In October 2008 I lost my job due to reduction in workforce and my position being outsourced to India. This was not good news for someone 63 years old who was used to living off $90,000 a year but life is what it is. I was given a fairly decent termination package considering I had been with the company for over twenty years but even that payment did not last for very long.
I have applied for many jobs but in South Carolina there is at least 100 people vying for every position I have applied for to date.
I have been looking at the internet marketing field for several months hoping to find something that will assist in paying mortgage and putting food on the table. To date I have made a few dollars but nothing that will offer any relief.
The intent of this blog is to go through my daily activities and the programs I have entered so as to help others along the way that are in a similar situation I have found myself living in. Living on the poor side is an absolute accurate statement. Money has now came to an end. Now it is put up or find another way of making a living.
My background should have made me a sure fit into the Internet and Computer market place. I have a master’s degree in Computer Science and have been interfacing with people all through my career. I know about marketing and I know people.
To date I have spent well over $15,000 and made less than $500 in return, notg a good ROI.
I have worked with a few gurus along the way but I think they are more interested in taking my money than they are to really help. Here is a good one for you. Several gurus use the term OPM, Other People’s Money. If you don’t have a credit card then get one and apply that money to the future. I tried that route. I got a credit card just to use for internet marketing. To date I have not actually used the card and it has cost me over $500. Every month they send me another bill whether I use the card or not. My credit is not that good at the moment so to use the card and make extra payments just doesn’t make sense to me.
This blog is just the initial blog to introduce myself. Hopefully I can update this blog every couple of days just to keep you abreast with my activities. Currently I have several websites that are being promoted through ListAuction, ListJoe’s, and several other medias, even made a few dollars on these adventures but nothing to write home about at this time.
If you can offer any support for my efforts, that do not cost me an arm and a leg, please feel free to respond to this blog.
Bradley Rae James
Bradley@Brjventures.com
Saturday March 07, 2009 - Update
Spent most of the day reviewing email ads that have been coming to from ListJoe’s, ListAuction, and a few other areas. Interesting observation most ads are looking for subscribers to support the advertiser for free. Trust me, there is nothing free in life unless it is us giving these people our support. Free to them but not free to us. Over the past few months I have subscribed to many of these websites, sure the money to become a non-free member is not so much, but they really add up. I am now in the process of getting rid of more than half of these subscriptions. ($15 per month times 20 subscriptions adds up to $300 which I can use on other things. If I was using the services it would be different). Please watch out for these guys. I bought one piece of software for a one-time cost of $97 only to find out later that I was paying $97 per month for something. I am still trying to figure that one out. They gave me a pdf file, which by the way was very good and I would recommend it to all newbies, but I have never received anything else from them, only an extraction out of my debit card for $97 per month.
Another observation today, most people are running the same add. I guess they believe the old adage that it takes seven times to actually sink a sale. True these sites are getting a lot of hits if everyone reads their emails. Most of the time I scan them for credits so I can accumulate credits to run my own add. Yes, some of my ads are exactly like the other ads but I have others that I run as well.
On my next update I will discuss affiliate marketing and what a racket I think that is.
Later