Article Surfing Archive

New York, NY December 21, 2007

It'4:30am and the alarm begins to buzz, time to get up. Shower, shave, get dressed and head out to catch the 5:20 train to NY Penn station. Standing on the platform with the other tired freezing souls this December morning is a 15 year veteran of the train commute to work, Mike Minor. He's been traveling up to 3 hours a day to work for so long he can actually say 'The commute is not that bad once you get used to it. I catch up on sleep during the 45 minute train ride back and forth to the city' explains Mike.

Most folks would think, 'He must get paid really well to travel 3 hours a day just to get work.' Not the case his salary is competitive but average for his industry and education. Mike is your average information technology worker, he has the 4 year degree and working on the 5-7 year MBA in his free time, which unfortunately due to his commute, busy schedule and not to mention time with his 2 ' year old and lovely wife does not exist.

So the years have passed by and Mike's industry has had its ups and downs, more recently a higher percentage of downs than ups. Between the mortgage industry woes, and the outsourcing of so many technology jobs to places like India and other developing nations, times are lean. 'So how do I provide my family the quality of life they deserve?' is a question Mike is asking himself all too often. Mike is beginning to get caught up in a cycle of debit that never seems to have an end. 'Get into debit to do the things we enjoy or to fix the car, we struggle all year to pay the debit down, then it's the holidays again and you put yourself back into debit, the cycle seems to have no end.'

What is one to do? Mike has pondered the questions 'Do I look for another job? Or bartend on the weekend, work at the mega home supply store?' It's just more time away from the family and even less free time and sleep. The answer has been literally staring Mike in the face every day for the past 15 years. What most people do not realize is that computer that feeds us all the information we need to get through our day can also be used to put bread on our table.

'Where do I start?' That is the question most often asked. The answer isn't easy there are a lot of very savvy people out there, they have developed millions of ways to part the internet novice from their money. Who to trust? What to avoid? The best place to start is some where you feel comfortable, do you have a hobby, a passion or a club you belong to. Sports, fishing, golf gardening or cooking what ever you like to do there is an opportunity on the web to make money from it if you can see through all the distractions and concentrate on your goal. Mikes goals are to get out of debit and to be able to support his family on a single income working for himself from home. Eventually he hopes to provide his family with true comfort and the freedom financial worries.

How does this happen? How do I get started? The best place to start is to surround yourself with like minded people, the internet is virtually a cash machine one just needs to figure out how to turn it on. Mike is a surfer so he happened upon his opportunity on a surfing site; he was hooked up with a like minded individual with an opportunity that seemed to make sense, so he took a shot. It was scary at first Mike asked himself 'What do I know about marketing and advertising? How can I market this product who is going to trust me?'

It's all about confidence and pushing through your fear and taking steps to change your life. Making that conscience decision to find the strength to break free from the security and safety of everyday life, take a chance and be willing to fail. Mike compared his situation to his battle to quit smoking. 'After 22 years of smoking cigarettes, all the promises to my family, my wife and my self I woke up one day and said 'That's it!, No more' I made a decision that I was no longer going to be a smoker.' 'The concept is very difficult, it is so hard to picture yourself without the cigarettes but once you accept it and believe in your self and repeat ' I am not a smoker' to yourself you can move on and be successful. I haven't smoked in 6 years, nor have I wanted to. I have friends that smoke in front of me and I'm fine there is no desire to smoke at all.' Mike explains it was harder to make the decision to take the leap of faith into the internet marketing world than quitting smoking.

'So now I am an internet marketing affiliate and I am completely lost I have no idea where to start other than my interests, and my desire to make a better life for my family.' explains Mike. Thus his journey has begun, he is still a commuter, for now. He is also building his business one day at a time. Follow Mikes story in the months to come, success or failure each lesson will teach him something and possibly those who read this will learn from him and take a leap of faith just like him.

Its 4:30 am and the alarm begins to buzz'