The good thing about having your own email list is that if you mess up a subject, it costs you nothing. Just try again next time. Actually one of my biggest misunderstood email subjectlines got one of the best responses I’ve ever received and gave me a ton of feedback from my subscribers… so that mess-up was a GOOD thing!

Here are ten top email subject line tips to help you get your message out to the world and help more people! Always remember your goal and it will help you keep sending those messages. Good luck

#1: Keep it Short

When it comes to an email subject line, less is more. The goal is to get the reader to open the email and read it, not give everything away from the start.

A Mailchimp study found that subject lines with a length of 28 to 39 characters had the highest click rate. It’s also important to keep the subject line short for practical reasons. Most email programs cut it off at 50 to 55 characters, so if you go beyond that the reader will not see the whole thing.

 #2: Avoid Spam Triggers

No matter how spectacular your email may be, if it ends up in the user’s spam folder, the chances of him reading it are slim to none. It’s a good idea to encourage your subscriber’s to add your email address to their whitelist so that they won’t miss any of your emails, but since not everyone will do so it’s important to avoid using words and symbols in your subject line that could trigger spam filters as much as possible.

These include:

• Free
• Earn
• Income
• Cash
• Buy
• Clearance
• Million
• Credit
• Stock
• Sale
• Online pharmacy
• Weight loss
• Urgent
• Winner
• Casino
• Dollar signs
• Excessive exclamation points
• All caps

You can also use your autoresponder’s spam check. Here’s an example from an Aweber spam check.

#3: Use Numbers

Numbers have a way of making headlines more appealing, and the same holds true for email subject lines. Using a number promises quantifiable information and people like this. And in the case of lists such as “5 ways to boost conversion rates” or “Top 7 Facebook marketing tools,” it promises an easily digestible list of useful information.

#4: Create a Sense of Urgency

If the reader doesn’t read your email as soon as it is received, chances are he won’t read it at all. That’s why it’s good to create a sense of urgency with the subject line. Go ahead and let them know that spots for your latest course are limited, that your big sale ends tomorrow, or that they must take action right away. They will feel compelled to open your email and learn more.

#5: Be Clear About What’s Inside

Sometimes an air of mystery can work to your advantage, but in most cases readers want to know what an email is about up front. Their time is valuable, and if they are unsure whether it will be wasted by reading your email, they may send it straight to the trash.

Never mislead your readers…it will reduce your credibility and is also likely illegal.

#6: Make it Timely

Current events that are relevant to your audience make for great email subject lines. You don’t necessarily have to make the entire email about the event. Simply finding a way to tie it in with your message is a good way to generate interest and make recipients want to read more.

#7: Focus on Benefits

One of the most important rules of copywriting is to focus on the benefits that your product offers the customer. This can also be applied to email subject lines. Let the reader know what’s in it for him right off the bat, and he will be eager to read the rest of your message.

#8: Be Controversial

Don’t be afraid of stirring up a little controversy. It’s a great way to pique the reader’s interest, even if he doesn’t agree with your stance. Just make sure that you back up any claims made in the subject line within the email; otherwise, you may lose the reader’s trust.

#9: Avoid Cheap Tricks

Some marketers resort to trickery as a means of getting readers to open their emails. For example, they might add Re: or Fwd: to the beginning to make it look like the email is coming from someone the recipient knows.

Most users are savvy enough to ignore such tactics, and those who do open the email will be turned off by the dishonesty and delete the email.

Just give it to them straight and treat them like you would a friend that you’re emailing.

#10: Test Your Subject Lines

There is no foolproof formula for creating the perfect subject line. Tactics that work for one marketer may be all wrong for another, so it’s important to test your subject lines to determine what works best for your specific audience. You can do this by sending identical emails with different subject lines to two groups of subscribers. Look at the open and response rates for each, and apply the techniques that work best to future emails.

No matter how good your email is, it’s worthless if it goes unopened. By taking the time to craft an informative and attention-getting subject line, you can make sure that most of your recipients will keep reading.

BONUS: Here are some copy/paste Subject-Line Starters for you. Feel free to use them to help you start creating headlines that follow the top 10 tips above!

• XX Ways to [Do Something Awesome]
• Top XX [Your Topic] Tips
• The Real Reason XX Won’t Work For You
• How to Become an Expert XX in [X Days]
• Why You Should Learn More About XX
• How [Your Topic] Can Help [Their Goal]
• Time Is Almost Up to Claim Your [Product, Freebie, Etc] <<<< Hint – Time sensitive emails encourage ACTION!
• How I [Something Your Market Wants to Know]
• How You Can [Something Your Market Wants to Do]
• New [XX] <<< People like new stuff!

Angela Wills

p.s. Don’t have an email list yet? PLEASE don’t make me come kick your butt about this! Just go grab yourself a $1 trial from Aweber, sign up for my training and then start earning more because you actually have business leads who want to hear from you AND buy from you!

You did the typical thing… Placed a sign up form in your WordPress sidebar.

Now you wait for the flood of signups to come in.

What? They’re not coming?

Ok I’m not really surprised. From my own personal testing opt-in forms on the sidebar get about a 1-2% opt-in rate. So for every 100 people that’s a maximum of 2 sign ups. If you want 10 signups a day you’d need traffic in the area of 500 unique visitors per day.

Last year I bought my first home with my fiance. I can say with absolute certainty that if I didn’t have an email list, that would NOT have happened. Also last year, November, I considerably cut down my client work so that almost ALL my income comes from information products and coaching sales. That could NOT have happened without my email list. Since last year I’ve also grown my email list by over 1000 people, increasing my opportunity for more sales.

I currently have over 3000 people signed up to hear from me. You’re most likely one of them (and if you’re not then click here to get my 7 Website Stumbling Blocks and sign up to my list ). All of the people signed up to my list expect quality info from me and they get it. They also get offers, often. I make no qualms about marketing to my email list. I personally consider it an insult to the people ON my list if I don’t share the information I know can help them! That’s why my list works.

My list subscribers and I have an understanding: I deliver high value, some free, some paid… so I get to keep doing what I love and they get to learn from my experience and knowledge. Fair deal, right? Isn’t it time you do the same in your business?

Even if you’ve got good traffic and decent sign ups from your sidebar signup form, you could be growing your list so much faster!

Here are 10 ways to grow your email list, fast:

1. Host a webinar. Partner with someone with a big list to promote a webinar you will host. For this to work best there has to be something really good in it for them. One of the best things you can do is give them a high commission on a product that really fits their market. If you have affiliates you can partner with them to promote your webinar and grow your list that way as well. I’ve used this tactic to add 40-200 people to my list at a time.

2. Host a giveaway. You can host a giveaway on your own blog and use the plugin Subscribers Magnet to allow people to subscribe to your list at the same time. Of course just posting the giveaway to your blog is not enough. You need to promote it, as well. Of course share it with your current list and ask them to share it on social media. Share it on social media yourself. If you have affiliates, invite them to tell their people about the giveaway. This works really well to help affiliates get more sales so make sure you give them an affiliate link to the giveaway. I recently used this tactic to add 153 new subscribers to my list.

3. Participate in a giveaway. I just recently finished participating in the Done 4 You Giveaway for the second year. I’ve also participated in a number of other giveaways. A giveaway is an online event that has participants signing up to get freebies such as reports, templates, videos, etc. that might be of value to them. I have always found them to be worth the effort and the money (yes, many people charge for you to participate in their giveaway). I’ve added anywhere from 50 – 800 people at a time to my email list using giveaways!

4. Buy website ads. Find highly targeted websites with reasonably priced ads and put a banner ad to a freebie on them. This has worked for me on multiple occasions to add about 200 people at a time to my list. I’ve also tried ads that didn’t work at all. I’ve learned it’s important that the site isn’t loaded up with ads or your ad won’t get much attention. It’s also important that your ad be viewed as supported by the site owner and integrated into the site’s look, instead of looking like an ad that people don’t trust.

Why focus on adding people to your list?

It’s an essential part of growing your business. You need a constant source of new leads. Growing your list fast and with targeted people ensures that you are growing your list of potential buyers. As long as you nurture that relationship (send out messages!) then you are investing in your business for long-term growth. It works!

Want to learn more? Today, June 13th, you can attend a live training on WordPress List Building (or grab the recording) for just $27 when you sign up for WP Study Group. Visit the site to learn more and sign up for our 2pm ET session!

Angela Wills

p.s. Don’t have an email list yet? PLEASE don’t make me come kick your butt about this! Just go grab yourself a $1 trial from Aweber, sign up for my training and then start earning more because you actually have business leads who want to hear from you AND buy from you!

Product: Aweber
Use: Send Emails
Cost: Starting at $19.95/month
Trial: YES, 30 Days For $1

What to take a test drive?
Click Here to Sign Up For a 30-Day Trial for just $1

What Does Aweber Email Software Do?

1. Sends Emails Automatically – An automatic email is called an autoresponder. Send them out in sequence that you’ve loaded into Aweber. You can have an unlimited number of email lists with an unlimited number of messages. I currently have twenty lists and hundreds of autoresponder messages loaded in.

Here’s a short video review of inside Aweber:

2. Sends Emails on Demand – An email that you send out on a one-time basis is called a broadcast. With Aweber you can set up your broadcasts in a two ways – to go out immediately or to go out at a later, scheduled date.

Check out this video on how to use and setup email broadcasts:

How Do I Use Aweber?

My business involves selling products and services to those who want to work from home. It’s not easy to do that from my website alone. That’s why I create email lists that collect business leads that I can follow up with and provide more information on how I can help them.

Right now I have over 1,000 leads in my Aweber account. There are many ways I use Aweber to connect with those leads, here are a few examples:

1. Autoresponder Ecourses – I have a number of ecourses set up that allow visitors to sign up and get an automated sequence of emails that teach on a specific topic such as Email Marketing or WordPress Website Design.

2. Broadcast Messages – I will often send out a broadcast to my whole list when I have announcement to make about a new product or service or something of interest to my readers. This builds business and trust in my ability to provide value.

3. Blog Broadcasts – My blog is a great resource itself and so I have it set up through Aweber’s Blog Broadcast service to automatically broadcast my blog post summaries every Thursday at around 8am. That way my subscibers don’t miss any great blog posts!

4. Teleseminars – I’ll often use Aweber to set up a teleseminar or webinar for my clients or potential clients. This allows me to build my reputation in my expertise, grow my email list, and do follow-up marketing to those interested in a specific topic.

It’s only $1 to try it – what you got to lose?
Click Here to Sign Up For a 30-Day Trial for just $1

What Email Features Do I Use?

I wanted to make sure I cover many of the features of Aweber that make it very unique and a one of a kind service. Let’s run them down with a simple summary:

Email Newsletter Templates:
Aweber has a large number of professional, easy to use Newsletter templates that you can plug your business right into and have a nicely formatted newsletter in no time.

Subscriber Details & Tracking:
The details and statistics you get in regards to your email subscribers is fantastic. You can find out:
- where they signed up
- what your sign up conversion rate is
- what they opened after signup
- what they clicked on after signup
- what the last email they received was
- how much revenue an email brought int
- how many people unsubscribed
- what percentage opened your emails
If you choose to you can also segment your lists based on different criteria such as ‘all the people who clicked a link in my last email’.

Sign Up Form Templates

I was so excited when I saw Aweber come out with this feature. I have not seen this with any other email service provider. Aweber provides you with full professional designer-quality sign up form templates that allow you to add a great looking sign up form to your website in minutes. To understand how significant this is let me tell you that you could easily pay a graphic designer $100 or more to create a high quality form that you can never change. Aweber’s forms are great looking and also highly customizable so that you can have the exact look you want for your website.

Here’s a few points about the email signup templates:
- Hundreds of templates to choose from
- Customizable colors, styles, text and headings
- Add your logo or ecover images
- Quick and easy publishing to your website

I did up a video to show you how to set up the email sign up forms and submit buttons:

Twitter and Facebook Integration

Want your twitter followers to see your emails, or your Facebook friends to know what you’re posting? Aweber also makes this very easy with automatic integration with these two social media giants.

Ready to See If Aweber Is For You?
Click Here to Sign Up For a 30-Day Trial for just $1

Aweber Review: What’s the Downside?

The only negative I can think of is that you are tied to this program for the life of your business. I personally don’t find that to be a problem as I consider one of the best investments I can make in my business. It also allows me to have a support team behind the services.

In Summary:
I first signed up for Aweber about three years ago and then I left to try out other programs. It didn’t take me long to realize I had made a mistake and I moved my business back to Aweber for good. In a little over a year I’ve grown my email list from about 150 to over 1200. I get about five to ten email signups a day and that has a lot to do with how easy Aweber makes it to use their services and promote my lists.

I recommend Aweber to anyone running a business website. Email marketing is one of the most important business tasks you can use to connect to your market and make more money. Having a professional, established and reliable program like Aweber to back you up is essential to your email marketing success.

See Why I HEART Aweber By Clicking The Link Below, You Won’t Be Dissapointed!
Click Here to Sign Up For a 30-Day Trial for just $1

I wrote a quick report. Actually, it’s made up of more screenshots than writing. This report shows you how to create your first ecover.

Click on the eCover to Download Now!

Contest is now closed – But you can still sign up for the course by going here:
http://www.WPDesignerSchool.com
For $100 off use coupon code: mojo

Win my $397 Web Designer Training Course for FREE!
To enter just post a comment below…

Are you interested in designing sites for clients? Do you already help clients out with WordPress but just need to boost your skills to start building it bigger and charging more? Check out the things you can do as a result of the learning I’m offering below:

• Build Completely Custom Sites without coding. Clients want a customized website that fits their business and branding but they don’t want to pay programmer fees to get it! That’s where you can come in. Learn some simple coding tweaks and how to find a great professional theme to do the rest.
• Impress Your Clients with cool plugins. Our clients don’t really know where a theme begins and a plugin ends. In this course you’ll learn how to give them the great features they want using some cool plugins (like slideshow and backup plugins).
• Work Less and Charge More. If you’re currently working very hard for $15-$30 an hour it’s time for a raise! Website Design services command a rate of $50 per hour and up (my current rate is $65-$75/hr depending on the type of work).
• Boost Business when you need to. Being a solopreneur means that sometimes I work on my own projects and sometimes I work on client projects. However I know that when times get a little tight in my marketing business I can usually whip up a website or two to fill the gaps. Website Design services are in high demand, and clients are looking for people who can do the job right!

I’m very excited to announce the first session of WP Designer School starts on June 5th! This is a unique program that my clients have been asking me for a long time to create. I finally made the time to get this going and I can’t wait to welcome my first group of clients!

In this course you’ll learn the ins and outs of creating WordPress websites for clients, from making your own site, to marketing your business, to working with clients, customizing the theme (CSS and php tweaking, too) and more. Enter below to be gifted free WordPress training through this course.

The Giveaway

One winner will be gifted a full lifetime tuition into the course WP Designer School (real value $397).

The Timeline

Post a comment below to be considered on or before June 5th at 9am ET.

The Prize Details

WP Designer School is a brand new coaching program designed to teach small business freelancers and virtual assistants how to successfully work with clients to build awesome WordPress websites!

While this is the first run of this course I am not new to teaching people how to make websites in WordPress. Since 2010 I’ve run a program on how to make a website in WordPress that has had over 200 clients participate. I expect the response to this program to be just as great!

Here’s just some of what you get with WP Designer School (more details on the site):

• Four Live Training Sessions on June 5, 12, 19 and 26 from 2pm – 3:30pm ET. (These sessions will be recorded.)
• 50+ Page WordPress Web Designers Manual Containing Training, Resources, Checklists & Templates to use in your business.
• Growing Self-Study Video Reference Library Containing Over 7 Hours of WordPress Training.
• 38+ HOURS of Previous Q&A Webinars Containing Valuable Training & Hands-On Learning.
• BONUS – Three free months of WP Study Group For Monthly Ongoing WordPress Training.
• BONUS – Free course Graphics Mojo to Train You on Making Graphics in Gimp.
• BONUS – 75 Website Header Templates to Create a Header for All Your Client’s Websites!
• Permanent Access to our customer area containing all resources, recordings and updates so you can refer back anytime.
• Free Course Updates & Lifetime Access.

*lifetime access means the videos don’t go away when the course ends, access them anytime

Terms and Conditions

• No purchase necessary to enter.
• No cash value and cannot be refunded for cash.
• For new students to the program only.
• Winner will be determined by random draw.
• Tweet and link to your tweet for an extra entry.
• If you sign up for the course and win the tuition, I’ll refund your payment!
  Sign up now for $100 off with coupon code: mojo

For all the details, customized site examples and more see the salespage here:
www.WPDesignerSchool.com

That’s it – To enter just comment below if you want to win and tell me how Website Design Mojo will help you!

Keeping in mind you can make more money but you can NOT make more time is important. In the beginning we tend to believe we can do everything ourselves but it’s quickly obvious that’s just not so!

Personally I love DIY. I love digging in and learning new things but I’ve learned the hard way that sometimes it’s just not worth it for me. My time, just like yours, is limited and very valuable and I have got to put it where I will get the maximum results.

Just recently I hired the talented Cindy Bidar to help me update my Amember shopping cart software. Could I have done it myself? Sure! I was even very involved in the process and helped Cindy where I could. All told though I’m sure she saved me at least 8-10 hours work! For me that time was much better spent promoting my upcoming coaching programs or developing new programs.

In cases like this is unlikely I’ll ever do Amember updates because for one I don’t have a lot of desire to and, two, because it’s rare that I’ll need it done. This is the perfect time to hire out.

Another example is websites. If you only ever intend to have one website then you probably won’t need to learn how to build it yourself. I do, however, highly recommend you learn how to maintain it (DIY) unless you have very deep pockets to pay for maintenance and updates.

Knowing who to hire is your next challenge. Going through referrals is one of the best ways to do so. I also recommend you check out this awesome giveaway I’m participating it. It’s different than most giveaways you’ve probably seen because there is literally $1,000,000 worth of done for you services being given away (I, myself and giving away $2500 worth of services).

Here’s where to check it out:
http://www.Done4YouGiveaway.com

I know how to build my own websites as you probably know. This is a DIY skill that has propelled my business forward, allowed me to quit my job and given me the freedom I currently have to choose my jobs and hours. It was well worth the time invested.

If there is something you will be doing again and again. If it’s something you simply couldn’t afford to pay out of pocket for and if it will help you gain more time or money then I think you’d be smart to DIY so you can learn while you do.

Of course I have my DIY course Website Design Mojo (which will be open for registration again soon with a few new changes I think you’ll like) is my prime example of a DIY skill you may want to learn.

Other DIY skills include writing (like I’m writing this email), graphics (like the one I whipped up in Gimp for this email),  email list management (like learning to use Aweber, the program I’m using to send this email) and more.

Anything you need done fast, or you’ll need done a lot is probably something you should at least learn how to do well first, even if you do plan to outsource, so that you know the way that works best for your business.

I also am a big fan of ongoing learning. You’re not going to learn everything you need to know about running an online business in a week, or two weeks or six weeks. It’s an ongoing commitment to keeping it up. A great way to learn is by doing. I’m a big fan of just diving into new products or programs that I want to learn. To giving myself a project to complete so I can learn on the job. It’s just so much more motivating to have a goal!

I hope that helps and that you have a little more clarity on when it’s smart to pay someone to help you and when you should just dive in and get ‘er done.

Again I encourage you to check out the Done 4 You Giveaway, there’s a lot there!

Also if you want ongoing learning related to growing your website and building a profitable WordPress site I’d like to invite you to join my mentorship group and monthly workshop at WP Study Group. You can sign up for your first month for only $13.50 and if you sign up now you won’t miss May’s recordings and resources on how to keep your website SAFE and updated (it’s really important!).

Well Crissy Herron is one lady I agree with often. She’s written a great post on how to get something we all need – more time. This post she’ll share how she gets more done in less time… leaving some time left for you to use as you wish!

Get More Done In Less Time by Crissy Herron (www.IndieBizChicks.com)

With summer approaching, you may find yourself with more activities on your schedule – and a lot less time to work on your business. So many things happen in the summer – from weddings and graduations to family reunions and barbecues with friends.

If you’re a parent, your kids are home from school and they want to be entertained. And you still want to find time to enjoy the warm weather yourself. It’s no wonder that people often let their business take a back seat during the summer!

Here are some tips on how to get more done in less time:

Make A List – Start by making a list of the things you need to get done. Writing everything down will clear your mind and allow you to focus. You’ll be surprised at how much more productive you are when your mind isn’t scattered in a bunch of different directions, trying to remember everything that needs to get done.

Prioritize – Once you have your list, start prioritizing your tasks. What are the most important things that need to be done? What are the things that can wait until tomorrow or the weekend? Take care of the most important things first. For example – finishing your ebook is more important than answering a miscellaneous email.

Automate – Try automating as many tasks as possible. For example, sign up for a free account at HootSuite and you’ll be able to pre-write your tweets and status updates and set them to publish up to 6 months in advance. You’ll still want to log-in to Twitter and Facebook and interact with others, but you won’t need to log-in as much.

Note from Angela: I’m working hard to automate my business through my email marketing using Aweber. I’ve set up autoresponders (automated emails) that will go out to market my business even while I’m away at weddings, attending backyard BBQs and more. I’m also working to automate delivering of my coaching programs and products so my customers get their products delivered even when I’m away. Gotta love automation!

Delegate – Many business owners try to do everything by themselves. Instead of overloading yourself and feeling overwhelmed, start outsourcing some of your tasks to a virtual assistant. If you have knowledge and experience to share, you can also take on an intern. When you work with an intern, they will “work” for you in exchange one-on-one help, mentoring, and experience. This can be a very cost-effective way to start outsourcing!

If you enjoyed these tips for getting more done in less time and want to learn more tips, tricks, and methods for staying focused, creating quick content, and more, sign up for my 90 Day Summer Biz Challenge. It’s free to join and starts on June 1. You’ll receive weekly lessons to help you stay motivated and productive all Summer long. Learn more at: http://indiebizchicks.com/wp/the-90-day-summer-biz-challenge/

Is Your WordPress Website Protected? Self-Quiz

Instructions:

Take the quiz (print it out or write on a sheet of paper) to learn if you really know how to secure your WordPress website or blog.

If you pass, congrats! If you fail, click the FAIL button below and find out how you can protect yourself – before it’s too late. (cue scary ‘look out behind you’ music….)

WP Website Safety & Protection Self-Quiz:
(answer questions as they relate to your WordPress website)

1.Do you or your webmaster perform regular manual backups?

2.Do you have a regular automated backup system in place?
a) Do you check on your automated backups on a regular basis to make sure they’re still working?

3.Do you know what to do in the event of a major website catastrophy? ie. Hacked, spammed, virus installed on your website, hosting crash, etc?

4.Is your WordPress website updated to the newest version of WordPress?

5.Do you update your WordPress site as soon as a new security update comes out?

6.Do you give your Virtual Assistants and other ‘helpers’ their own WordPress accounts?

7.Do you have a spam plugin installed and working properly?

8.Do you know how to move hosts quick if you need to?

If you answered NO to any of these questions then it’s time to learn how to protect your site!

Come join us at http://www.WPStudyGroup.com

It’s one of my absolute, all-time favorites.

Henry sees Lucy in a little breakfast diner and is instantly attracted. He’s got game that day and helps Lucy add a cool waffle door to her cute waffle house… a love connection is made.

Henry leaves feeling pretty good about the prospect of seeing Lucy again and when he returns the next day he is thrown for a loop to realize that Lucy has NO short-term memory. Lucy’s forgotten all about Henry and when he approaches her joking about his hands smelling like fish (he works at an Aquarium) she takes a total freak out and in no uncertain terms tells him to back right off!

Does Henry give up because it’s hard, or, seemingly impossible?

Nope…  he spends the next 50 days working his ass off to make Lucy fall in love with him all over again, every day.
(awww makes me wanna cry just thinking of it…!)

Henry found something worth working hard for and he wasn’t willing to take no for an answer.

Isn’t love supposed to be easy? Well not for Henry. He did it anyway.

I’ll let you go find the movie on Netflix or Amazon to find out what happens in the end… it gets me every time I watch and I end up bawling my eyes out!  Spoiler Alert – He gets the girl!

The point?

Someone might of told you building a website is super-easy, seconds to put up and all that.

Someone might of said you can make $10,000 in a DAY on the internet.

Someone might of inferred that internet marketers are lazy people who don’t want to work…. and you wanted to join them?

I get it. I wanted to be lazy, too. I thought maybe I could just ‘strike it rich’ and get ‘lucky in internet marketing’ like maybe Henry wanted to be in love.

But I wasn’t lucky in internet marketing. I worked DAMN hard! I mean DAMN hard…. not a little bit hard.

I wanted this bad and I didn’t give up when I found out I had to work harder to get it.  Like Henry I was willing to try over and over and over and over and over again…. and over again… as long as I had to.

• I was willing to spend nine months on 4-6 hours sleep per night to quit my job.
• I was willing to pull my hair out working with clients who were hard to please.
• I was willing to live in my parents basement while my friends were buying houses so I could build up my business.
• I was willing to invest money into the services that helped my business grow.
• I was willing to keep giving it time when it felt helpless and I was told to just give it up already!
• I was willing to do whatever I had to… period.
  (As long as it was ethical and honest of course, which should go without saying.)

It gets under my skin a little when people come to me expecting to pop up a website in a few days and get the same results someone who’s been doing it for 10 years can – that’s just not realistic! At the same time I get it, I really do. We all want what we want and we want it now.

The good, no GREAT, news? The sooner you realize this is not a business of instant gratification the sooner you can get to work ON the results you want and the sooner they will manifest themselves into reality!

This CAN absolutely be done! I almost quit many times but I kept coming back… and I’m so glad I did…

So I’m sorry it’s not easy to build a successful business on the internet… but that’s the truth.

Are you willing to work harder?

It all started the day I stumbled into the Internet Based Moms forum run by Alice Seba. I was a brand new mom, with a brand new business and not a clue how to make money on the internet. I also had a very strong desire and suspicion that it was possible to fulfill my dreams of working from home full time, online.

That was 2004. The free forum at Internet Based Moms introduced me to many great business ladies I still know and network with to this very day. I soon found out that Alice Seba was partnering with a couple of other smart ladies named Kelly McCausey and Lynette Chandler to create an exclusive ‘mastermind’ site for moms who wanted to learn more about how to be successful at working online.

I was SO IN!

It was so exciting to hear the group was starting, join on the launch special and meet many other ladies with the same goals and aspirations as I.

The fee to entry wasn’t huge, but for me it might as well been since at the time I was on maternity on a very limited budget with a new baby to support. I ended up dropping out and rejoining a few times until 2006 when I joined for good.

Joining Solo Masterminds – The Smartest Business Decision

I can say without a doubt that joining Mom Masterminds, now Solo Masterminds, was one of the smartest moves I EVER made for my business. I’ve recorded a video that tells you all about my experience with the group:

My time came when I started a Virtual Assistance business, Star VA. Little did I know that posting a super-low-priced special on the mastermind forum would literally change my life. The offer was for 10 hours of work at $50. I had income from my factory job so my only goal at the time was to get experience as a VA so I could start charging more and getting clients and finally QUIT MY JOB!

This Group Helped Me Quit My Job

Well because of the fabulous members of the group I ended up with 11 clients in less than 24 hours. Oh yes I was happy but it also meant I was going to be BUSY. That meant 110 hours of work for me to do! Well I did it, and then I got some more, and some more with many of those first clients becoming repeat clients. Within nine months I QUIT MY STINKIN FACTORY JOB and came home to work full time.

My last paycheck came in on May 24th, 2007:
I haven’t looked back since.

What I have done, though, is stayed in touch with the members of that forum.

Solo Masterminds is responsible for teaching me so many of the skills I use in my business today. I learned about copywriting from Alice Seba. I learned how to make websites in Frontpage from Kelly McCausey, and then to make blogs in WordPress from Lynette Chandler. I’ve gained amazing tips from Melissa Ingold on working smarter in my business, instead of harder.

There’s No Way to Estimate Value – It’s Been Priceless

I’ve gleaned so much valuable information from the other members and the conversations in the forum that I can’t ever put a price on the value it’s given me.

I believe the support and encouragement I got from Solo Masterminds is something that helped me push through the hard times (and there were many), through the times when no one else around me thought it was possible to make a living online, through the times when I was convinced that this online thing “just isn’t working” and that I should “stop living with my head in the clouds” and “go get a real job”.

What I got as a member of Solo Masterminds was support, guidance and friendship. I’d recommend the group to anyone. The group is so established that there are many success stories I could point you to. The friendships run deep because of the special understanding we all share about what is really required to build a successful business on the internet. I’ve been so lucky not only to meet my mastermind group friends ‘virtually’ but also live and in person as well:

This Mastermind Group Pumps Out Successful Marketers:

For example Nicole Dean of NicoleOnTheNet.com was one of the first people I connected with on Solo Masterminds and she’s now doing extremely well for herself as an online marketer. She’s the owner of EasyPLR.com, IncomeCPR.com and many other great sites.

Tiffany Washko of NatureMoms.com is another long-time member of Solo Masterminds who’s done amazing things as an affiliate marketer and business owner.

Wendy Wood of GeteCovers.com is a very talented graphics designer who provides a highly-needed service for internet marketers and does very well for herself!

Susanne Myers of DailyAffiliateTasks.com is a super-smart affiliate marketer wh

o knows how to draw a fantastic income by promoting other people’s products.

Christine Steendahl of DineWithoutWhine.com has build herself a successful niche business.

I’m proud to consider myself an original member of this group and I highly recommend it as a real long-term source of business support, inspiration, motivation and education.

Join Us? I Think You’ll Never Regret It!

CLICK HERE to JOIN SOLO MASTERMINDS

This group is literally my ‘secret weapon’. Now you know it, too…