed. If your home page is nothing but an iframe embed from another site it does not qualify as valuable content to search bots. This makes it hard for the site to gain popularity and get ranked so more people can find it organically.

Hope this helps.
Dwayne

I’ve always wanted a nice wrist watch. You know one that screams style and class. The problem is we really aren’t wealthy people. I’ve bought wrist watches, but they aren’t something you would wear to a nice evening out. They are more the throw away type of watch. I never really thought I would ever own a real watch.
I never thought much about it when my wife started to brown bag every day. She said it was easier to eat at her desk. It gave her more time to relax. Did she fool me! When she gave me a Seiko SMY093 Men’s Stainless Steel Kinetic Blue Face wrist watch for our 5th anniversary WOW! It is great!
This watch has a stainless steel case and bracelet. The metallic blue dial with the luminous silver tone hands and markers gives it a very classy rich look. The date and day display are very easy to read. The precise Kinetic movement with the power reserve indicator shows the quality engineering involved in the construction. The scratch resistant Hardlex Crystal keeps the face looking new. This thing is water resistant to 50m, which is unbelievable at this price. They even give you a 3 year original manufacturer’s warranty.
You just can’t find a better watch at this price. I couldn’t ask for a better anniversary gift or a better wife. Get your own seiko kinetic!

The Pacquiao vs. Mayweather fight is going to be a fight to remember. There are reports that an agreement is close to being worked out.  $50 million can cause enemies to want to knock one another out. I mean that is a lot of money. In my mind they are going to work a deal.

Floyd “Money” Mayweather, Jr. is an animal. Floyd is currently 40 – 0. The means no body has beaten him.  He also has 25 knockouts. This is incredible for someone who is known for his speed. He is ranked the #2 pound for pound fighter in the world. Mayweather has plenty of accolades. He has won six world boxing championships in five different weight classes; he is the former WBC welterweight champion, a title he vacated upon his retirement. Just in case I didn’t say it HE IS UNDEFEATED! Read the rest of this entry »