Discover the three-word secret to more money!

Millions of people every day turn to the Interwebz thingies looking for an additional source of income. The action usually follows along this line: Jane needs an extra $300 a month to “make ends meet,” to make sure she runs out of month before she runs out of money. So, in addition to her regular job, she does an online search for income opportunities.

She finds literally hundreds and hundreds of offers with a simple search of terms like “make extra money” or “work from home.” They promise her the moon and the stars, all with just an investment of $49. After looking at a few, and knowing she truly needs a financial break, she commits herself to doing without a few simpler pleasures one month in order to invest her funds and takes the plunge.

Often, the purchase she made is into some sort of network marketing or multi-level-marketing type of opportunity, where the “plan” seems to be to sell some over-priced product of average quality, at a ridiculously low profit margin and to find hundreds of others to do the same. Maybe she even goes so far as to even commit to some impossible-to-cancel monthly auto-ship program in order to keep herself at an optimal percentage bracket.

At this point, the reality sets in for Jane. She hits up her friends and family to get some orders (and out of love for her, a few do place an order). Perhaps she even has the guts to talk to a few strangers. If she's rare, she might even go so far as to have some business cards printed up and hands them out to a few dozen strangers, in an effort to drum up some business.

What often happens for so many of these Janes is, at the very best, perhaps they make a $100 check for their investment of $350 altogether (counting all expenses like their own purchases of products, business cards, gas going to and fro, “business lunches,” etc.,). It seems like all she needs to do is keep trying. Most don't even end up doing this good.

But, after a few months, she finally realizes the plan she was offered on the company's website isn't what she's experiencing. She starts noticing the very same product she's trying to market for $50 is available at the local Wal-Mart for $20. Sometimes it's at the local dollar store.If she's fortunate to have good, caring friends, they point it out to her, hoping she'll drop the company like a hot potato and quit wasting her time. The smarter Janes of the world, do. Jane is crushed. Jane realizes her product is over-priced and she can't compete.

Jane also realizes the profit margin on her product is ridiculously low. Wal-Mart usually runs a minimum of 30 percent profit margin. So, if they're making 30 percent minimum on a $20 item, why is she only earning 5 to 25 percent of a $50 item? Then it hits her: The company she's working with is full of crap. They designed their marketing plan, not as a way for her to profit, but for them. While they assured her in conference call after conference call of their “commitment to her success,” all they're really interested in is their success.

She also then comes to learn how many thousands of others just like her have been promised those same moon and stars as she was. It's then that Jane sees that the real plan for the company is to get as many suckers to order their product - at a huge mark-up - as possible. Jane is crushed emotionally. And she's not the first.

All that passion, all that energy, all that work, all that money invested and here she is now, worse off than before. It seems the “Great American Dream” is dead. But it's not. Jane just fell victim to a bullshit line. She's no different than the rest of us who've been burned. She's not a “failure” at all. She just learned a valuable lesson. If Jane's a fighter, she'll come to realize a wonderful secret to making the kind of money she needs and having the kind of life she wants.

It's three little words and it's my hope that some Jane out there has kept reading this far. Here's the secret, free of charge to you, my dear readers, after having spent so much of myself to learn it for my own life: Find your passion!

All that work, energy, blood, sweat and tears selling someone else's dream enriches them. If you're going to put so much hard work, late hours and money into anyone's dream, let it be your own. This way, you're in control of prices, special deals, the rules and how you go about building the business, whatever type of business it is.

I once worked with a company (I won't say their name but their initials are A-M-W-A-Y) who had a crappy little rule that said you weren't allowed to market your product off of store shelves. So, there went any chance to build up volume bonuses intelligently. You also weren't allowed to order products in large quantity containers, such as 55-gallon drums, so there went another opportunity for me to market one particular product of theirs to friends who worked in the various oilfield industries.

Other companies I've tried working with had similar rules in place which kept their profit margins ridiculously high, while stifling every creative approach I tried for, myself. It was almost as if they didn't want me to find any real success! I've since learned this wasn't just my perception. If they limit any one individual's success, they keep more chumps on the line.

Working for yourself, on your own, personal, passionate plan also keeps anyone else from screwing you over on commissions. The closer you are to the hard, nitty-gritty details of your business operations, the more control you enjoy overall, and the less chance there is another person can find some bogus reason to not pay you what you've earned.

It doesn't matter what your passion is. Figure out how to turn what you have an interest in and go for making it profitable. As you grow your business, you'll learn all the finer details. Just start living your own life now - and not that of someone else. Otherwise, you may very well just be better off sticking with a regular 9-to-5. The world needs factory workers too. So there's no shame in it.

If you want to succeed on a long-term, real-world basis, find your own passion! Sell YOUR DREAM, not someone else's. Find what YOU love doing and do it. It's really that simple. It might actually be more work, harder stress (in some situations) and even longer hours. But, being your own baby, it's more of an act of love than a struggle. Why put all of that effort into continuously enriching someone “over you?” It's not foolish to benefit those who deal with you (In fact, I highly recommend you always strive for the mutual-win scenario in all arrangements) But to spend your days achieving someone else's dream, is. Find your passion. Sell your own dream.

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Anyone with a blog or website to promote should check these folks out! They've paid me three times already! (Not much yet. But they keep their promises.) But it's more than just advertising. Advertising is boring.

MatesGate offers a wide range of fun activities from chat to free online television to blogging to meeting new people across the pond (let's make this big in the US too) to games plus much more.

They also pay their members according to how much the site gets used. The admin is a friendly guy. The other members are decent. Every once in a while someone tries to be "spammy" and they're handled. This site's treated me better than Facebook has.

I could try to tell you everything I like about this site but I'm just too dang lazy. Besides, you'll really just have to try it for yourself to see. The things I like might not be your cup of tea. But I'd bet you'll find something there worth joining for. It's all free.

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Goodbye AdBrite

I've just made a decision about my blog. I've just removed a long-time sponsor from it and for good cause. Maybe you might do better with AdBrite - but me – I'm a little tired of being kicked in the teeth.

I've had a small relationship with AdBrite for years now. And there have been a few times I've made a few dollars, so not all of the memories are bad. But after the month of November 2011, wherein I've had more blog visitors than ever before, I see a whopping total of 19 cents in earnings.



In fact, over the past two years, I've seen such little earnings with them, it's not even worth sweating ever collecting a cent from them. 19 cents for my best blog month. Admittedly, my blog sucks for visitors compared to most others. And that brings me to my next point.

These last couple of years, the advertisers using AdBrite have gone from good to bad to spam-a-licious. When I've addressed this with admin they tell me, when I increase my visitor totals and the quality of those visitors (whatever the hell that means anyway), I'll see better advertisers.

What? In order to get anything much more than “Congratulations! You're today's lucky visitor!” I have to get the kinds of page views that are usually turned off by “Congratulations! You're today's lucky visitor?” Talk about Catch-22. Besides, my visitor totals have been increasing, in spite of this, "Congratulations! you're today's lucky visitor," is all I see. (By the way, who could ever get tired of seeing that ingenious, well thought-out marketing approach? It just gets better every time I see it. Not lame at all, right?)

Awhile back, I was seeing those scummy, lowlife ads where some advertiser using AdBrite is basically trying to trick folks into downloading something, allegedly because their video player wasn't updated. Although I repeatedly rejected those ads, they kept showing up.

Contacting admin, I was told I needed to set my adzone to “family friendly,” and that it would significantly lower my income. So, if I am to ever have a shot at making money with AdBrite, I have to deal with these types. Well, I'm not settling for that. I sell my soul enough as it is.

Dealing with AdBrite has been a lot like being told that, in order to make a living, I have to deal with scumbags. I'm tired of the negative impact their ads have had on my blog. The folks at WoT have told me what shows up on my page from these advertisers AdBrite deals with. They're just not finicky enough to deserve to be on my blog.

Then there are questions too, regarding the way they work anyway. Even though lately, my visitor counts have gone up, the earnings just are not going up accordingly. I contacted admin about that as well and was told – in short and what appears to me as – they just don't have the advertisers. This, in spite of everything I was told previously.

No more. I will not let others dictate what I carry on my blog, for the sake of maybe earning a few dollars a month – unless some other problem arises. I will not be told to jump through hoops to just be denied my prize anyway. Perhaps others might give AdBrite a try and they may just love them but not me. Not anymore. I'm done with kissing the ass of those who would treat me badly. I have been patient enough, to such a point, I have wasted my time. No more.

Goodbye Adbrite. You're off my blog. I'll have better luck relying on the occasional donor. I'll have better luck finding my own advertisers (Hint-hint to anyone willing to sponsor my blog). Regardless, I'm done playing stupid games..

Come visit me on DonPennington.info.

You might notice one less annoying pop-up April's A to Z Blog Challenge April 29, 2011 "Y"

Here we are at the “Y” point in this blog challenge, and I'm just now pulling my head out of my ass, and realizing what kind of chump I am for ever having dealt with Bidvertiser. I've carried Bidvertiser ads for years, even before the current owners, and possibly those before them. All this time, these bastards are claiming I've never, ever, ever received one click from a visitor. The odds of that being even possible are staggering. In fact, they're impossible.

I had a friend in another state click on one of their ads as a test, and even waiting four full days, I see nothing for it. This tells me only one thing: These bastards aren't giving me credit for revenue I've earned them! FUCK!

Now, if any of you out there on the Interwebz thingies hate me so much as to doubt what I say about these low-life thieves at Bidvertiser, then be my guest, sign up with them. No, really, do it. Even if you authorize their crappy “Congratulations! You're a Winner” pop-ups, they're not going to credit you for any earnings.

Bidvertiser is not interested in treating me right as a publisher, then they've no right to be anywhere near my blog. They're just not worth dealing with. I don't know what kind of criminal outfit they may be altogether, but it just aint worth finding out.

So, to my wonderful readers, I'm sorry for those annoying pop-ups in the past. I'm sorry for all the crappy, NSFW ads being ran on my blog. I'm sorry for ever having dealt with these thieving, filthy, dirty, low-lives at Bidvertiser. I hope they get raided by other scumbag criminals like them.

Patriot Depot

One more retweet on Twitter: Simple steps to 10,000 more computers minimum April A to Z Blog Challenge April 18, 2011 "O"

This information just feels so "right" sharing here today. I'm so glad to share something so helpful, in celebration of passing the midway-mark, in April's A to Z Blogger's Challenge.

So, how are you going about getting retweets on Twitter? Are the 140-character-counted thoughts those of love, inspiration, motivation, and dreams? Or, is the “Howard Stern-esque” approach working better for you? Oh my goodness, please don't tell me you're one of those folks paying some gum-slapper to market on Twitter for you. Oh no. That is not acceptable.

If you need retweets on Twitter, all a body's gotta do is follow @RetweetLister. It's really that easy. Following him, and having him follow back, this Twitter account will retweet any direct message that's appropriate for younger eyes.

When direct messaging (DM'ing) @RetweetLister, 31 of the characters are already used up from the share of the message. This is because the account shares your message with those connected to him, who also retweet. So, while severely limiting all you might want to say, the account will get your link to the systems of anywhere between 10,000 to 25,000 others. That number will increase, as well, like it's done thus far.

Let's review how to get massive quantities of retweets on Twitter: StepOne - Follow @RetweetLister on Twitter. (There's a free utility listed on the profile page, too. You might like that one.) Step 2 - Once @RetweetLister follows you back, Send direct messages of 109 characters maximum, including (absolutely) absolute links.

No porn, gambling, offensive, abusive, chain-letter, spam or racist links/messages. No auto-responders. @RetweetLister will not tolerate it. You have been warned. We're all grown up enough to know what “offensive” means. “Business opportunities” must be approved by @RetweetLister first. Musicians/other artists encouraged to respond. Account holder reserves all rights to remove any follower from the service, with or without notice or obligation at any time. Account holder also reserves the right to alter, adjust, or change in any way all aspects of this agreement, and any followers sole recourse will be to stop following. Hey. Sometimes, things change.

Patriot Depot

Getting older, we all die April A to Z Blogger Challenge April 8, 2011 "G"

No matter the reader's age, were they to live a good, average life-span of 80 years to-the-day, they'd find themselves living a grand total whopping 29,220 days alive on Planet Earth. That's 29,220 days,and not a single one more. Once they're gone, there's no return.

Out of those 29,220 days alive on this sweet Planet Earth, soaking up the warm sunshine, a reader has no doubt advance themselves already, at least some portion of those wonderful 29,220. How many, the author would not know, only the reader. A simple act of subtraction puts us at the number of days we have left, if we're to live to 80. And that, dearest reader, is if we live to 80.

Let's say any given reader has only a 40 years of age estimate of 19,610 days exactly. Of the remaining 19,610 days a soul might hope to make, there could be placed a value on each, using whatever figure a mind might pick. For each day lessened from the actual number of days lived, the value of each of all the rest magnifies exponentially, day by day. We must also subtract the days shy of 80 years of time from the total overall number of 29220 days.

For those of the readership who do get to go on and enjoy every blissful day alive (because Life is bliss, after all) what value do you place on each one of the final remaining days, in the final balance of life?

For those who may know, with a reasonable medical certainty (death being very medical, after all) they will not be making it to the full 80 years, how much more of a value do you place on each of your remaining days?

Then what value, today? What price would any reader-in-general give for just one order of "Today of Your Life?" And, would you like fries with that? What value this very hour? This very minute? This very second? This very word? All words, all seconds, every minute, of every hour, of every day of any readers life should hold such value.

It was a much older and wiser man who shared with the world we should be mindful of what we do with each day of our lives, "because it costs you a day of your life." Sadly, the author is unaware of who the original quote was sourced from, or if the phrase is exact. (Help in the comments would be lovely.)

So, dear reader, exactly how are you going to invest each moment in the sands of time, from now on? What little days we have left, are what we have left. Share with us, please, what would that action be, if there was no risk of failure?

Can Facebook Be Used in an Emergency?

According to a recent report out of Australia covered by Switched.com two young girls, ages 10 and 12 years old, used their FaceBook status updates to alert friends that they were stuck in an underground sewer in Adelaide, Australia. Their FaceBook friends did contact emergency services for them, and they were rescued, but the emergency services personnel who did the rescue were upset the two girls hadn’t called them directly.

Though those heroic firefighters did manage to rescue the girls, some of them are upset that the two didn’t call them directly, and opted to contact friends instead. While the author would certainly agree that calling emergency services is usually the best answer, it’s also noteworthy that the two young girls might’ve been smarter to have used the update system of FaceBook and Twitter.

Here in the US, and especially in the larger cities, our 911 system can get busy. Being put on hold with a dying cell phone battery could have resulted in tragedy for the two un-named Australian girls. Information shared via social networking sites like FaceBook can get information around faster since most people are contacting friends and family with a status update.

But what about other life-threatening situations, such as home invasion, for example? Do you want the burglar to overhear you whispering to the 911 operator? Would it be good if the criminal heard the 911 operator answering you? While such a scenario might realistically scare an invader off, it’s not a bet many of us would like our loved ones to make. A FaceBook status update could serve well under such circumstances.

With the technology of today, it seems that 911 emergency services should

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