Archive for September, 2009

There are so many times when you work on the internet especially in the early days, that make you feel like it is never going to happen and that it is time to give up.

The reason is that you hear of so many gurus making millions while your site pulls in little or nothing and you end up working so much on your own and not only that, you do nearly all of the work yourself. All of this makes is hard to stay motivated, enthusiastic and positive.

Whilst it is easier said than done I do know that persistence overcomes resistance and if you persist you will win.

When times are tough the best thing to do is to stop, take a break have a day off or just sit down with a glass of wine and relax. Come at the problem again the next day with fresh eyes and usually a different solution.

The one thing to remember is never ever give up

Now, this is not going to be a blog post on how I achieve so much in a day or how to get things done. This is because procrastination and getting though my own to do list is probably my biggest problem.

I start off with all the right intentions and sometimes even fool myself that what I am doing is getting me closer to my goals but this is not the case.

It frustrates me no end. In fact it gets me that annoyed at myself that I get even less done.

I discovered that I have ADD some time ago and this is a problem that a lot of people have and I have tried all sorts of methods to overcome it with varying degrees of success.

One of the big problems is that it is very difficult for me to get into a rhythm and I start a system up or buy a diary and commit to writing everything down or adding everything to the latest project manager or auto reminder software only to forget after the first day and end up doing none of it.

They say it takes 30 days to make or break a habit but I am not so sure.

I suppose there is no such thing as the perfect system.

The one thing that I have found to work the best is to stick to doing one thing at a time. Now this might sound easy to a normal person but to me I find it incredibly hard not to get sidetracked or start up 5 things at once.

IF you have one thing to do and do NO do anything else until that one project or job is finished then I do tend to get so much more done.

Now the question is, if I know this and if I have experience of this, why do I still end up getting sidetracked and doing other things half way through?

Like writing this blog entry for example when I should be editing the pictures and adding them to our new site www.portraitpaintinggallery.com ?

Who knows, but unless I stop now and get back to it, I will still be trying to get it done in 3 days time.

Wish me luck and let me know of any sure fire methods that are guaranteed to help me and I will give them a try. 

There was an Earthquake in Bali yesterday morning. Not long after we got up at around 6.30 in the morning. There was a loud rumbling and the house shook. The water in the swimming pool sloshed about so much it came over the edge. There were waves! That was a sight to see.

It had the whole household up very quickly, shame it was not a school day as Katie has not been up this early since… well actually never this early I don’t think!

It only went on for about 30 to 40 seconds but it is a very scary thing to happen I can tell you. Now I think I may be jinxed.

I lived in the Canary Islands for 17 years and there were one or two small tremors in that time, then we moved to England for a couple of years and we were there when the biggest earthquake for years again rocked our house and cracked the garden wall.

Now we live in Bali and I find out that we are living on the ring of fire, as it is known. I thought that was something you got after a hot curry. This is the second quake to hit Bali since we have been here and I am hoping that it was the last.

I am all for a bit of excitement but this is a bit over the top if you ask me.

Anyway back to business..

One thing about the Internet business is that you can run it from anywhere in the world. Another thing, is that if you outsource the majority of your work then you have to spend very little time on it. Having others make money for you is the way to go.

And after this ground shaking event, and no I don’t mean when I fell up the stairs, it may be time to move on.

As long as we have an internet connection we can work from anywhere. Communicating with staff who live in Brasil, India and the Philippines via skype and email allows us to run our little empire.

We have just setup a couple of new websites that we think will generate a little extra income almost on autopilot. Check them out and let me know what you think? www.PortratiPaintingGallery.com is live but needs a bit of work. It is a website to promote oil painting portraits from photos. We have an amazing team of artists that really know there stuff and produce some great works of art.

www.izabellamorgan.com is another one ready to go. Sharon and Astrid designed a range of beachwear that we will promote through the luxury hotels here in Bali and once established, across the World through a network of agents. So all good stuff.

I got portrait painting gallery ranked on Page one of google, msn and yahoo. Yahoo has dropped down to 35 now but still on first page of google. Not bad in a week eh? That is pretty impressive by anyone’s standards you must admit (He says in a smug voice )

I will keep you updated with how we get on with the ranking of this site over time and let you know how much traffic we generate and, how much we make from it.

Until then from ..

Portrait Painting

Our new website the portrait painting gallery is up at last.

The quality of the work is incredible, they hand paint in oils from a photograph. They can take several diffrent photos and convert them into one oil painting  even.

One request we had was for a picture of Michael Jackson next to the client so that it looks like they were together.

It was not until we started looking into it that we realised just how many styles of painting there are. Some people want a photo realistic painting. Although this seems to defeat the object of having a painting done. You might as well just have a photograph made into a poster size. My favourite is the impressionist where the painter puts his or her own style into the painting. Then there are the characutures where the painter takes prts that really stand out and accentuate them.

Anyway, the site should be ready to take orders later this week so if you are looking for an unusual gift, if you cannot think of what to get him or her for Christmas then take a look at having a portrait painting done.

take a look and let me know what you think. All comments and criticism of the site will be greatfully received.

Following on from my last post, I thought I would show you that I do sometimes practise what I preach.

I have just setup a new website to sell portrait paintings which are done from photographs of the subject.

They make ideal gifts and can be posted anywhere worldwide.

People who want their portrait painted simply upload their photos and then they are passed onto the relevant artist who begins work on the painting.

Once complete a photo is sent to the client of the work who then approves the painting and pays for it.

The portrait is then posted out to by recorded delivery.

All this is done on auto-pilot. All we have to do is match up the custmer with the artist and take our cut.

The hardest bit is to promote the site and this is the skill that few people have.

Fortunately for me and not wanting to be big headed, but I am pretty good at it

Check out the site www.PortraitPaintingGallery.com and look for Isabellas Portrait. It is Stunning and very reasonably priced too.

In fact here it is as well as a couple of other recent paintings that they have done.

When setting up an online business there are a number of things that you need to consider. Most people say that you should setup a website about something that you know about. I disagree, the most important thing in my book is that you can automate everything and that you can run it from anywhere.

Setting up an online business should give you the freedom to go where you want without affecting your business. If you set up a website to sell the bird cages that you make in your garden shed then in my book you defeat the main objective of running an online business. You are tied to your garden shed!!!

If you become an agent for a company that manufactures bird cages and you set up a web site to sell their products for a commission then you have a perfect business. You promote the site and pass all the orders and hassle to the manufacturer. Whether you choose to live in Toronto or Tobago, Manchester or Maui you can run your business.

The same can be said of digital down-loadable products like software or ebooks.

Also try to make it a business that does not take a lot of technical knowledge that will require you to be spending time on emails and support questions. The more that you can outsource and pass to others the better.

With e-books the customer comes to your site and buys the product, they pay through paypal and are then taken to the download page. They then download the book and bobs your uncle. They have what they have ordered and you have the money. All sorted while you are asleep in your comfortable bed or swimming with the kids in the Indian Ocean in my case

So, bare that in mind, if you want to setup a business that will make you money and enable you to enjoy life to the full. Don’t get involved in a business that is going to take up more of your time than you want to give.