Creating the Product

I've been in the process of creating my first product. Thankfully Austin has a wide variety of people and interests. I was able to find an expert in the niche for this product and he is going to help me create the product. We are supposed to meet up on Saturday to get things started. If I can get the product in its preliminary stages this weekend, then this will amount to being a very big week.

Duplex Closing

No work last night but I did *FINALLY* sign the closing documents for the duplex. The seller decided to take care of the tree himself and that really worked out well. From the documents, I will be getting $165 at closing plus the deposits from the tenants and prorated rent which comes out to just over $900=) Buy a duplex and get $900 back. Can't beat that!

Product Creation & ....The Duplex Drama Continues

Bank of America probably won't be my bank for very long. The bank, not my loan officer but other bank people, have been dragging their feet and didn't get things taken care of by Friday for the close. Now closing looks like Wednesday. Sigh. Wachovia is looking pretty good. I talked to a rep last week at Gold's Gym and their perks look pretty good. On top of that, the guy I talked to would actually be my BANKER. When I needed stuff, he and I would work together on everything. Those who have read Rich Dad, Poor Dad you know the importance of having a team. This banker guy would be a member of my team.

I've determined my product and what needs to be done to create it. I will spend this week preparing the necessary topics and creation actually takes place Saturday. I've already created the site, sans the sales page, and have had the newsletter sign up page ready. It's collecting names as we speak.

Stay tuned, things are heating up.

Oh, oh. Go check out the 15k Challenge! Dan Raine is trying to pull off what seems to be the impossible. $15,000 in one month from a brand new product on a budget of $150. Best of luck to him. I want him to show that it is completely possible.

Crazy Days

Between work, the duplex, and the super secret project, I'm surprised I have time to sleep anymore.

Real Estate
The definite closing date is Friday. Everything is finished and ready to go. As long as nothing else pops up unexpectedly, this property will cost me just over $1900 out of pocket. I'm glad I started saving months ago=) Sounds like a lot but when you consider that $1900 gives me control of a property worth $155k, its a pretty good deal. One very cool thing about this deal is that I will receive prorated rent for this month plus a full 30-days without a mortgage payment. This means I will have a full month of rental income to play with before I have to start making payments. Austin has some great progressive programs in the area of energy savings so one of the first things I will do, after getting the foundation taken care of, is to have the city come out and evaluate the duplex's energy efficiency. I know it is going to be bad but it shouldn't be too hard to get the efficiency up.

Internet Business
Working mostly on the super secret project. After debating and fighting against it, I have finally come to the conclusion that it is time for me to have something that is mine. It is time for me to have a product. It has been slow going up until the last two nights. Now things are starting to explode. I can tell already that this is going to be a wild ride.


I may be on the cusp of big things....

Closing Date This Week

Yep. If all goes well, I will be the owner of a duplex by the end of the week. The issue with the tree has been resolved for the most part. The owner has agreed to pay of half of the cost of clearing the branches. Now for the paperwork...=(

I've added a few new products to PPC1. I also bought Keyword Elite to test out. I ditched Keyword Discovery due to the monthly costs even though it really was a good program. I'm hoping that Keyword Elite will do just as well and the one time cost of the program is definitely a step in the right direction. I will tell you how it goes.

The Experiment

Secretly behind closed doors within shadowy rooms I have plotted. Having heard that "the money is in the list" for over a year, I decided to test it. I set up a newsletter on one of my sites a while back and started driving traffic to it using PPC. My list is nearing 400 people now (I've been at this for a while) and today I set up the first issue of the newsletter that actually sold stuff. All of the other issues were just for building rapport and warming them up to me. Rather than directing them to my site for them to click on my affiliate link, I used this tip from Jon and will send them to a page that automatically redirects them to the merchant's site. This way, the subscribers never know that the site I'm recommending is paying me commission. I will let you know how it goes.

Tied Up

I didn't get to do much today with a number of things tying me up. I did get the insurance taken care of for the duplex and the closing date is going to be pushed back to the 20th.

No news on the business front.

Tales of My Demise...

...Are greatly exaggerated=) Duplex craziness, work, and fun have kept me busy lately but I am back.

Affiliate Marketing

I added a few new products to PPC1. I am still trying to get 2 sales per day from the site but I have to honestly say that I have not kept up with my end of the bargain in that regard. I was supposed to add 5 products each week and remove the non-performers... Like I said, I haven't been holding up my end of the bargain.

#3 is getting a newsletter! The newsletter will be used to drive people to particular pages, create interaction with my visitors, and eventually market to them. I will keep you apprised.

The Super Secret Project is on hold at the moment but not for long.


Real Estate

The bank wants a tree removed from the front of the duplex because there is a split in it that could cause damage to the carport. Seriously, it's almost like they are just trying to find reasons not to give me the damn money. The issue with the engineer's assessment seems to be handled, or at least it will be for $250. That seems to be the difference between a work estimate and an engineer's assessment. Sigh. The closing date is Friday. Scary stuff, indeed.

Listening to: Styx - Renegade (I saw other people doing this=) )

Duplex Stress

Two major sticking points. The first is the foundation. The loan officer called me today and said that they would not close on the house if they did not get an engineer's report saying that the foundation repairs weren't needed immediately. This throws the whole deal into jeopardy if I can't either get a favorable engineering report or get the owner to take care of the repairs.

The next problem is that my agent can't seem to get the leases from the seller. Again, this is a deal breaker because the only way I qualified for the duplex was by including 75% of the monthly rent into my income. Don't worry, this is legal=) At any rate, no lease means no duplex.

I'll get some internet marketing news for you in the coming days=)