Going Back To School

Well I'm in the process of trying to go back to finish college. I have about two more years left. There's one little problem though, and that is I have some student loans that I let get into default so I'm not elgible to take out anymore right now. But I'm in the process of consolidating them and once that is finished I will be able to pursue my studies.

I am excited because there's this real estate company that I would like to work for in Atlanta that pays a pretty good base salary PLUS commissions but most of the time they hire people with degrees or people with real estate experience and I have neither. I will be working on getting my real estate license soon too.

Imagine a world where you never have to utter the phrase “There’s nothing to watch on television.” That’s how my life has been ever since I got the Comcast DVR about a year ago. With the Comcast DVR, you can pause live television, rewind a scene you may have missed or that you want to see again, and record and store your favorite television shows.
Let’s say you are watching a movie on HBO and you get a phone call. All you have to do is press the pause button on your remote and you can talk for as long as you want up to an hour and a half. The Comcast DVR automatically stores a program you are watching as long as you stay on that particular channel. This allows you to pause and rewind live TV. Unless you chose to record the program you are watching it will automatically disappear in about an hour and a half or two hours.
Pausing and rewinding live television is great, but where the Comcast DVR really comes in handy is the recording of shows. You can record up to 60 hours of standard television (digital shows may take up more space). There is also an option for you to record every episode of a particular show that is going to be shown. All you have to do is highlight the show on your program guide (there’s also an option that allows you to search for a show), and choose the option to record all episodes. There is also another option on the Comcast DVR that allows you to record the show on every channel. That ensures that you will never miss an episode of your favorite show. If you only want to see new episodes of a show, then there’s option to record new episodes only. So basically what I have done with my Comcast DVR is that I have set options to record a lot of my favorite shows every time they air on television. Right now I have so much on my DVR that it is 75% full. Every time I want to watch television I just choose one of the shows that have been recorded and I am set. I also do customer service work from home and so when I am in between calls, I just watch a little TV and when I get a call I just pause whatever I am watching.
The Comcast DVR has other great features as well. Of course you have the on-demand feature which allows a person to watch movies or other shows that Comcast has set aside for viewing at anytime, so even if you don’t want to watch any of the shows that you have recorded, you can press the on-demand button and to see what they have available for you to watch.
The Comcast DVR also allows you to search for a program by channel, genre, and time. The box is also HDTV compatible for those of you have televisions that are high definition.
The one major problem that I have with Comcast DVR is that sometimes I may miss like a minute of my show. It’s not entirely Comcast’s fault however because some shows may begin later than they are scheduled to begin. However there have been times where it seems that all of my shows started a minute earlier which caused me to miss a small portion of my show. This is probably because at the time, the Comcast DVR clock was a minute or 30 seconds off. It doesn’t happen that often, and you can choose to start your programs a minute earlier. The problem with that is you are only allowed to record two shows at once. Let’s say that you have to shows recording at 9:30 and you have show recording at 10:00 with the option to start a minute earlier. One of the shows will not record because at 9:59, you have scheduled three shows to record. Also there is not an option for you to end a show a minute earlier.
The price of the Comcast DVR is $9.95 per month but it is worth a lot more to me. I could not imagine my live with the Comcast DVR so it is my suggestion that you give it a try and see how much more convenient watching television can become for you.

When you utter the words network marketing, it is possible to illicit a wide array of responses. From the successful marketing guru, to the person who has been “burned” too many times, you will find many different experiences when questioning someone about their network marketing experience. Why is this? Well the simple truth is network marketing is simply not for everyone. While this may seem like a cliché, it is the truth. When involving yourself with network marketing, you have to be self motivated, consistent, patient and knowledgeable about what network marketing really is. However, most people who start their own network marketing business are not willing take on any of the characteristics that make for a successful network marketing guru.

To be successful in network marketing, you have to understand that it is a business. You only get out what you put into it. When you have a job, you can go to work and do just what you need to do to get by and yet you will still get paid. This is not the case with network marketing. You have treat network marketing like it is your business. While you may be scared and intimidated to talk to your friends, family members or strangers about the particular product or service you are marketing, you have to remember that you are just introducing them to what it is that you do. Don’t tell yourself that you have to be a sales person. You are just introducing your business to them. Remember that some will, some won’t, so what…Next. If you remember that you are just sharing information and not selling a product, you will feel more comfortable with telling your family members what it is that you do. Wouldn’t you be offended if your sister or brother opened up a gas station and didn’t’ tell you about it? Well you have to think of your network marketing business the same way. The only difference between your sister’s gas station and your network marketing business is that in most cases you won’t have a brick and mortar type establishment. You will most likely be doing business out of your home or while you are out and about. Again don’t try to sell anything. If you choose the right network marketing company, the products or services will sell themselves.

The main reason why people fail at network marketing is because they are not self motivators. Most people are not used to being in the drivers seat of their own financial vehicle because they have bosses who tell them what to do, how to do it and when to do it. When you start a network marketing business, you are in complete control. Sure, you may have the person who introduced you to the opportunity there with you, but ultimately, they can’t make you do anything in your network marketing business.

Another major factor that may cause someone to fail in network marketing is lack of consistency. There are plenty of people who at the start of their business may hit the ground running. They may do all that they need to do their first day or week in their business but then when results are not what they expected or when something else comes up, they slow down. In most cases, the reason why people are not consistent is because they get frustrated when people tell them they are not interested in becoming a business owner with them, or that they are not interested in buying a product or service. Let’s think about this for a moment. You have to remember what was mentioned earlier and that is you have to share what it is that you do. Take the pressure off of yourself and don’t feel as though you have failed because you didn’t make a sale. You have done your job as long as you have shared the information with your prospect. Don’t let a simple little “no” stop you from being consistent especially if you have only been working for a few days. What if a new restaurant opened up in your town, and on their grand opening day, they only had a few customers. Do you think that they would close down their restaurant? The answer is no. This will allow me segue me into my next point which is patience.

When you start a network marketing business, don’t expect to become wealthy overnight. Also, don’t expect it to be easy. Just think about those others who have started their own businesses. Do you think Sam Walton instantly became a millionaire when he opened his first Wal-mart? No he did not, so why should you expect the same thing? The biggest misconception that people have is that they will become wealthy very quickly. While it is possible to make some good money in the beginning stages of your business, you won’t become financially free in a few days, weeks, months and in some cases it can take quite a few years. The thing is you have to have patience. If you commit to one year of solid hard work, you will definitely see results. Most people can replace their income and begin focusing solely on their business when they have dedicated a solid year to their business.

There are many other roadblocks that may come up when you are starting a network marketing business, but these are just the basic qualities that one must possess in order to become successful. I have met many people who have failed at network marketing, and I have met many people who have become successful. The main difference is that those who failed lacked self motivation, consistency, patience and knowledge of their business and those who succeeded encompassed all of those qualities. It may be hard to stick to these simple rules, but the end reward will be great.

The Journey Begins

Well this is my introduction to the world of blogs. This is my first blog and I hope that those who are reading this enjoy reading about my journey and can learn from what I share.

To start, I would like to state my reasons for writing this blog. First of all I am 24 years old and I have been struggling to find my place in life. I know where I want to end up but I just don't know for sure how to get there. For the past two years I have had a strong interest in real estate and I really want to get into investing. That's kind of hard to do with no money and not so good credit. I was tempted to become a real estate agent (and still might) but I'm not sure that is something I really want to do. I do know that I want to own my own buisness and work on my own terms and I have felt this way since I was 18.

My interest in becoming an entrepreneur started a few months after I had turned 18. I was a freshman college (I had started in August of 2004). My goals at the time were to get a degree and to graduate as soon as possible and to get a good job. I had become good friends with a classmate and we would hang out on campus in between our classes. One day she introduced me to who would soon become my best friend. The guy was someone she knew since she was in middle school and they weren't really friends but they spoke when they saw each other. After meeting him, she began to talk negatively about him so of course, me not knowing him, I wasn't too fond of him myself.

Well one day we ran into him again in front of the library. He kept asking her to come take a look at a presentation but he wouldn't tell her what it was about. We both thought it was something for school, but she kept declining. So then he asked me did I want to come and at first I hesitated, but me being curious I decided to go. The presentation was upstairs in one of the study rooms and when I walked in there were like three other people. One of the people was a guy who I would also become good friends with. What struck me about this guy was that he was young like I was but he was dressed in a suit and tie. Most college students walked around in jeans (shorts at the time of the year), a t-shirt, and tennis shows or sandals. His appearance piqued my interest in what he had to say. I came in late and he was already talking. I sat down and I realized that the presentation was not at all like I had expected.....it was better. He was sharing with us an opportunity to become business owners with a company called Excel. Excel was a network marketing company and for those who don't know what network marketing is, think of Amway, Tupperware, or Mary Kay. Excel didn't delve into products like those other companies. They were into services. When I was introduced to it they were marketing long distance services.

Once I saw the presentation I decided that this was something that I could do part time while I was in school and I so I got started. I worked with Excel for about 5 years and made some decent money, but in 2004 their parent company, VarTec got rid of the network marketing aspect of the company due to filing bankrupt. During my tenure with Excel I learned a great deal about being an independent business owner. I attended many seminars and events about business, investing, and real estate. Although I am no longer affiliated with Excel, I am glad to have been a part of the company. Business owners and network marketers often look at life a lot differently than regular employees and that's how I began to look at life.

Once Excel closed, a lot of my business partners in my hometown, Augusta, went to various other network marketing companies. I did too, but after putting the time that I did into Excel, I really wasn't sure if network marketing was for me. Sure I liked the lifestyle that you could get by being a network marketing, but I wasn't ready to get into selling services, or products and finding other people who wanted to do the same. Not only that, I had begun to realize there were several other ways I could make money on my own, without having to do network marketing. I was most interested in real estate investing and decided that that was what I wanted to do.

At the same time I began doing research on the internet about making money. I have seen hundreds of ways to make money on the internet, but here's the problem that I have encountered. There is so much information that it's hard to determine which information is accurate and legitimate. There are so many people who use the internet to scam people and I just want to make sure that don't become a vicitim to these scammers. Another thing is tha there is a lot of legitimate information but a lot of it is not as detailed as it should be for those who are brand new to buisness on the internet. Also , a lot of it is exremely repetitive.

That brings me to why I decided to write this blog. A few weeks ago I decided that my goal was to make at least $2,000 per month online and that would require a lot of trial and error. I am going to be posting in this blog my journey to making a living online and I hope that those who read it can learn something from my experiences.

Thanks!!