Coffee, Chocolate and URL's

January 22nd- officially the ‘most depressing day of the year’, according to a leading Welsh psychologist. Winter blues, Christmas bills, broken New Year resolutions – enough to daunt even the most stout-hearted among us. But – and we quote Will Thatcher in A Knight’s Tale – ‘It is not in me to turn back.’* So, ‘most depressing day’ or not, I continue on as an IM newbie.

‘IM’ is a new term I have just learned in the past week – along with dozens of other ‘new terms’. ‘IM’ is a pretty easy one to figure out – Internet Marketing - but I hadn’t realized that diving into this would mean learning a whole new language – one that uses lots of combinations of letters that cannot possibly be real words - URL, FTP, SEO. Not a language that I’d be likely to pick up easily, but learning it seems to be an essential element of success, so I’ll give it my best shot.

I’m sure that someone – somewhere – knows what each of those combos stands for; but for now, what I need to grasp hold of is that each of them is significant - and if I want to get somewhere with this, I had better pay attention to them.

By now I’ve learned the importance of ‘URL’ (whatever the U and the R and the L stand for). It is the first step on this road – get that web-site up and running! so now I have a URL and now I can sign up with ClickBank (important). Plus - Jerry’s RSS Newsletter, Sam’s quickie course on PLC and Jason’s hot-tip bulletins all about PPC** - all of whom are going to help me become a millionaire before the end of the year – based on the assumption (theirs and mine) that I will ultimately understand what RSS, PLC and PPC are all about. I’m certainly glad all these folks are there to help – it’s a steep learning curve (but one I’m sure I’ll master).

Next comes SEO – where would URL be without SEO? Lonely, isolated – and not making any money at all. That’s what I’ve learned this week. So, that makes SEO very definitely the next term in this new language for me to get to grips with.

Just before I sign off, let me share with you the 'silver lining in the cloud' surrounding Jan.22. In this same week, scientists have revealed that coffee improves brain power! (Caffeinated coffee, that is – not the tamed down decaf stuff.) On behalf of all caffeinized devotees, I quote the famous Pink Panther Sergeant Clousseau. ‘I knew zat. I knew zat.’ And, to make that bit of wonderful news even sweeter (hmmm), this Thursday has been designated ‘Chocolate Cake Day’ - not by me, but by greeting card manufacturers – couldn't you just kiss them for giving such an open permit to chocolate-out. Well, there we have it – the perfect remedy for ‘most depressing day’, the silver lining that can be found in every cloud – ‘official’ permission to indulge in both coffee and chocolate… couldn’t get better than that.


*Regarding that comment from A Knight’s Tale: There may well be a moral in that – Will made the comment to Edward, the Black Prince of England, after Will had defeated the Prince at jousting. Then, later on, at just the most ‘tense’ moment of the flick, contrary to what you might expect, the Prince didn’t hold that defeat against Will at all – instead, ole Blackie bestows knighthood on the simple thatcher-turned-jouster, enabling our hero (Will) to defeat the mean Count Ademar ( boo!) and thus win the hand of the lovely princess.. Aaaah! And the moral – as there be one – there is great reward for those who do not turn back. (and there endeth the second lesson)

**Now, regarding Jerry’s RSS, etc. – (By the way, Jerry, Sam and Jason are all made up variations of names of some of the newsletters, courses and hot-tips that I’ve signed up for in the past week – if I’ve stepped on any toes by ‘naming names’, my apologies. I have no intent to rubbish or diminish anyone’s reputation.) But I do wonder, since they are each going to help me make a million this year, should I expect to make a million with each - one million with Jerry’s RSS, one with Sam’s PLC and another from Jason’s PPC, or just a million altogether? Is anyone willing to second guess the outcome?

Till the next edition, I’ll sign off

The still green newbie