I know it really doesn’t make sense to spend time saving 5 cents on this or a quarter on that.

It doesn’t matter. I do it anyway. It’s almost a game to see if I can get whatever-it-is-I-want-to-buy at 1980s style prices… or cheaper.

When it comes to computer software, I try to find free software that performs the same functions of software that sometime costs hundreds of dollars.

With that in mind, I am going to begin building a list for you of great FREE software and a few very low cost pieces of software also.

Appearing below is my list. I have no particular order in which I will list these, although they will be listed roughly in order of the frequency in which I use them. I am going to build the list initially and then later will fill in additional details about the software and how I use it. I will add more items to the list later also.

I recently switched from Windows XP to Windows Vista. All of the following worked great in XP. So far, I think they work okay in Vista but I haven’t had a lot of “trial and error” time to be verify that statement.

1.) Firefox -
Have you noticed that the majority of persons who have made videos to help you in your internet marketing ventures are using firefox? There are so many reasons to move to Firefox that I cannot even begin to catalog them all here.

A couple of the most important reasons to use firefox are:

-greater security
-hundreds of addons to customize the browsing experience, including some that are specifically designed to assist in SEO.

2.) Debut Video Capture –

-Provides both Video/Audio capture and screen capture capability.
-Allows the frame rate to be adjusted down to as low as one frame per second.
-Allows the bit rates for audio and video to be reduced to as low as 32 bits/second.
-Allows the capture of the desktop, a window, or a selected rectangle.
-Allows timed recording.

One of the main things I use this software for is to reduce the size of video files. Do you really need 25 frames per second and HQ video for what is basically a Powerpoint presentations? No. Why do you want to use up 100 mb of your hard drive on someone’s Powerpoint? You don’t.

If you are producing a video to present to clients and potential clients, you want to produce a video with high audio and video quality. Debut will accommodate those needs also.

3.) Wavepad Sound Capture and Editor -
Have you ever been listening to an important webinar and had to miss part of it because a client called or the dog became a fugitive or who knows what else happened? Wavepad will allow you to capture live or streaming audio and listen to it later.

4.) Switch Sound File converter -
Switch Sound is a tremendous tool. You can convert many different sound formats to many other sound formats (including mp3). You can convert to very low quality or very high quality files. This software will even rip the audio from a video file to an mp3 file, so that you can listen to that important video replay while you drive.

5.) Any Video Converter -
This software allows you to convert video from one format to another and provides a wide degree of quality choices for the conversion. This software allows you to rip the audio from a video to an mp3 file.

6.) Flashget Downloader -
This software allows you to run downloads separate from your browser. Have you ever been downloading a huge file, been almost done, and then lost it because your browser crashed? Enough said about why this software can be very useful.

7.) Filezilla -
This is a very good FTP client.

8.) Winpointer -
Have you ever wanted to be able to make videos that llok like the “telestrator” that John Madden made famous during his football broadcasts? Winpointer will allow you to use your mouse like a telestrator. It gives you various colors and widths for your “telestrator” and up to five different levels for you to draw on.

Winpointer will let you make cool videos like you may have seen some bigshot gurus make.

Winpointer software is not free but it is very low cost. (I think the price is $7.95 through PC Magazine’s web site.)

9.) Whiteboard -
This software is exactly what it sounds like. It provides you a virtual whiteboard upon which you may write with your mouse or type with your keyboard.

10.) PDFit -
This allows you to save web pages as PDF files.

11.) PDF Creator -
Allows you to convert MS Office documents to PDFs through the print option in the individual MS Office programs.

12.) Notewhen -
Allows you to put virtual “sticky notes” on your desktop. This is an absolutely wonderful tool for those of us with aging memories. This is another program available through pcmagazine’s web site for $7.95. (PC Magazine offers a “membership” for $19.95 that I recommend as it allows you to download dozens of quality programs that are otherwise $7.95 each.)

13.) AVG Free antivirus -
This is the best free antivirus software I have found. From what I have experienced, I do not have any reason to believe that it is not as good as the paid antivirus programs.

14.) Spybot Search and Destry -
Excellent free tool to help you keep your computer spyware free.

15.) Tea Timer (available with Spybot) -
This provides you with a way to control changes made to your computer’s registry. Since the registry is, from what I have been told, the most vulnerable point of attack in your computer, this software is a very good tool.

The lights, the glamor, the income…

Maybe you have done some research.  Maybe you have already had some success in the online marketing world.

Today’s post is a list of questions you need to ask yourself.  No matter what your experience of background, you need to ask yourself these questions.  The answers will help you to formulate your plan and strategy to achieve success.

The first group of questions will help you to understand whether you should begin your work alone or whether you should consider getting help (via hiring or outsourcing).

• What are your strengths and weaknesses?
• Do you want to run a single-person business or a larger enterprise? Are you a leader or a follower?  I hope you all answer “leader” because if you are really a follower, starting an internet marketing business is not in your best interest.
• Can you write copy?  If you cannot and do not want to make the effort to learn, you will need to hire or outsource.
• Are you able to perform software installations and web design sufficient for the type of business you want?  Do you know html or want to learn?  If you install a lot of software on your pc and can do simple maintenance such as installing RAM or internal hard drives, you can probably perform most of the server work for your site.
• Can you maintain your confidence and enthusiasm and the proper mindset through tough times?  Initially, it is likely that times will be tough.  It will take time to build a customer base, trust from that base, and then a client-consultant/supplier relationship.
• Do you have vision?  Do you have a strategy for attaining the reality of that vision?  You need both vision and strategy in order to become successful.

The following questions are more “nuts and bolts”.  These questions will help you to determine your vision and your strategy.

• Do you want to sell consumer goods or information products?
• Do you want to distribute the consumer goods or do you want to have someone else do the distribution?  This can apply to information products, especially if you are selling them in physical form.
• Do you want to manufacture/create the product or be a reseller/affiliate only?

Finally, I have one question to give you some idea about whether you need more research before you start.

This question is:

Can you define terms such as: adwords, affiliate, autoresponder, bookmarking, double opt-in, niche, php, ping, plugin, PPC, SEO, social media, traffic, web 2.0., etc.

If you cannot define those terms, you probably need to do more research to know whether the internet marketing game is for you and what position you wish to play in that game.

To your sucess,

Tom

What do I mean by having your mind right?

Well, there are several parts to this.

You have to have confidence that your undertakings will “pan out”.

As mentioned previously, few successes are made without trial and error.

You must:

• have confidence in your ability to work through initial difficulties.
• persevere through the tough times.

One important and very difficult part of this is that you may have to disassociate yourself from friends or relatives who undercut your efforts.

If someone is constantly deriding your ideas or your ability to enact those plans, it may be necessary to “give them their walking papers”.  Certainly, you should discuss the situation first and try to help that person or persons to see how his or her negative attitude could be harming your chance to fulfill your dreams.  Hope that person will decide to be a part of the solution rather than remaining a part of the problem but let there be no mistake: you need to surround yourself with positive persons.  Constructive criticism is exactly that… constructive; if someone derides and ridicules you… kick them to the curb.

One last thing…

Begin a program of self-affirmations.  This will improve your self-confidence.

Improved self-confidence will surely help you to “hang in there” as you build your business but it is also going to help you become more successful immediately.

You must have confidence in yourself if anyone else is going to have confidence in you.   If someone is going to purchase anything from you, that person has to have confidence in your product by having confidence in you.

You know what your own vulnerable areas are.  Write your own affirmations based on what you know your vulnerabilities are.  Your subconscious mind has far greater ramifications upon your life than you may realize.  Negative things said to us in childhood and over the courses of our lives can cause us to have a lack of confidence in our abilities to succeed.  By using self-affirmations, you can begin to reverse any negative internal talk you may have and may begin to build confidence in yourself.  It helps me.  I believe it can help you.

These statements may seem simplistic but I believe they can be effective.  Such things should be repeated to yourself each morning and each night.  Most importantly, repeat your affirmations to yourself when you start to have negative thoughts about yourself; use them as a pattern interrupt to break any pattern of negative thinking and self-doubt that you have have.

I am a confident man.

I have a competent plan.

I will persevere through tough times and turn them into wonderful times.

I will learn from experience and apply that learning to build a better tomorrow.

I will be a better man today than I was yesterday.  I will be better still tomorrow.

I am smart.

I am confident.

I have a great destiny.

I am worthy of success.

I am worthy of love.

Hmm… I fell better just having typed those things.

Repeat your self-affirmations.

Be your self-affirmations.

To your success…

Tom

I stated in an earlier post that every successful person I have ever known or studied has been a person of action.

I also think every one of them had the belief that their efforts would be rewarded.  If the reward would not be monetary, it would be in knowledge.  That knowledge could be applied the next time to gain a monetary reward and/or more knowledge and that knowledge would be applied the next time.

See the pattern?

• plan
• make an effort
• observe the result
• analyze and study to learn
• revise the plan
• make a more strategic effort
• observe a better result
• analysis+study=learning
• revise the plan
• more strategic effort
• better result
• analysis+study=learning

… and so on.

This constant and repeated feedback loop is what makes the great majority of successful persons successful.  They act, they make mistakes from which they learn… and they act again.

To your success…

Tom

You are going to stick your toe into the water.  Where do you start?

First, you should get a general idea of what is out there in the internet marketing jungle.

There is an amazing amount of FREE online marketing information on the internet. This is a good place to start.

You should use the free information for two purposes:

1. As a way of grasping the breadth, depth and width of different types of markets on the internet.
2. To learn how different “gurus” teach.  See who speaks in a way that you understand.  See who uses aids (such as whiteboards, powerpoints, flow charts, diagrams, etc.) that are effective for you in learning. Almost everyone uses audios, videos, and PDFs; determine for your learning style who uses them effectively.  Do you want a step by step process map or do you want to learn a general concept and then be able to get under the hood to tinker?

Some of the information you will find is crap, posted in an attempt to separate you from your money.

Some of the free internet marketing information is great though.

It was Eben Pagan who coined the term “moving the free line”.  In general, it means that many of the best teachers of internet marketing give away many of their best ideas.

What these teachers sell, for the most part, is a more in-depth coverage of these ideas, information about related knowledge that is crucial to maximizing your utilization of the free information, and coaching/consulting for growing your business into the revenue monster you want it to be.

Since you can acquire so much information for free, is is really worth the money to pay for the add-on service?

That depends.

Do you want to take a few years learning how to utilize the free information?

Or do you want to be “up and running” in a few weeks or months?

One last thing before I “wrap” for today:  don’t get caught up in trying to constantly look at all of the free online marketing stuff there is out there.  There is simply too much for anyone to read and watch.

After you have a good idea of the lay of the land, pick you niche and dive in.

If there is one common trait I can note in the lives of all successful persons in this world, it is that they are persons of action.  They form a plan, act, learn, and re-act.

So… form a good idea of what is out there, pick a niche, pick someone from whom you think you can learn, invest in their program(s), learn, and act on the learning.

Then wait for results, analyze the results, supplement your learning as necessary, and adjust your attempts.  This works in internet markets just as it works in… well, pretty much all areas of life.  If you want to be a success… take that first step NOW!

Proper use of this feedback loop is what you will use to become successful.

As a place to start learning, I suggest Jeff Johnson’s youtube channel.  He has dozens of great internet marketing videos there.

http://www.youtube.com/jeffjohnsonvideos

To your success!

Tom

Because I am… (select as many as you like):

A.)  more outrageous than Frank

B.) wrestle in a higher weight class than Russell

C.) am more intellectual than Eben

D.) have recently been in the position of a newcomer to internet marketing and better understand the questions a newcomer has than would one of the immortals in the field.

Earlier this year, I finally had all I could stand of working in the corporate world.  I quit when my employer kept reneging on promises made to me while simultaneously demanding more and more of my time.

Over the past few weeks and months, I have spent a great deal of time and money researching the internet marketing game and trying to plot a path through which I could earn a good living while also telling the bad bosses of the evil corporate world that I was their monkey no more.

Now, before I go any further in that vein, I do want to take you further back into “who I am”.

I grew up in an area of what many refer to as “flyover country”… southern Indiana.

I received a scholarship to Indiana University.  I originally planned to study astrophysics.  However, I was talked into thinking that a business degree would be more marketable.  I received my Bachelors in Business Administration degree from I.U. in… let’s just say several years ago.

I always thought having a degree from what is usually considered to be one of the top ten business schools would be an assurance of success in the corporate business world.

How wrong I was.

Who you know…

Who you are related to…

How your looks rate…

How Tall you are…

Whether you play golf…

Sycophantism…

Luck…

All of these mattered more than my “excellent” degree.

Luck matters more than a degree.

The diploma may as well have been used for toilet paper.

All I wanted was to be hired and to advance in my career based on how well I could do the job under consideration.

So now it is a few (ok… many) years later.  I am determined to become an internet entrepreneur (an “interpreneur” as I have coined it elsewhere).

One other note about me:

Despite my early desires to be an astrophysicist, I was also an accomplished poet and guitar player.  I wrote one long 50 page poem called “Convergent Universe” that mirrors the universe in its structure.  In a way it is a non-mathematical statement of the unified field of the universe.  You can find it on one of my other web sites. www.hopeforman.com

Thanks for listening… to your success!

Tom

even if he is actually a pretty decent guy.

Then, you can start your own business and BE the ungrateful, penny-pinching, money-grubbing BOSS!

I am kidding with that one…though there have certainly been many times I have thought to myself…

if I could just get rich and buy this company, I would love to be that guy’s boss for a while.  I would even pay him twice what he was worth so he couldn’t quit and would have to put up with my treatment of him.

Is it me or have bosses become more unbearable over the last ten to fifteen years?  Was there some hidden codicil in NAFTA or GATT that requires that anyone promoted in any company to a position that manages other employees, has to have graduated from the a-hole academy?

In the 20th century, I had bad bosses but I also had great ones.  Somehow the great ones seem not to have been y2k compliant.

As you have probably guessed by now, my experiences with bad bosses over the past decade are one large reason I have determined that I am going to become an interpreneur.  I coined that word as short for “internet entrepreneur”.

But there are many other reasons to become an interpreneur.

I value freedom in all of its forms.  The freedom to set one’s own schedule is certainly among them.

Make no mistake about it, there is a lot of work to be done, especially in the early stages of building your business.  But you have much greater control of when you do it.

Your nose is not introduced to someone else’s grindstone at a time when you would like to meet with the old friend who happens to be passing through your area.

You are able to meet that friend.

You are able to attend your son’s game or your daughter’s recital.

Youare able to attend the local premiere of the new Star Trek movie.

You are able to watch (or attend) the first world series appearance in over one hundred years by your favorite baseball team.

Bad bosses and the freedom to set your own schedule are just two of the many reasons to become an interpreneur.  I will enumerate more reasons in the future entries to this blog.

But next time, I will introduce you to me.  I will begin to tell you a little about my roots, my history, my dreams, my failures, my triumphs and my tragedies.

To your success!

Tom

Whether you are new or not, are you PERPLEXED by the complexity of it all?

I KNOW just how you feel. I was there myself. Over time, I found a system for determining how anyone could plot a path through this internet wonderland.

This blog is my gift to those of you who are still lost in the jungle. In this blog, I am going to help you to find your own way. You can’t just buy somebody’s system that worked for them and expect it to be the right system for you. It may be, but the odds of finding the right system for you by chance aren’t good.

You need to use the gray matter.

• You need a guide to help you:
• find the right niche for yourself.
• plot the steps for becoming a successful internet marketer in your chosen niche.
• find the right products that teach you the steps you need to learn in the way that you learn things the best.

Those are my intents with this blog… to help you plot your path… and to take the steps along that path to reach your goal.

Join me on this journey… won’t you?

May each successive tomorrow be your best day yet!

Tom