So Happy New Year!

Sorry I’ve been so quite on the blog here … I am sooo happy to have a New Year and a fresh start! I can honestly say that 2011 was not my most favorite year. I lost 6 friends and family members … and only one of the deaths was actually expected.  *sigh*

For this year … I, along with about 70% of the rest of the universe, have made the decision to get healthy and lose some unwanted weight. I am using products from a company named Isagenix and I couldn’t be happier with the results so far. I’ve lost at least 11 lbs. since New Year’s Day (I don’t weigh in again for another few days) and the difference in the way my clothes fit and in my energy levels are nothing short of amazing. So what are the products? They are based on nutritional cleansing and replenishing your body with very healthy nutrients (something that was very foreign to my body LOL).

I was so excited about my results that I’ve been sharing the news with friends and family members and many have decided to join me. It has been so easy to share with others … that I’ve decided to make a business of sharing the products with others. It turns out there’s very good money to be made! In fact, if all of my appointments stick for this week I will make well over $1,000! Pretty cool huh?

I am going to be working this as a professional business and I’m willing to help others do this as a business too … so if you or someone you know is open to hearing about a new income stream please contact me k?

Here’s a video about some women kicking ass with the company (I plan on joining them! And, yes, there are plenty of men tearing it up too LOL I just really like this video). *huGs* Suzanne

http://suzannefranco.isagenix.com/us/en/isavideos_enterprisingwomen.dhtml

Let me know if this is something you or someone you know might be interested in hearing more about ok?

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So … you wanna make some quick cash? I can show you how ok?

Just watch this video and let me know if I can answer any questions for you … I’m seriously looking for 3 people to personally work with on this … please contact me if you’re interested or would like to hear more! *SmiLes* Suzanne

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I can’t believe it! Austin just turned 16 and is now driving! Yikes!

One of us is super excited about this new chapter in our life *sigh* … LOL

So what does this have to do with my blog here at SuzanneFranco.com?

Well, as you may or may not know Austin has been learning online marketing alongside me for several years now and he’s … well … you could say very motivated right now to pay for his new “ride.” So we’ve teamed up to offer you some killer online deals:

Killer Offer #1:

FREE WordPress Site Setup:

We will set up your WordPress website/blog for free with our recommended configurations, plugins, widgets, etc. We simply request that you use the links we provide to our preferred hosting company (HostGator) to purchase your hosting service (they pay us a referral fee … you get a free website set up … win/win right?). *If you already have a hosting account please contact us here and we will still help you out.

Use this link and this code (hgc25) to get your first month for a penny!

P.S. If this is all new to you and purchasing a domain and hosting intimidates you please contact us and we will help you through the process … no problem at all …

Killer Offer #2:

Website Review and Consultation: Keyword Research, Onsite Optimization, and Monetization Methods – $197 ($395 Value)

Already have your site set up but don’t know how to make money online? We can help! We will review your site, help you with your keyword research, help with your onsite SEO, and look at your monetization methods (or lack thereof) and make suggestions and changes to help get you profitable.

Killer Offer #3:

Google Local Places Page Setup and Optimization – $397 ($595 Value)

If you have a local business you don’t want to miss this amazing offer! What would it mean to your bottom line if you were beating all of your competitors in Google for the search terms that your potential customers were typing into the search engines? We will claim, setup and optimize your Google Places Page (you know those pages you see on Google where the results show a map with the little red markers with “A” “B” “C” results listed?) We can’t “promise” you an “A” placement … this is Google we’re talking about LOL … but I will say we’re VERY good at this service and we will use all of our “ninja” tricks to get your business pushed to the top!

Client: Pilot Heating & Cooling

OK … if you need help online … let us know a.s.a.p. and we’ll hook you up! You’ll get a killer deal on some great services … and you’ll help an amazing young man earn his first vehicle (never mind mom’s mixed feelings on this subject LOL).

Use the contact us page to place your orders and to ask any questions you have about these offers.

*SmiLes* Suzanne

P.S. I’m not sure how long we’ll be offereing these discounted rates so if you’re interested contact us TODAY to lock in these rates!

P.P.S. We’re are also willing to negotiate discounted rates on our other services so just ask (i.e. backlink building, video marketing, graphics, social media consulting/management, content creation, and more!)

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I want to wish all moms a Happy Mother’s Day! I hope you’re doing something wonderful today … whether it’s exciting or relaxing … I hope you get to see or talk to your favorite people today.

I want to share my most favorite YouTube video with you … it’s my dedication to my own mom (love you mom!) and to all mom’s in the world today. *huGs* Suzanne

P.S. She sings very fast so I chose the version with the lyrics included … Hope you get a great laugh … and it puts a smile on your face

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I’ve received a lot of emails asking me how my new business is going (blog post here: http://www.suzannefranco.com/im-starting-a-new-online-business-wanna-join-me/) so I wanted to give you an update. I purchased the Traffic Geyser “business-in-a-box” training and it included their video submission service for a year (and a bunch more quite honestly) and it was a great decision. It was $2,000 so it wasn’t for everyone but I’m at a point in my career where I was ready for it so it was well worth the investment.

I have spent a ton of time watching the tutorials (as I mention often – I’m very detailed and over analyse everything so I’m “slow” LOL) and I’ve learned a lot about how to start this business. I have also done some testing using my own businesses and so far everything is working really well. For those who aren’t familiar, the Traffic Geyser system is focused on using video submission to get page one Google results. This “business” is using that method to get local search results for offline businesses.

I can’t wait to try this for someone else’s business and so I’ll be doing some barter here soon to get my feet wet.

Did anyone here reading also start this business? If so, how’s it going? I’d love to hear from you … questions … comments? *SmiLes* Suzanne

Mardi Gras:

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So I took some time off from the blog during the holidays (still had to run my other businesses) and when I was ready to return … tragedy struck. My 12 year-old son, Nathan, crashed his dirt bike doing about 30 mph and broke his collar bone and both of his wrists (poor little guy). I already love working from home but when this happened it reconfirmed just how lucky I am to be able to truly be there for my family and to not have a boss to deal with.

If you are working a job and would like to work from home why don’t you make 2010 the year? What I’d suggest you do is to figure out exactly how much you need to make to replace your job. List out all of the expenses of working at your job (clothing, lunches, gas, etc.) and subtract that from your take home pay and see what you need to come up with. That way you’ll have a true picture of what that will take for you.

You can start out by supplementing your income and see what it will take to replace the job all together.

I took the plunge by purchasing an existing business (on eBay LOL) and it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I’ve had several people ask me what I’d charge to help them set up an online business from scratch and it’s got me thinking about doing some site flipping – which is where you set up an online business and then sell it (usually auction style) so stay tuned for any news related to that. If you’d be interested please leave a comment below and/or shoot me an email telling me what type of business you’d be interested in and let me know your budget … we’ll see what I can come up with OK?

Hope everyone is well and I’m glad to be back to work here on the blog. *SmiLes* Suzanne

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I want to wish each and every one of you a Happy Thanksgiving! No matter where you live, how often you make your way here to the blog, and even if we’ve never met. I am thankful for each of you and I hope you’re having a wonderful week.

We traveled about 3 hours from home to be with Ken’s grandparents and some of his aunts and uncles and it’s always a fun group of peeps. About to watch the Cowboys game (hopefully my boy Tony will have an awesome game) and then on to the UT game (hook’em horns!) … then we’ll meet some friends out for a drink or two … then out in the middle of the night to wait in line for a great deal on a laptop for Austin and some other things for Black Friday.

I hope you’re having a great time too! *SmiLes* Suzanne

Some funny pics my sister sent me via email:

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What are you doing (or did you do) for Thanksgiving? Let us hear from you!

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Here’s wishing you a really fun Halloween … please be safe!

This picture cracks me up so I thought I’d share *SmiLes* Suzanne

What are you doing or did you do for Halloween? Do you dress up and/or go to a Halloween party? Do you take kids trick or treating? Do tell …

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As Ken was filing out some paperwork this morning he asked me the date and as I checked my cell phone and saw October 23^rd … I had a “moment.” Today’s the 4 year anniversary of our house fire … which was of course full of mixed emotions. Sad for what we went through … and thankful for all we have today … and for the decisions I made due to the fire.

It was this point in my life that I decided to figure out how to work from home … on my own schedule … and completely for myself. My kids were a mess and they needed their mom … when they needed her … not when I could work them in around my customers! They were going to after school daycare and we’d had some issues with that too.

At the time I was an independent contractor for a company (http://www.auction123.com) where I helped car dealerships put their used car inventory up for auction on eBay Motors. So even though I did work from home I had scheduled appointments to meet and sales calls to go on and it wasn’t as flexible as I’d hoped.

As with most people who go through a tragedy I can honestly say that a lot of good came from our fire. We are much closer as a family and I believe it changed my parenting – hopefully for the better. LOL.  And it was the true inspiration for me to find a way to work from home and for myself.

I decided to look for an online business. After I got some insurance money (our house and our belongings were deemed a total loss) I looked long and hard for an online business to purchase. I spent hours online looking for a “fit” and one day … Bingo! I found Freelance Daily (http://www.freelancedaily.net) for sale on eBay … and I bought it. It had a net profit of about $15,000 a year and I paid $5,000 for it. I also sunk about $3,000 – $4,000 into some programming and other expenses so I’d say it had a pretty good ROI. It was a great starting point for me in the online business world. It doesn’t meet all of the criteria I look for in a business now but it is the reason I worked so hard at learning keyword research, SEO (search engine optimization), and online marketing.

Once I got the hang of that site I got to plan out my WAHM (work at home mom) site (http://www.wahm-2-wahm.com) and that was really fun. I paid a designer to design it and a programmer to build the site. Unfortunately, the database software I chose for this site was completely over my head! So, once again, I had to open my wallet and pay for some help from a programmer. This site … about $2,000 – $3,000. *sigh*

Quite honestly for the past 4 years I’ve spent full time (and then some) hours online working at these businesses (and the other businesses I’ve started) and learning all I can about keyword research, SEO (search engine optimization) and online marketing … usually putting in anywhere between 10-14 hour days . I often joke that I’m certain by now I have the equivalent of a Master’s degree in online studies. LOL.

I truly love what I “do for a living” and if it weren’t for our fire I’m not sure I would’ve ended up this lucky!

I get a lot of email from readers who want to have an online business and they want to know how to make money NOW from it. I will tell you the same thing I tell them … there are no real short cuts to making a living online. It’s a lot of work but if you enjoy it … it’s worth the hard work to learn how to do so.

I also understand that not everyone has the money to go out and purchase an existing business. Now that I know what I know … I’m certain that both of the businesses I mentioned (and all of the other ventures I’ve started since) can be done on a very small budget so don’t let this discourage you.  

We have friends coming over and I’ll have some fun “celebrating” our 4 year anniversary – and all of the good that has come from the fire tragedy. LOL. I hope you all have a great weekend! *SmiLes* Suzanne

Do you have an online business? If so, how did you get started? If not, do you have a business idea you want to get going? Either way … do you need any help? Let us know!

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Last night I asked my husband if he wanted to get up in the morning and go to Starbucks with me for their “free pastry” day. I mentioned how we could bring our laptops and get through our morning round of answering email while we were there. I mentioned I would also enjoy getting to work away from home for a change of pace. He said that sounded good.

This morning we got up to his business phone ringing (as usual) and he went straight into his “work” mode of scrambling from customer to customer … as I went on to “doll up” and get ready to leave the house. Hmmm … no mention of our trip to Starbucks. I went on to print out the free pastry coupon and he got dressed and closed his computer. “Yes, this is going to be fun” I thought to myself. Then he looked over and said, “Baby, why are you packing up your computer?” Uhhhhh … “I thought we were going to work while we were there?” Him, “I don’t have time for that now. I have to get right back and pack boxes … but we can go get you your free pastry.”

OK … we’ll pass on the marital “discussion” that went along with this scenario but I will say this. I am so happy that I have the type of business that I have. One that doesn’t require me to be at any one place at any given time … and it’s by DESIGN … not by accident BTW!

Yes, Ken does make more money than I do but he started his business many years ago and the money wasn’t always there for the hard work he put in. That hard work for little pay is an investment you will have to put in for most any business model. But the part I want to take a look at is the workload and flexibility once you are established.

Trading Time For Money
The busier and more successful Ken becomes financially … the more hours he puts in and the more of a burden it is to him (us I guess LOL). He has a seasonal business (water sports industry) so summers are complete madness for our family. In fact, he’s so busy that he rarely has time to enjoy his passion, wakeboarding, which was the very reason he started his business. I call this scenario “trading time for money” and I want NO part of it. LOL

I, by design, look for business models that once I’ve put in the initial “grunt work” in the beginning and the business takes off … the less I have to work and the more money I make. That means I want businesses where I never have to pack or ship anything (that requires me to be somewhere – no thanks!) and where I’m not “expected” to be available certain times on certain days.

So for me I look for businesses that have some or all of the following: 

• I can work from anywhere in the world
• I can work at it any time of day … any day of the week
• I don’t have to pack or ship anything (no tangible products)
• I refer business/sales and someone else does the packing and shipping
• It has a residual income stream (sell once and continue getting paid)

Blogging
Blogging meets most of these criteria as long as I keep the list in mind. I can make money through affiliate links, through pay per click, through click per action offers, through direct sales of ads (so long as I automate that – or else I have to be available to customers), and through site reviews (again … as long as I spell out when I’m available to do those). Through this blog I have had a lot of people offer to pay me to help them with their online businesses … and although that’s a tempting business model (to get paid for sharing the years and years of experience and knowledge I’ve worked hard to gain) … it’s still trading time for money right? I will do it on a case by case basis but it’s not a model I want to grow over the years.

Niche Stores/BANS
My niche stores meet the criteria … even more so than the blog format. Send over the affiliate/referral sales via the interent … can be done anytime … from anywhere … nothing to pack or ship … perfect!

Membership Sites
Membership sites work for this model too … as long as they don’t require a lot of time adding content … or at least as long as the content isn’t on a rigid schedule. For instance, if the membership includes new content/lessons every Monday … I would make sure they can be automatically uploaded … as opposed to a live webinar every Monday which would require me to be there at a certain time. See the difference?

Subscription Based Newsletter
One of my online businesses (Freelance Daily) does not completely fit my business model so eventually I will either have to find someone I trust to run the business for me or I will sell it. It is a daily job source newsletter for freelance writers. Writers pay me a monthly or yearly fee to receive the new job leads every day. This requires work 5 nights a week and DOES NOT fit with my ideal business model. I’ve hired someone to do this part of the work for me so I’m covered for now … but I handle all of the administrative duties and sometimes those are time sensitive. There are also some aspects of the business that are not automated correctly so I’m re-examining them now to see how I can streamline. Now … because I’ve built a customer base and a name for myself in that industry … I’d be smart to find other ways to monetize that business … but the new ideas must fit my “list.”

My WAHM Membership/Database Site
I also have my WAHM 2 WAHM business (a way for work at home moms – WAHMs – to look for and promote direct sales businesses) and it’s set up according to my model. It’s fully automated and all I have to do is to promote it. I do want to get an affiliate program set up so that others can go out and promote it for me too … sounds good right?

So … I’m at Starbucks alone *sigh* “working” while my husband is stressed out and packing boxes in the muggy heat (we’ve had over 30 days of triple digit heat this summer – so far) and then he’ll be off to the post office sweating his ass off there too. I TOTALLY appreciate how hard he works for us … I truly DO … but by design I’ll keep looking for ways to make money via my ideal business model (in fact, I’m even an affiliate for his company now LOL). *SmiLes* Suzanne

P.S. My hot chocolate and (free) lemon pound cake were awesome!

Do you have a business model for yourself? Do you agree with how I feel about trading time for money? Have you been able to stick to your own “list”? Do you have any helpful advice for me and for others? Let us hear from you …

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