20 Questions Archives - The At Home Couple

20 Questions With A.J. From AffiliateJustice.com

As you guys know, I’ve been kicking some serious ass on the forums in the last few months – and like blogging, you meet some pretty inspiring people when cruising around.

One day, no different than any other, I was floating around the WarriorForum checking out some article prices, studying the latest sales copy from popular WSO’s and pretty much clicking anything that caught my attention (this was during some free time I had).

I came across a pretty awesome post by a chap named A.J. who gave a lengthy overview on the importance of value in any sales transaction or business relationship – and it really caught my attention. With that being said, you know I didn’t hesitate to compliment the great information and add my own 2 cents (which turned into $1.37) in hopes of sparking the existing thread into higher conversation.

Shortly after, I received a PM from A.J. saying that he read my reply and was very impressed by my use of the English language and wanted to know if I was interested in letting him do a guest post on the most awesome blog on the Internet, this one of course. I replied with “that’s sounds great, but…. you must agree to be my next 20 questions victim, because my regular readers won’t open arms to some random guest post – as it’s never been done before! If they can get to know you first, which they will after reading your interview, than they will have your back 100% when you put forth a super useful guest post – and if you suck, they will mail you flaming bags of dog poop.”

Anyways, that’s the backdrop on how A.J. and I hooked up! He’s an awesome chap from the U.K. who is making some serious moves in the world of affiliate marketing with he upcoming ninja launch AffiliateJustice.com – and as many of us still struggle to find that groove with affiliate based marketing, I thought it would be amazing to introduce you guys to A.J. rather than keeping all his knowledge and connections to myself.

Without further ado I give you 20 Questions With A.J. from AffiliateJustice.com:

1. Who are you and what do you do?

I’m AJ and I am an affiliate marketer and web publisher, which came about from me messing around and trying to make money online. I was always trying to make money as a school kid and even started a real offline design business when I was around 17 – I didn’t know a thing and only ever had 2 clients – it was a huge flop. Today, it’s 11 years later and things are very different, thankfully.

2. In 37,693 words or less describe how you made your first profit on the Internet.

Unlike many other people I know, I actually got started off with making good money online by selling my own product, and not as an affiliate. It was around 2002, and I was still trying to re-live a piece of my childhood and was looking for a rare street fighter game. I asked around on a few forums and was pointed towards someone who was selling it on eBay. And that’s where I became involved with selling stuff online.

I would buy dvd’s from a discount website and people would buy them at full price on eBay. I’d make a tiny profit on each sale, and I’d be working my ass off, keeping track of orders and running to the post office every day etc. But I did it because I needed the money.

At the same time I noticed people selling information about how to receive free electrical promo items.

I had no idea that such a thing existed. So I bought a few of the products and I realised that they were pretty much selling the same type of information – but it was sketchy and the buyer needed to do a lot of the work themselves.

So I decided to do some research and put together my own package and sell it onwards. This was in the days when eBay used a payment service called BillPoint, and Paypal was a competitor. I started making more and more sales and putting up more and more auctions. Before I knew it, I was making a full time salary while working 1 hour a day from home, whilst still attending uni. I put my uni on hold though, to concentrate on my business, and I haven’t gone back. I hope I do one day though.

3. I’ve noticed that you have a good reputation in the Warrior Forum. Through your experience, what would you say is the stupidest thing/thread you’ve ever read?

The thing with forums is that you have to be very careful about who you take advice from. It’s important to remember that forums are public places and yes, there are many people that can give amazing advice. But at the same time, the majority of people are probably learners and non-do’ers. And when you are new and getting advice from an armchair theorist who’s never been out there doing it for real, it can be a massive problem, because you’re basically getting crappy advice.

One of the stupidest things I keep reading is about how affiliate marketing is a big waste and it’s much better to have your own products. There’s a lot more to having your own product then people think. You’ve got the customer service, the website creation, the sales copy, the sales funnel, the promo materials, the marketing, the constant tweaking of all the above AND you have to spend ages making a product that is really good as well. I know this first hand because I actually have products on sale, and I only get involved when I know I can provide the user with something really useful – with zero theory.

Affiliate marketing is much more simpler – bish bash bosh. You can be in multiple markets and be doing well within 30 days. And the earnings are unlimited – you can always make more money by finding a new promo, instead of being tied to a single product and wondering how you can sell more of it.

4. Give me a brief description of your home office?

My home office is actually fairly simple and messy as I’m just realising, as I look around right now! The first thing you’d notice is that I have a dual screen set up because I find it’s more productive for me. I also have a stack of books and manuals I’ve collected over the years, which I am always referring to. And a few 4 inch batman figurines which I use as paper weights. I also have an apple which I’ve been meaning to eat. Oh, I also see my goal list for 2009 on my desk. This is a stack of 5 sticky notes which have my top 5 goals for 2009 on them. Setting goals is really important I think.

5. Have you ever blogged naked?

Hmmn. Probably. Or if not, it’s fairly regular for me to be shaving in the bathroom and have an idea that I can use in my business. So I am always running out of the bathroom in my boxer shorts and jumping in to my computer seat to type away frantically, so I don’t forget the idea I’ve just had! Haha! I know it sounds really stupid, but people who are around me simply ignore it, because I’m just one of these crazy guys who does random stuff like that!

6. If you could have 15 minutes with any successful businessman, woman, or celebrity animal, who would it be and why?

Well I once went to Disneyland and had my picture taken with Mickey Mouse – he was real nice. Does that count!?!

When it comes to business, I like Michael Masterson and the stuff he talks about. The guy has clearly been through a lot in business and knows what you need to do in order for a business to be successful.

7. Early bird, evening owl, or midnight stalker?

Oh man, I’m a midnight stalker going into early bird hours. This is not a joke, the past few days, I’ve been up til 6am and 7am, working through the night. Sometimes if I’m on a roll then I just let it out. I’ll sit here editing the sales funnel and configuring the testing software so that while I’m sleeping a particular site will be receiving traffic and creating results. Then when I wake up, I can see the results straight away. If I wait till the next morning to set up the tracking, then I wont be getting any results while I’m sleeping – that’s how I my mind works.

I think it’s a lot easier for me to do stuff like this though, because I work from home full time and I’m always out partying late on the weekends, so it fits in with my body schedule. If I had a full time job I’d never be able to pull a stunt like that, so I’m actually really thankful.

8. Do you own any vinyl records? If so, which album is your favorite?

To be completely honest with you, I have only ever owned one vinyl record in my entire life. And even that one was a free promo, which I got off a cereal box. It was that teenage mutant ninja turtle song with ya kid k! The first ever album I bought was on tape and it was called ‘Simpsons sing the Blues’ and cost me (or should I say my dad) about $16! How embarrassing!

9. In your opinion, name 3 tools, services or bribery methods that are necessary to becoming successful at affiliate marketing.

Okay, well first of all, it’s really important to stand out as an affiliate. If there’s 20 people all promoting the exact same thing, and you’re person number 21, why should I buy with you instead of someone else? That’s a very important issue to overcome, from the get go, and I actually focus on this inside Affiliate Justice. For example, today many people offer a bonus or a bribe to get someone to buy through their affiliate link. And that’s all good, but there are ways in which you can take that even further. You can extract the value from the bonus you provide and actually gear it more towards the main product you’re promoting. The better you are at this, the more products you’ll sell and the more money you’ll make.

Another important area is when using PPC, don’t only focus on Google. Yes they might provide you with more volume but Google doesn’t always provide the best quality buyer. Test with other search engines. Even if you only use Yahoo and MSN, at least give it a try and then keep an eye on your profits, and which keywords are profitable for you. And if you’re not using ppc, at least track to see where people are coming from, and how much they are worth to you.

Finally, remember that ROI is not the most important statistic – profit is. A lot of people make this mistake and end up focusing all their energy on promoting the wrong statistic. I would rather spend $50 to make a profit of $50 and have a decent ROI instead of spending $1 to make $10 and have an insanely high ROI. Sure a high ROI is nice to have, but in the example I just gave you, $50 is more cash – a larger profit. You can do more with $50 instead of $10. Yes, I understand it’s different if you don’t have $50 to start with. But in that case you simply make $10 5 times, and then work on the $50 model!

To me, there is nothing more important then the amount of actual real full dollars you can return. The more the merrier!

10. When’s the last time you ate cheese whiz?

I live in the UK, and actually had to look up what cheese whiz was! We don’t really get over here but we have something similar which is a cheese spread called Dairylea. The last time I ate that was like a year or two ago – it’s been ages.

11. Did your mom ever cut your hair as a kid? My mother destroyed mine.

Yes even worse – both my mum and my dad cut my hair together, with some electric clippers. I can remember them, partly being in shock and partly finding it hilarious because of how uneven my hair was.

12. When it comes to making money online, do you believe in magic buttons?

I don’t believe in magic buttons, but there are certain frameworks and certain tactics that I know will work for sure and will generate affiliate commissions. I actually give one of these away on the Affiliate Justice homepage because I wanted people to benefit from a real affiliate tactic, even if they just visited the page. The reason I know this is a working affiliate tactic is because I use them myself. And that’s the type of stuff I’m about – real working material with zero theory.

13. Robin Williams, Robin Leech or Batman and Robin?

Batman rocks, ever since I was a kid. Like I said earlier, I have Batman stuff in my home office. I actually was interested in buying a 6ft high version of a carving, but it wasn’t in the style I like. In case anyone is wondering, the style I really like is the Batman ‘Hush’.

14. How important is value with regards to attracting customers online?

Value is number one. There is nothing more important than value and that goes whether you are an affiliate market, a product owner, a graphic designer or anyone who wants money. The amount of value you provide and the number of people you provide it to, is directly related to how much money you have in your bank account. The more value you provide, the more money you will have. Think about rich people you know of or even famous rich people, and you’ll see what I mean.

15. To be, or not to be. Is that really the question?

No. The real question today, is think about who you want to be, then think about how you would be that person, then do what the person would do and hey presto, you’ve become the person you wanted to be!

16. What are some of your absolute favorite affiliate networks right now?

I usually work with Clickbank because they are a network providing digital products, which means the percent of commission which you earn is very high compared to physical goods.

I also have a deal with a private UK clearing house, which provides loans and debt management services for people in the UK. This is huge are for experienced players, and you can make a lot of money by only being a small fish.

I have also set up private deals with product owners where I will buy an item from them and see what their services like. If it’s a decent product and they are a good company, then I will e-mail them and tell them what I do, and then ask them if they are interested in more sales. Of course they will reply and say yes, and I will set up a deal with them. I have also taken a regular product, then positioned it as a premium product and sold it for more money than the original company does (where the company drop ships the item for me and sends all invoices to me).

If you have a little imagination, you can do anything you want to.

17. In 676 words or less explain why most people fail to generate profits online.

Most people are just not expecting to get kicked in the mouth as many times as they will. Yes, I understand it’s not a nice experience to get kicked around online and mess things up, but it will happen, and when it does you have to learn to live with the temporary discomfort until you get it right. Not a lot of people want to do it, but the will to keep on going will get you anything you want in life, in most cases (I’m talking a better body, dates with the hottest girls and all the good stuff and more)!

18. Do you think eating dirt as a child will cause any serious side effects later on in life?

I certainly hope not, because I have it on good authority from my mother that when she used to leave me alone as a kid in the garden, she would come back to find me with a mouthful of mud, and crap from the grass all in my hands. When I asked what she used to do about it, she laughed and said ‘I used to beat you up’!

19. Star Wars or Spaceballs?

Spaceballs all the way. I’d rather laugh then do anything else – always. Ok well almost always…

20. Why did you accept this interview?

Because I thought it would be fun – and it has been! I’ve actually laughed out loud when putting together some of these answers! You didn’t come across as a boring type of guy, and when you said this wouldn’t be any old interview; I wanted to do it even more!

And the other reason is thought it would be nice for people to see a different side of me. I’m usually talking about marketing or affiliate marketing and generally a lot of business and profit related stuff. So I hope that this interview today, has let you see a different side of me, and lets you know that I’m just a regular guy, who wakes up late, has a messy office and a crazy sense of humour. Believe me when I tell you, if I can make it in affiliate marketing, you can DEFINITELY make it in affiliate marketing.

20 Questions With Mark Hansen From TheNicheStoreBuilder.com

Round three with my 20 Questions interview series, and I have to say that I’m surprised with not only the response, but the fact that established affiliate marketers and Internet veterans are actually agreeing to participate! So far we’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Alan LeStourgeon from AffiliateConfession.com and Paul Piotrowski from InspiredMoneyMaker.com on a more intimate level, and they were both really awesome interviews.

Today I am going to introduce you to someone who has played a very important role in my budding career as a work-at-home ninja marketer. His name is Mark Hansen and he runs TheNicheStoreBuilder.com where you will find endless information on finding niche markets, keyword research techniques, and the ever popular eBay affiliate site building script Build A Niche Store.

Mark’s blog is where I began my journey online and where I learned almost everything I know about Wordtracker, generating organic traffic and spotting niche markets. Since we started this blog I have had the opportunity to become better acquainted with Mark via email, and you can expect to hear more about him in the next few weeks as we have some cool little “projects” that we’re going to be working on together. He is a super cool dude, and a great teacher – even though he thinks differently about that!

So without further ado I give you 20 Questions With Mark Hansen From TheNicheStoreBuilder.com:

1. Who are you and what do you do?

I am Mark Hansen aka The Niche Store Builder. Thanks to Al Gore, I too, discovered the Internet back in 1993 the same way most did, on a Packard Bell 25mhz home PC dialing in through Prodigy. I became so encompassed with how to build a website at that time, I decided to learn how to do it! After 14 years of running my own web design business, the time was right in 2007 to take the leap into affiliate marketing, build a small network of my own sites, and start sharing everything I know with others… thus the birth of The Niche Store Builder site. In total, I have developed about 1200 websites (not counting affiliate sites of my own) ranging from basic business card type sites, to very extensive air charter reservation and estimating applications for the web.

If I had to choose one thing that really drives me every day, it’s search engine ranking! If I can make one of my own, or my customers managed sites, rank in the top 5 of the serp’s… I have done it right! When you can beat hundreds or thousands at the same game… it is a great feeling of accomplishment, usually followed quickly with financial rewards!

2. In 1,000,000 words or less describe how you made your first profit on the Internet.

Buddys Baby Products… It was the first commercial website I developed in 1994! I remember having one of my own boys record a 5 second audio clip that was used on the site to introduce the lineup. “Hi – I’m Buddy and Welcome to My Website” it was typical of most websites you saw in the early days… full of images and HUGE files that never got viewed due to dial up access anyhow! Fortunately, the site sold spit-up bibs, which I am sure most people did when they first viewed it! I still get a weak stomach thinking of that site!

3. I’ve noticed that you have a great head of hair, does that mean you’re against wearing hats?

I am probably one of the only people I know that actually reads the directions on the shampoo bottle! Work the lather deep into the scalp, rinse thoroughly and repeat as needed… how friggin boring is that! I mean, you just squirt out a handful, work it in, rinse it out and your done right? Not me… gotta read the directions on EVERYTHING I do! Which is why I am not a hat wearer, no directions!

4. Give me a brief description of your home office, or lack thereof?

Ahhh – My pride and joy! Wait, it’s in here under this mess somewhere! Big messy desk, dual 24 inch widescreen monitors in my office make it very easy to develop anything where the web is concerned. I also keep a laptop next to my recliner in the TV room. If I could recommend 1 thing that makes life easier, figure out how to setup 2 monitors on your system! Your workspace is instantly doubled and even if you’re just killing time reading directions, you get twice as much at once!

5. Coffee or tea?

Coffee – by the gallon, all day long! I did have to switch to half-decaf though, my doctor said I am a bit hyper and drink too much! I wish they made coffee flavored Popsicles!

6. If you could have 15 minutes with any successful businessman or woman, who would it be and why?

To me, success is not based on the money in the bank. it is based on the practices that led up to that money being there. I would love to talk to someone like Warren Buffet, but I think they would talk beyond me. Right now, I would like 15 minutes with Jeremy Schoemaker aka Shoemoney. He is more in line with the regular guy like myself, and could help me with some ideas I have for a new website, before I make costly mistakes!

7. Early bird, evening owl, or midnight marauder?

All three! My mind is always running at 150mph… No alarm clock here, I usually wake to a dog licking my face between 6-7am and work until my eyes burn late at night! Jump into bed around 11pm and within 30 minutes, I am back in front a PC doing just “One more Thing” before I can finally sleep!

8. Name the artist and title of the last full song you listened to.

Buck Cherry – Crazy Bitch! It was in the shuffle of the iPod on the way home from my mid-afternoon drive yesterday!

9. In your opinion, name 3 tools or services that are necessary to becoming successful at niche marketing.

1 – High Speed Internet access! I actually watch that stat on my own site and wonder how 14% of visitors can survive with dial up!
2 – WordTracker for keyword research! I have tried almost every keyword research tool out there and have subscriptions to many right now. In the end, I return to WordTracker every single time!
3 – A monthly subscription to a rag-mag like People, US, or even Teen Magazine! Not only does it make for good ‘bathroom’ reading, you will always spot niche trends here first!

10. What was the worst Halloween costume you ever had?

Ironically, it was also the easiest! I cut 2 holes in a paper bag, pulled it over my head and went to a party as the unknown comic! I have wore some very interesting get-ups in the past, but since I don’t know the age demographic of your readers, I won’t go there!

11. Did your mom ever cut your hair as a kid? My mother destroyed mine.

My mother and older sister went to beauty school together when I was a teenager… my head became their dummy! I have been permed, up-do’d, and literally lost chunks of meat off the ridges of my ears! The things we will do for gas money as kids huh?

12. I’ve heard rumors that Facebook Ads is run by 13 year olds who play hacky sack in between approving ads. I’m really good at hacky sack, do you think they’d give me a job?

Hmmm HackyAds.com, a place to kick around new ad ideas! You might be onto something with that!! I imagine a good Youtube video resume would be in order during the application process!

13. Sean Connery, Roger Moore, or Pierce Brosnan?

I would have to say Roger Moore. They should have chipped off the mole though.

14. I know things have been bumpy for a lot of Build A Niche Store users over the last few months, where do you see the future of BANs going?

Honestly, if you forget you are developing a BANS site and focus on the content and overall visitor experience, you will be fine. It’s the point/click/done sites that have to worry! BANS is a very powerful application and simply took the place of “made for adsense” sites that were all the rage a few years ago with domain owners wanting to monetize parked domains. It was only a matter of time before Google and other engines took notice of the BanSpam in the index.

If you spend 30 minutes every day on _each_ of your BANS sites… you won’t have much to worry about! If you spend 2 hours every day pushing out new bans sites with no original content, you might as well just go to Vegas! The BANS developers are truly listening to the needs of the users, so I think they will respond with better, more flexible version in the future. I just don’t know if it will be ePN only. In my opinion, they would enrich the product by making it work with many product feeds and affiliate programs, versus being tied to only ebay.

15. I recently had my 27th birthday, do you remember what you were doing at 27?

We have 7 kids… you wanna guess?

16. Like many others, I learned niche marketing and keyword research from your blog, and you’re a great teacher! Do you ever feel like Mr. Miyagi from the Karate Kid movies?

Truthfully, I think I am a horrible teacher! I jump around too much and stray off topic in the videos and series of posts! I need to sit down and watch Karate Kid to get some good focus training of my own! On a good note though… I can wax the hell out of my car!

17. In 1,000,000 words or less explain why most people fail to make a living online.

This goes along with #9 – someone should sell a service or tool for patience! Too many people develop a site today and then watch the stats for 2-3 weeks, only to be disappointed with the results and give up on it. Instead of focusing efforts on growing the site, they move on to another one and repeat the same process endlessly! In the end, they have 20-30 websites doing nothing for them and they think affiliate website marketing is horrible!

Everyone has been led to think they can put up a site and it will just start earning money. It’s just not going to happen like that… and you have to sweat some of the labors of trial and error before you ever start realizing success. Those who give up early are the ones that populate the expired domain market to the tune of 95,000+ expired domains EVERY DAY!

18. Do you think eating dirt as a child will cause any serious side effects later on in life?

This sounds like a trick question… you mean that wasn’t dirt?

19. Star Wars or Spaceballs?

Definitely Spaceballs! It’s right up there with Office Space and the one of my favorites here lately, Mr. Woodcock.

20. Why did you accept this interview?

I love reading about myself! Seriously, I have enjoyed your blog for several months now and love your style of writing. It is very engaging and entertaining to say the least. When I got your email on the subject a few weeks ago, I couldn’t wait to get the questions from you!

Mark’s blog is one of my favorites to read, and I hope you guys take the time to stop by TheNicheStoreBuilder if you haven’t already. To get an idea of his tutorials in action, I would stop by a recent post he did on using Wordtracker and the Google Adwords Tool to find targeted keywords and content for your niche site.

Who’s the next victim? I have no idea! I guess it’s time for me to start sending out some more threatening emails…

Cheers,

Elijah

20 Questions With Paul Piotrowski From InspiredMoneyMaker.com

It’s time for the 2nd “20 Questions” interview, as promised I have lined up some great one on one Q & A’s with a few of the Internets well known bloggers and money makers – on that note, I managed to get a hold of Paul Piotrowski from InspiredMoneyMaker.com to grace us with his knowledge.

For those of you who don’t know Paul, he is the owner and force behind InspiredMoneyMaker.com, and more recently, InspiredAffiliate.com. I’ve been a follower of his since I began my quest online, and I’ve witnessed his growth as he has evolved into a well respected authority in the blogosphere. “Make money doing what you love” is something he stands by and teaches through various methods and mindsets, one of his specialties being the law of attraction and how to find your passions.

Paul’s been kicking ass with affiliate contests and establishing his new site, InspiredAffiliate.com, but was kind enough to take out some time to get down and dirty Elijah style – so without further ado I give you 20 Questions With Paul Piotrowski From InspiredMoneyMaker.com:

1. Who are you and what do you do?

I’m just a regular dude, with a lot of ambition. I won’t settle for mediocrity, and the thought of working at a 9-5 job I hate until age 65 makes me want to vomit. When I was younger, we didn’t grow up with a lot of money. My biggest ambition was to be rich. People who think that there is some redeeming quality in poverty are nuts. I truly believe that if we are blessed with the ability to build wealth and help the world with it, it’s our duty to do so.

Once I got a little bit older and built a bit of wealth, I realized that it was no longer just about the money for me. I realized that what I was really seeking is to make money doing what I love, and so my quest to become an Inspired Money Maker began.

One of my biggest passions in life is personal development. When I graduated from high school (13 years ago), I realized that 95% of people in life live in mediocrity and in order to go past that I would have to do what 95% of people are not willing to do. So, I began my 13+ journey of intense personal development and growth. I’ve lost count, but I would estimate that I’ve read over 1,000 books on personal development in that period of time on everything from entrepreneurship, to time management to spiritual development.

Presently I run a Blog at InspiredMoneyMaker.com which focuses on helping people to Make Money Doing What They Love. A few weeks ago, I also started another Blog at InspiredAffiliate.com which will document my journey to becoming a “Super Affiliate”. Inspired Money Maker is mostly about the philosophy and mental game of learning how to make money by doing what you love, whereas Inspired Affiliate is more just an example of me applying my philosophies to a very competitive industry. This way people can watch my
journey right from the beginning.

2. In 7037 words or less describe how you made your first profit on the Internet.

In 1995 I started a little web site project where I had very simple, one-page business card type web pages created for businesses looking to get themselves onto the Internet. I can’t specifically remember the exact one that paid me first, but I believe it may have been a horse ranch up in northern British Columbia.

I created a one page site for them, which I believe they paid me $10 or $20 for. The project never did end up going anywhere because back in 1995, most businesses had no clue how the Internet worked and trying to sell them on a “Website” was not easy. I think my idea was probably a few years ahead of its time, but I did end up learning how to develop HTML pages and stuff which helped me to make a pile of money later on in various jobs and companies I’ve worked with.

3. Were you born in Canada, or do you just live here like everyone else?

Nope. I was born in Poland and have been living in Canada since 1986. I was just a kid when I came here. I love living in Canada, and more specifically in the Greater Vancouver region of British Columbia. Even if I was a Billionaire, I don’t think I’d want to live anywhere else.

4. I’ve been hearing a lot of stories about young kids in high school making cash with Affiliate Marketing. If I email them death threats and momma jokes does that make me an e-bully?

Absolutely. 🙂 A lot of people feel threatened by the younger generation, much the same way the people before us felt threatened by our generation. I’m 31 right now, and it doesn’t really “bug” me that some 15 year old out there is making cash from Blogging or Affiliate Marketing. I say good for them.

That’s a much better thing for them to be doing than breaking into cars or loitering at the local 7/11. Don’t forget that just because someone at the age of 15 has found a market they can make some good cash with, that doesn’t mean they have life figured out. There are a lot of other moving parts to life than just making money. Kids have a lot of time on their hands and typically very few responsibilities at that age since their parents usually pay for their living expenses. It’s not surprising that they are able to be “profitable” online.

5. Coffee or tea?

Tea, all the way. I can’t stand Coffee. I get my caffeine from Tea and Coke, although I’m trying to cut back on both. To me, coffee tastes like someone mixed some black tar with some water and tried to pass it as something humans are supposed to consume. I’ll probably get a lot of slack for saying this, but one of the places that I absolutely try to avoid going near at all cost is Starbucks. Every time I go into one of them, it just seems like everyone inside is on a big Ego trip for who can order the drink with the longest name.

Starbucks has definitely got it figured out. People want to be unique. Give them a fancy, unique sounding drink with a name like “Grande Mocha Triple Berry Frapuccino Al-Pacino Poo Poo Extra Hot No Whip Cream Extra Caramel Shaken Not Stirred” and they’ll gladly pay $4.50 for it. You’re paying $1.50 for the coffee, and $3.00 for the name (smiles)

6. If you could have 15 minutes with any successful businessman or woman, who would it be and why?

Since I’m only allowed 15 minutes, I think my best bet would be 15 minutes alone with Angelina Jolie. I would ask her about her charity work (smiles)

7. I really feel that the internet contributes to Insomnia, do you ever dream of blogging?

I don’t remember any dreams about Blogging specifically, but last night I had a dream about AdWords, LOL. I think I was tweaking one of my Affiliate campaigns in my dream, hehehe.

8. Name the artist and title of the last full song you listened to.

Cypress Hill, (Rock) Superstar.

9. In your opinion, name 3 tools or services that are necessary to run a successful business online, and briefly explain why?

It’s hard to just narrow it down to three as there is a lot of interdependency between tools. Just off the top of my head, I would say WordPress to run a Blog, AWeber to build an email list, and the Photoshop for graphics. You can do a lot of damage with just those three tools. However, that already assumes that I’ve got a computer, with Internet connection, a mouse, Firefox and notepad at my disposal.

Of course, if you get into PPC Affiliate Marketing, things change. It would be hard to succeed in that without AdWords for example. So it’s kind of a hard question to answer unless I know what kind of online business you’re referring to. But in general, WordPress / AWeber / Photoshop are mandatory in my books for any online business.

10. You’ve shared with me that your attending your first ever Blog World Expo in Vegas this month, If I showed up dressed as a woman in her late 70’s, would you have any problems introducing me as your Aunt Estelle?

Only if you promised to bake me some cookies.

11. Do you watch TV, if so, name one of your favortie programs and explain why?

I try to watch less and less. Lately, the two shows that I’ve been watching regularly are “Paranormal State”, the documentary style show about some students from Penn State University that explore paranormal activity, and A&E’s “Mad Men”. Prior to that I was addicted to 24, LOST and Soprano’s. However, I typically don’t watch them on TV, instead I wait for the full season on DVD and do a weekend marathon. It’s way more fun!

“Paranormal State” I watch because I find psychic phenomena very interesting and I find watching the show much more freaky than the crappy “horror” movies out there right now where human bodies are being mutilated to get a reaction from the crowd. The show kind of reminds me of X-Files which I really liked as well.

“Mad Men” I like because it’s set in the 60’s and it portrays just how different the world was back then, even though it was only 40 years ago. I think the show is made by the same people who made Soprano’s which really liked as well.

12. People know you for InspiredMoneyMaker.com and you recently announced the launch of your InspiredAffiliate.com blog. How long did it take you to think of the name for your new blog?

As soon as I decided to launch a Blog about Affiliate Marketing, the idea for that name popped into my head instantly. Took about 8 more seconds to check if it was taken, so a grand total of 8 seconds.

13. Christopher Reeves, George Reeves, or Dean Cain?

Christopher Reeves. For me, he was the real Superman.

14. I recently saw the results for Yaro Staraks Blog Mastermind Contest and you placed in the top 15, congrats! How was the experience for you, and what were some methods you used to generate traffic for this offer?

I actually just promoted it on my Blog, telling people about it. In my opinion, the program is by far the best Blog mentoring program on the market. Yaro did a really good job on it, so it wasn’t hard for me to say good things about it.

Looking back, I wish I started my Affiliate Marketing path a bit sooner. I could have used what I’m learning about PPC traffic to promote the product even more for the competition.

15. I know you’re huge on the law of attraction. If I was to do the opposite of everything you’ve taught me, would it help me get rid of some people and things in my life?

If you want to “un-attract” something in your life, focus on attracting its opposite instead. You can’t become rich by “un-attracting” poverty. Don’t push against what you don’t want. Instead, turn around and go toward what you do want. If you try to focus on getting rid of someone or something in your life, you’ll just attract more of the same into your life.

16. Ham and cheese or tuna on rye?

Ham and cheese. Oh wait… Tuna on Rye….nope… uhhmm… You’re making me hungry. Either sounds good right about now.

17. In 357 words or less explain why most people fail to make a living doing what they are passionate about.

In one word: Fear.

In a few more words:

People are afraid of the power that dwells within them. Anthony Robbins calls it “Awakening the Giant Within”. I sometimes call it “Connecting to your True Self”.

If you can find that true self, and connect to it on a daily basis and begin to bring that to the surface, you have no choice but to be successful in life. Abundance is out natural state of being. The only thing that holds anyone back is ourselves. As soon as you stop looking “out there” for the reasons and excuses why you’re not able to make money doing what you love, the sooner you’ll be taking your first step to living a life as an Inspired Money Maker. It’s important to realize that it is a journey, and not something that happens instantly.

On my Blog, I wrote an article about making your first Inspired Dollar. That would be a good first step for everyone to take.

18. Where do you see yourself at this time next year? Long term goals?

A year from now I’ll be making a mid six-figure income from my Inspired Money Maker and Inspired Affiliate projects, and I will have inspired and helped hundreds of people to take the first steps towards becoming Inspired Money Makers themselves.

Long term my aim is to help people to awaken to their true potential.

19. Jurassic Park or South Park?

South Park hands down. The last Jurassic Park sucked so bad, I wanted to cry for wasting 2 hours of my life watching it. South Park is my kind of humor.

20. Why did you accept this interview?

1. My intuition said yes. 2. I like helping people. 3. It was fun.

20 Questions With Alan LeStourgeon From AffiliateConfession.com

20 Questions Blogging is all about networking. Some people look at blogging as a way to socialize, others see it as a tool for networking and creating partnerships with defined objectives. When Veronica and I decided to share our adventures with all you sexy people in the blogosphere, we obviously set certain goals for ourselves. One of my goals was to do a questionnaire format interview, via email or Skype, with the people who directly influenced me to begin my journey online – one of those people is Alan LeStourgeon.

For those of you who don’t know Alan, he is a successful affiliate marketer and the owner of the popular blog AffiliateConfession.com. I’ve been a follower of Alan for the last 6 months or so, and during that time I’ve learned quite a bit about the harsh realities of affiliate marketing and making money online. I emailed Alan a couple weeks back requesting an interview and he accepted the offer with open arms – if he didn’t I probably would have mailed him a package containing a brown paper bag, some dog poop, and a book of matches.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you 20 questions with Alan LeStourgeon from AffiliateConfession.com

1. Who are you and what do you do?

I didn’t have any choice in the matter when my parents named me Alan, so I’m sticking with that. I’ve been working at home for a little over 3 years now doing affiliate marketing and writing Affiliate Confession which I started 10 months ago. Lately I’ve been trying to sharpen my skills with PPC to be up there with the $25k+ per month guys, but have tons to learn.

2. In 100 words or less describe how you made your first profit on the Internet.

About 4 years ago after looking at lots of info on affiliate marketing, travel seemed like a great niche to get into so I built a vacation rentals web site and started producing leads for Rentalo.com at $1 each. I didn’t make much money, but I could see the potential and to this day, travel continues to be my most profitable niche. If you love to travel, all you have to do is write about your experiences and the places you stay and boom, you’ve got a travel site. It’s pretty simple.

3. What’s your shoe size?

9 1/2, unless I twist my ankle playing basketball, then it’s somewhat larger, at least on one foot.

4. How do you feel about wearing socks with sandals?

Okay with jeans, kinda weird with shorts.

5. Coffee or tea?

Coffee, it’s a creation for me. It’s either a decaf latte mocha at B&N or seriously strong coffee at home with cocoa, a little sugar, Kahlua or Amaretto and cream. Did I say I like it strong?

6. If you could have 15 minutes with any successful businessman or woman, who would it be and why?

It would probably be Warren Buffet. I wouldn’t ask him for stock tips, I’d want to know how he consistently recognizes trends and winners.

7. Early bird or night owl?

I’m always up too late, most the time until the monitor on my laptop is blurry and I can hardly keep my eyes open. Need to get better at that.

8. Name the artist and title of the last full song you listened to.

Jars Of Clay’s “On Jordan’s Stormy Banks I Stand“. Played it with our church band and rocked it out a bit. It was cool.

9. In your opinion, name 3 tools or services that are necessary to run a successful business online, and briefly explain why?

I couldn’t live without Build A Niche Store. eBay is the ultimate affiliate program because there isn’t a niche that exists that doesn’t have a product on eBay and BANS is the best way to capitalize on this affiliate opportunity. You can also use BANS as a content management system to build entire sites that feature very few eBay products. I’ll write a post about that someday.

The Free Search Term Suggestion Tool at Keyword Discovery. I use it almost every day for a quick look at monthly keyword numbers.

Free stock photos at Stock Xchng. You need photos for blog posts, landing pages and other stuff and this is the best free stock photo site I’ve run across.

10. Batman, Superman, or Spiderman?

Superman. All it takes is a large bath towel and a safety pin and any 6-year-old can leap tall buildings.

11. If you were ice cream, what flavor would you be and why?

Chocolate. What, there’s another flavor?

12. Google Adwords, Microsoft adCenter, or Yahoo Search Marketing?

Even though I have an ongoing feud with Google, their Adwords interface is simply the easiest to work with.

13. Sean Connery or Roger Moore?

That’s a tough one since I liked them both. Probably Sean Connery. He played the consummate English gentleman, even though he is a Scotsman.

14. Tea or coffee? (I wanted to see if he was paying attention)

What, you already asked that and I answered coffee (did I say strong coffee?), but I do have tea with my wife once in a while.

15. Promote someone elses products, or have people promote your own?

Right now I’m promoting other people’s products. Jean and I have 4 of our own products, but haven’t gotten around to working with our own affiliates yet.

16. Ham and cheese or peanut butter and jelly?

Fresh veggies on a sprouted grain roll.

17. In 100 words or less explain why most people fail to make a living online.

Ninety-nine percent of the money making crap sold on the net perpetuates the belief that earning money online is easy and that you can be rich over night. Making money online is easy once you do your due diligence and find out what really works. It’s like the winners on American Idol, yea they got famous over night, after they spent years working towards the opportunity to get on American Idol. Some do it quicker than others, but you still have to pay your dues. People don’t want to pay their dues.

18. Have you ever eaten a crayon?

Yes, it was probably a dark blue grape colored one I dipped in that pasty, minty flavored glue we used to get in elementary school when I was a kid. Yummy!

19. Saturday Night Fever or Staying Alive?

I used to be in a country band (hey, it paid the bills) and a southern rock band and my old rocker friends would kill me if I choose one of those. I used to have a bumper sticker on my car that said “Piss On Disco”. What can I say?

20. Why did you accept this interview?

Elijah promised me cars, homes, endorsements and unlimited bling, how could I refuse? Honestly though, I accepted because this is how the web is supposed to work, making connections, networking and meeting like minded entrepreneurs is part of the magic that makes this affiliate marketing and blogging thing so great.

***NOTE: There will be more “20 Questions” interviews in the next few weeks, as I’ve already confirmed with some more of the Internets movers and shakers. Who will be next? I guess you’ll have to subscribe and stay tuned!

Cheers,

Elijah