Yes, I know. I promised to only check my affiliate commissions once a month but curiosity got the best of me today and I checked. I couldn’t resist. I tried so hard but the more I thought about not checking the more I wanted to check. It was like I just couldn’t help myself and I had been so long. 16 days to be exact. Anyway, I checked and noticed something peculiar with my stats.

For a while it seemed as if I was making an affiliate sale every other day or so which was very exciting to me because there was a time (about a year ago) when I made nothing for a year. Then there came a week, then 10 days when I made absolutely nothing at all. Hmmm.

Although this was a bit discouraging, I’m trying to rationalize this and here’s what I came up with:

With affiliate marketing, there seems to be flows and tides. Sometimes the sales flow in and some times they don’t. This is just a fact of life.

If you want to make more sales then you can’t get frustrated. You have to keep bum marketing, writing ads and articles, and can’t stop when you experience a bit of success. In fact, one guru told me that you have to write not 5 but 30 articles per product if you really want to succeed with bumm marketing. If you do this, I’m told that you’ll surely drive traffic to your websites and will make more consistent sales than if you only have 5 articles or so (like I do now). Guess I have to write more. Whew.

If that is the case, then I have to write faster. I can’t take forever writing articles. To create 30 articles, would take me about 3.5 hours of writing fast. With so many articles and products to promote, I can’t spend hours laboring over my content. I have to get those articles written and out there so they can make me money.

If a promotion isn’t converting well or at all, that it has to be dropped. I, for one, can’t put all your time and energy into losing campaigns. It would really suck to write 30 articles that didn’t even result in one sale. So, my plan is to concentrate on my past winners so that I can see some more profits.

In conclusion, affiliate marketing can be tricky as the sales have ebbs and flows. And, if I really want to see more sales, I guess I’m going to have to realize this and keep promoting and writing those articles. Hopefully this will result in more consistent sales.

I’ll keep you posted in 15 days after I write more articles and then check my stats again.

As a freelance writer, you probably experience work-related stress and strain everyday. Sometimes you have too many projects (or not enough), clients don’t like your work or love it but refuse to pay the balance due, etc. Unfortunately, stress is part of being a freelancer and as long as you continue freelancing, you’ll experience some stress. But, I have good news for you. There are numerous techniques you can use in dealing with everyday stress. Techniques that will help you get and stay in control.

1. Get a grip and better balance your life. If you’re constantly in a state of unbalance and can’t effectively deal with the demands of work and family, you need to take control. If you don’t, you’ll experience the effects of stress and will be very unhappy indeed. By learning to balance your family’s demands with your clients, you’ll experience less stress and frustration.
2. Be more positive. Don’t concentrate on the negatives. Instead, focus on the positives. For instance, if a client doesn’t like your work, don’t see it as a failure. Figure out what you can do to improve it. If you do this, you’ll be using failure as feedback!
3. Identify everyday stressors and how you react to them. For instance, do your muscles become tense or do you get headaches when you feel stressed? Do you feel nauseous or experience stomach pains? Do you feel nervous or irritable when you’re under pressure? Or, does your heart race and your palms get sweaty? Whenever you notice these stressor reactions, take note of them immediately.
4. Plan to eliminate stress and then do it. For instance, some people learn biofeedback which is a relaxation method that teaches you to control your responses to stress. With biofeedback techniques, your brain learns how to control your heart rate, blood pressure, muscle tension, etc. The result will be less stress.
5. Eliminate stressors now. If you have to drop a particular project because it stresses you too much then do it. Although you might initially miss the income from this project, you’ll soon find better and higher paying projects.
6. Make accommodations. Try to shorten the amount of time you are exposed to the stress. For instance, if you have a client that is constantly stressing you out then don’t schedule a two hour meeting with him. Instead, keep the meeting to 30 minutes or less so that you avoid the situation as much as possible.
7. Take frequent breaks. Although it is always better to take a brief walk throughout the day, you may find that isn’t possible. If so, take some time away from your desk to stretch. Simply relax the muscles in your jaw, neck and shoulders which will help you alleviate stress.
8. Eat healthy foods. Certain foods tend to alleviate stress. For instance, almonds, blueberries, cottage cheese, fish, broccoli, whole-grain rice are thought to have stress-relieving properties.
9. Meditate. You can do this by breathing deep into your abdomen and slowly letting your breath out. Not only will this clear your mind but it will also increase oxygenate your blood too.
10. Enjoy life. Take time out of your day to enjoy yourself single day. Do the things that make you happy. After all, life is precious and you must enjoy it!

As a proud wife, loving mother of three young children, and a full time writer and internet marketer, I’ve had a difficult time balancing my life in the past. In fact, there was a time when I read several different “balance your life books” in an effort to gain control. Then, I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome which forced me to slow down, evaluate my options and make changes.

When I did, I realized that I was just trying to do too much and that it was making me ill. So, I decided to put my own needs first, to be true to myself and miraculously everything else fell in line. Now, I schedule my work related tasks around my life.

My health and happiness is my first priority and work is secondary. And, you know what? I am much happier and my life is more balanced. Here are some tips that I’ve learned which may help you balance your life too:

1. Realize that life happens and you are not alone in your quest for balance. Just about every one with a family has a hard time balancing family and work. It doesn’t matter if they work at home or for a major corporation on site. Unfortunately, this is simply life and you have to do what works.
2. Have realistic goals and expectations. Know what you want out of your life (more balance, more free time with family members, better health, etc). Then, do whatever you can to make your goal a reality. For instance, you can say, “My goal is to reduce the amount of time I work by 10 hours by delegating more and taking on less work.”
3. Ask for help. Tell your spouse and family that you need help implementing your balance life plan. Ask for their suggestions and help. You’ll be surprised that they’ll give you great advice.
4. Control your work schedule. Deadlines happen and life goes on. Employers and clients typically think the world revolves around them but it doesn’t. Life is about doing what makes you and your family happy. Work hard to please your clients, but don’t let them control you. After all, no one on their death bed ever said, “I sure wish I had spent more time at work or completing projects.”
5. Control your stress. Stress is everywhere and you have to do your best to control it. This includes exercising, getting enough rest and taking care of your emotional and physical needs. Once you do this, you can take care of other people’s needs but always “be true to yourself”.
6. Have fun. Life can’t be all work and no play. Have fun every single day. Take time to spend with your children doing the things you both enjoy doing. This will prove that they are important to you and that you love and care about them. For instance, play together, run errands and eat dinner together.
7. Set personal and professional goals. Make your goals a priority and do what it takes to accomplish them. For instance, if you want to spend time with your friends, then do so. Plan a friend date and go!
8. Realize that you can change your life. You can achieve more in balance if you’re willing to prioritize, work hard and put your family’s needs first. Once you do, your life will become more harmonious.
9. Work smarter not harder. If work demands are permeating your life and clouding your happiness, raise your fees so that you can do less work for more money. You can also hire an assistant to help you with the mundane and time consuming challenges. This will free up your time to spend with those you love and care about.
10. Don’t make promises you can’t keep. Only take on as much as you can do. If you promise otherwise, you’ll just procrastinate, feel miserable and get nothing done. Instead, don’t over commit yourself. Learn to say, “No” and to not feel guilty about it.

You can balance your life by implementing the above tips. Once you do, you’ll find that you and your family are happier and that you’re more productive. Go ahead and prioritize now, you have so much to gain by taking action!

Over and over again, I ask myself, should I quit or should I stick to Internet Marketing? I especially feel this way when I realize that it is taking a long time to build a business and when I start feeling impatient. Then, I just take some time away and really think about my life.

It is during these moments of quiet and inner reflection that I realize that sticking it out is the only way for me to go. Why?

Basically, I was always taught that winners never quit and quitters can’t win, and if you put your heart and soul into achieving something that you will achieve it if you stick to it. After all, it sometimes takes a long time to achieve success and the potential rewards are so worth it to me.

In fact, I can almost taste success and believe that if I keep working, success will come. After all, I have so much to be thankful for as my small successes are coming in more and more.

Plus, I know that if I keep working hard, learning, and growing, I can and will succeed. After all, other IMers have done it and I know I can do it, too. After all, they are no smarter or more intelligent than me. They just broke through their personal barriers and achieved ultimate success.

So, whenever I think about quitting, I don’t. I push forward with my head up high and have faith that I am right on the cusp of achieving success. I also view this video that someone sent me, called “Facing the Giants,” on Youtube and it always motivates me to keep working toward my goals. Take a peek. It is well worth it.

I just learned something extremely important – if content is king then traffic is the queen. And, if you really want to rule Internet Marketing land, you must write unique content and drive traffic to your websites to increase your profits. But how do you do that, you might ask? By using creative and low cost methods, that’s how. Here are four of my absolute favorite ways to drive huge amounts of web traffic to my websites. These methods aren’t difficult and the good news is that you can use them too. Here’s how:

1. Go viral. Basically you’ll need to create a buzz about your product so that others will also want to promote it. To do this, you must start with a quality product and start giving it away. The way you’ll make money is to place your affiliate products inside the free book. Then, whenever someone buys something using your link, you’ll make money. Just make the product so great that everyone reads it and takes action and passes it on and on.
2. Contribute to a fire sale. No, I’m not saying; put your fire gear on sale. I’m saying, contribute to a fire sale (sale where you offer your products at rock bottom pricing for a limited time only). For some reason, people absolutely love these fire sales and tend to pounce on them due to their limited time frame and scarcity factor. The great thing is that you can hold a fire sale yourself or you can pair up with another merchant with an existing fire sale and then offer your products as a bonus for a share of their profits. Either way, you’ll need several quality products that you can promote.
3. Piggy back off a high traffic blog. With this method, you tap into the traffic of an existing blog by contributing relevant comments. Now mind you, I said quality comments not garbage or junk comments. Junk comments will get deleted whereas quality comments will get you a link back to your own blog or site, improve your credibility, and allow you to brand yourself as an expert in the specific niche.
4. Go local. With this marketing method, you advertise your products and services offline. Yes, you hit the Laundromats, supermarkets, coffee houses and whatnot. You network with others and tell them about your business or service offerings. You pass out your business cards and brochures. You basically do what you need to do to get your name out there. Just make sure that you include your web address in EVERY correspondence that you give out.

So, there you have it. Now go out there and get you some…traffic of course!