TBIP Wk 1, Day 3: Developing a Rock Solid Business Plan

Today was a good session for me. I'm so excited about getting started that I completely overlooked the preparation step. I've decided to keep myself organized electronically. I read some blogs about a few tools. Should check those out.

Lessons for the Day:
Think objectively about your model. Act on reason not emotion.

1) Choose your Niche

2)Analyze your Niche: SWOT Analysis. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunties, Threats?

3) Dig deeper/Market analysis

• Competitors
• Sufficient demand
• Understand the customer
• Find a unique angle
• Get feedback

So I have a list of possible niches that I would like to pursue.
A few have passed the SWOT Analysis. Still need to 'dig deeper'.

Today I will:
-google my competitors
-browse through some tools to keep me organized

Day 2

I missed Day 1 of TBIP because I couldn't watch it at work. The anticipation of waiting for the Day 1 recording drove me so crazy that I decided to watch Day 2 at work anyway. I hope I won't regret that decision =P

Anywho.

Topics:
Day 1: Choosing your Niche. Most important rule is to do something you're interested in/or have experience. Understand your customers. Don't pick something just because it made someone else a lot of money. They made a lot of money in it because they were really interested in and/or had experience with it.
Good niches: good selection of merchants and have a clear advantage of buying online

I've been keeping a list of certain areas/niches that I would like to explore in. Everytime I come across an area of interst I write it down. As that list continues to keep growing, my #1 pick hasn't changed yet.

Day 2: Building your Business. Three business entities were introduced. Sole Proprietorship, Limited Liability Corporation, S- Corporation. All have pros and cons. Tax avoidance is a right. Tax evasion is illegal.

I've decided not to focus too much on this yet. I need to get my business up and running before I lose track with this stuff. It's good to get educated in it so the tax proffesional I hire knows he/she can't take advantage of me, but like Jeremy said, I'd rather hire a professional because that's what they do and what I do is make money.

Getting Started

Welcome to my blog about affiliate marketing. I'm a beginner in affiliate marketing. I'm eager to learn and share with you my so-called journey.

Why I'm doing affiliate marketing: There's the obvious, I want to work harder for myself than I do for someone else. I see the huge potential. My close friend Brad had actually quit his day job! So the promises aren't made from some distant infomercial, I can see it happening through someone I personally know.

Who I am: I am Julia. I have no experience in affiliate marketing whatsoever. I took a few courses on web development and Photoshop and would say my knowledge in both is intermediate. Brad invited me to join The Black Ink Project (which I like to call TBIP) by Jeremy Palmer.

What I am doing now: TBIP starts tomorrow. I spent the last week reading High Performance Affiliate Marketing by Jeremy Palmer. It was really a really good book and it provided a good foundation.. Brad and Jeremy both mentioned using PHP so I also spent a few hours taking a PHP tutorial at PHP.net . I also read a few blogs written by other affiliate marketers.

Can't wait till TBIP starts!