BACKGROUND

I am a married,father of two who is falling behind on the bills. As I look forward into the next few months, I am possibly facing foreclosure as my bills are running rampant. Of course I have family members to fall back on a bit... but only as a last resort. (It's embarrassing asking your father-in-law for money all the time) I need a source of supplemental income that I can work on in my free time.

DAY 1: CHOOSING A PROGRAM How I arrived at Wealthy Affiliates University:

I began searching the internet for work-at-home opportunities. I am skeptical, cynical and somewhat obsessive compulsive, so I spent about twenty hours straight yesterday reading a crapload of websites. I kind of landed on Internet Marketing, because it seems like that is something that is flexible, and could return the additional income I need.

I bought into the Wealthy Affiliate website at the end of the day yesterday, and I will track my progress through that program on a blog. I couldn't find anything like this online, so hopefully if it will help you to make the decision whether or not to use Wealth Affiliates.

Either watch and learn from me as I become a millionaire or laugh as my dumb ass wastes his last remaining time and money on a program that reaps no rewards.

I took a look at the following websites, and this is what I thought of them, check them out for yourself... I have been researching this for about one day... I am no expert!

The Rich Jerk This guy is selling an ebook on Internet Marketing for $9.95. He is blunt and garish, but it got me to read most of his promotional literature and do several searches to review his approach further. I'm not sure if this guy really is a "rich jerk" or the whole "rich jerk" thing is a marketing ploy. Based on the sheer volume of information available online about his program, he must be doing something right. But it seems that he is making millions being a jerk when there are probably plenty of other people out there who are not jerks who are doing the same thing.

Basically it's like being called a pussy by an ultimate fighting champion. He just insulted you in front of your significant other, but he will pummel you if you take a swing at him... or get your $9.95...

Honest Riches Trying to swing the pendulum the other way I looked at this website. Single mom, seemed to start in the business for many of the same reasons I am. Her e-book is $37. What cracks me up about all these sites is that they say you pay 37 dollars for "X" and you get "Y", "Z" and about ten other things for free. for a value of $7000! BS... it's all part of a package, and the value is what someone is willing to pay for it.

I couldn't find too many outside reviews of her product, which leads me to believe that it's not very popular... or is it that people only write reviews to complain, and there are no complaints about her program? This marketing stuff is messing with my head already!

In the end, I didn't think it looked professional enough...

GetGoogleSmart I suppose it adds some credence to even have the word "Google" on your website, much less have it be part of the name of the product. This guy sells a product called GetGoogleSmart which helps you tap into niche markets.

He says he has been at this since 1998. It seems like if you had been doing this for ten years your website would look a bit more polished than his. There is also a funny picture of his head floating in the clouds above a city skyline. Does he think he is omnipotent? The god of Internet Marketing?

Hidden Cash Formula This guy provides an easier alternative to Internet Marketing. What is that alternative? Supposedly giving away custom designed websites. My quick read through ended because there were so many weird facts and figures on the site it made me feel ill.

Pocketsfiller.com Run by a guy named Sascha Stein. There are lots of picture of fancy boats and cars, which turns me off right away. He claims to show you the secrets of Internet Marketing for $49. It seems like the demeanor of this website is pointed at the "get rich quick" crowd. I want to get rich, but I am under no delusion that it will take plenty of time and effort to get there.

Cody Moya Internet Marketing Hey Cody. Your picture made me laugh. When I'm rich I'm going to walk around in my business suit carrying my laptop around the house. I don't want to wear a suit even at my day job, much less while working at home.

Chinese Ewhispers Chinese Ewhispers. Seems like a nice market to tap into since there are 1.32 billion Chinese. I watched their video, which shows hot chicks and piles of money. I liked the hot chicks, but I'm not sure how much the pile of money is worth that they showed. Is a stack of yens a lot of money? What is the equivalent of "benjamins" in china? benjayens? I passed on this one too. I have enough trouble talking to Americans.

Teach Me How Internet Marketing Videos 20 free videos as a teaser to buy more. I didn't get past the first page.

Others that may be for you, but not for me:

Internet Marketing Video Tutorials

Adwords Mastery

DAY TWO Saturday, January 3, 2009 Day Two January, 3 (-$39.00) After a lot of Mt Dew and playing around on their website, I can give you the first impressions of Wealthy Affiliate University

Fist of all, why I chose them: -Professional looking website -Mostly positive reviews -Seems to be a network of users and administrators to answer questions and give support -Made no assertions about overnight success -Has a step by step series of tutorials to work through

The fee structure is set up at $39/month if you go month to month, and $29/month if you pay for 12 months up front. I am a pessimist and want to cut my losses if it blows... so I did the monthly (hence the -$39 in the tile of this post)

I had seen many of the youtube posts of the member areas before signing up, but I was eager to dig my claws in. As I am brand new to the Internet Marketing Game I started with the 8 week action plan, which describes in a very basic way the concepts and strategies that you will employ to earn money.

The site highly encourages you to become active in the forums and even has a sort of point system based on giving and receiving credits for helping others. I jumped around quite a bit, trying to glean what I could by familiarizing myself with the site. The links and information run deeper than I expected. I kept opening new windows for tips in each section that I was reading.

I read quite a bit about clickbank and other such services and how they work.

I was a little disappointed that you can't access the information for the subsequent weeks until you wait 7 calendar days. So their 8 week plan will really take 8 weeks. I am not trying to read everything in one day... but it would be nice to be able to move around freely. I start back to work on Monday (production designer for feature films) so I will be very busy. I have the time this weekend!

This frustrated me until I started delving into the member forums and the section called "The Learning Center" in which I found numerous step by step instructions for assorted strategies.

I decided to write about my experiences as a way to both organize my thoughts and to practice using some of the sites that I need to become familiar with, and started this blog.

The only other thing I didn't like was within the first page they tried to get me to send emails to friends advertising their projects. I understand that they are trying to reach as many people as possible, but I don't want to be the guy sending my friends and colleagues unsolicited material, or talking about some internet marketing program at a party.

I want to make some money using the Wealthy Affiliate University to supplement my income and provide financial stability for my wife and kids.