I have to say candidly that the only actual money I’ve ever made purely off an internet enterprise was the result of being involved in what was a really superb idea whose time just wasn’t right, but it still might go somewhere, and that’s the ‘GotZip’ program, sorta kinda the precursor of the Pagellan idea.

GotZip put money in my pockets. Not Wall Street money, but heck, I didn’t have anything LIKE Wall Street kind of risk, either, so there you go.

EBay was also a good. low risk, darn-near sure-thing, where I made significant bucks in a relatively short time.

That lasted seven, eight months, but by then my closets, basement, garage and spare bedroom were pretty clean and clutter-free, to the enormous delight of my wife, whose constant support and prodding are the underpinnings of my modest success.

The lesson in all of this is: “Don’t get into an Internet Marketing enterprise with any lofty illusions, oh gentle reader. Go in armed with confidence, believing that if you are judicious, persistent, imaginative, curious, tenacious, resilient and courageous, you have the stuff it takes to BEGIN to acquire the seeds of success.”

That is to say; pay your dues, in time, study, trial and mostly error not to mention cash. Because the only way we learn to walk is by falling on our butts repeatedly. If it were easy, there’d be no point, because there’d be no reward attached to the exercise, and everybody would be spinning his cyberbits to no end of any value at all.

If this puts you off, you can thank me later. You weren’t supposed to go there anyhow. There is something else you’re supposed to accomplish, and I’ve just saved you some fruitless hours discovering that truth for yourself.

However, if that all smacks of a gauntlet hitting the turf, I say “Cry havoc and loose the dogs of war…”

And that’s hard to do here in Arizona.

I wholeheartedly agree that the devil is in the tweaking. After years of heated conflict with Taguchi, A/B and Split, I have come to realize that the race to profits is not won by the swift, but by consistent testing.

Grasshopper

P.S. Google’s Website Optimizer and Split Testing Adwords copy now allows me to travel the earth in search of additional wisdom and not battle the evil .XLS
Do you have a favorite testing tool or website?

Great post and really good advice. The only thing I’d like to add is my strongest recommendation for your 22 Day Bootcamp. Not only is a great for the newbie, it’s good for the intermediate as well. I know this because of how much I got out it.

Trust me if you’re reading this and haven’t been through Dan’s Bootcamp you really need to sign-up now and get started. It’s one of the very best values available anywhere.

No hype here just my honest option,

Vic