5 Lessons in Creatively Creating Your Next Income Stream from a "Great Idea"

You don't have to be a genius to make a living with your imagination, but there are some things that you'll want to know...

Here are some ideas learned along the way to a successful career in profiting from great ideas:

1) Focus on innovation, not invention. Truly groundbreaking ideas are rare, but you don't necessarily need one of those to make a financial foundation for yourself. In fact, a useful understanding of creativity as "The logical combination of two or more existing elements that results in a new concept," could be enough to get you on the right track. Don't underestimate the potential income from simply developing innovative applications, as opposed to completely new concepts.
Famous Example: G.I Joe was the first "action figure" with movable joints for boys when it was introduced in 1964, but the product wasn't really that different from others already on the market. G.I. Joe's were simply the combination of the idea of "dolls," such as Barbie, which were marketed toward girls, with the idea of static action toys, which had always been marketed toward boys.

2) Find a high concept. That's a Hollywood expression for a big idea that is instantly understandable and marketable. The best ideas can be described quickly, and are concepts that stick in peoples' minds (think "Call Me, Maybe"). Besides, two seconds might be all the time you get to pitch your idea to the right person.

3) Read as much as you can, on as many different subjects as possible. Since the invention of the internet, it has become easier than ever before to get substantial amounts of information about any subject you want, but don't rule out trade and consumer magazines for specific niche ideas, which could be developed into new applications. Try to decide if something is really a trend, or just a passing fad. When the same idea starts popping up in the news, magazines, and on TV - pay attention. Make note of things that capture your attention. If they got you, they are probably catching other peoples' attentions also. If you see a product that appears to be a good idea, try to think of other uses for it, even if those uses are outside your areas of knowledge/expertise.

4) Meet regularly with people outside your industry or area of expertise. Consider licensing as a profitable business in itself. Think of a large company doing something similar to your (or another person's) idea, as a speedway to that idea's success. Licensing in this fashion also opens doors to many new networking opportunities - as you represent a bridge between two entities, you'll be learning about both sides of the ideas.

5) Adapt proven ideas to the changing world. Update an existing idea that has become out of date. Again consider the toy market. Consider toys as our world around us, reduced to miniature or simplified versions. Decide how you can fill the gaps, or try to look for similar analogies in other industries.

Bonus: Sell them the printer, THEN sell them the ink. Some industries call this "consumables," but it works for just about any product idea. If you can sell a single doll, but then sell 10 different outfits for that doll, you've just turned one customer into 11 potential sales.

Good luck in all your endeavors! I'd love to hear your successes or pitfalls.



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Thoughts About Hypnosis & The Attraction of Wealth

I don't post nearly as often as I should. I often think of things I'd like to post, but then never do because it feels like it takes too much to login and type out, then format and proofread, then collect associated images and post them, etc...

So maybe a format similar to Tumblr would be better for me; it's definitely something I'm looking into. So on to the post.

I really enjoy hypnosis and the relaxing benefits it provides. I don't know if I really believe all the stage hypnosis quick inductions, and how people just fall over asleep, but it's interesting to think about. Usually as I'm laying down to sleep, I give myself some items to concentrate on. I take a few deep breaths, try to calm my rampantly raging ADHD thoughts, and then I either plant seeds of relaxation or attraction. Last night, I felt particularly clever when I came up with the phrase (which I repeated several times): "You'll now experience the most healing, rejuvenating, refreshing, and energizing rest and relaxation you've ever had. EVERY CELL in your ENTIRE BODY will be completely healed, rejuvenated, refreshed, and energized." I'd have to say it worked pretty well, I passed out quickly and woke up only 8.5 hours later, full of energy. As a side note, I can easily sleep 12 hours every night, and I've been that way since I can remember. I once slept 17 hours straight through. I can survive off 8 hours a night as long as I can sleep in at least once a week.

"Ok, enough about me, let's talk about you for a minute. Enough about you, let's talk about life for a while."

My thoughts on THE Law of Attraction: I don't know. I often wonder if people who become successful using The Secret, are much like those who become successful without it: something clicks in their subconscious that causes them to take and make actions that they aren't fully aware of. They can try to teach others, in good faith, but will never be able to fully describe to anyone, a truly 100% effective system for achieving what they themselves have now attained. They, in their conscious mind, are actually unaware of the true reason(s) for why and how it worked for them.

Honestly, I'm trying to wrap my head around all the aspects of positive thinking and feeling, in order to attract more abundance and wealth in my life, but I guess it's just not "clicking" for me. Maybe it's not my time, or maybe I'm just not doing something right. I might have blocks I can't find, hidden and preventing me from success. Or maybe it has something to do with what Wallace D. Wattles alludes to, when in "The Science of Getting Rich," he says something to the effect that "sustained thought is the hardest task any human will ever undertake," which is especially true for those scatterbrained individuals such as myself. If my brain isn't going 7 directions at once, I'm probably dead. I know the benefits of focus, it just really is super difficult for me to accomplish.

I've been interested in and experimenting with hypnosis and auras for at least 6 years now. I had an epiphanic thought this morning about getting rich using The Law of Attraction and Auras, and I'll share that with you now:
"Surround yourself with a "money aura" so that when you are anywhere near money, it will be attracted to you by the law of "like attracts like." Imagine money and expensive objects floating in an invisible field surrounding you. The larger the aura and the more densely filled it is, the more magnified the magnetic effect will be."

What do you think? Worth a shot.



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Giveaways are GOOD

Two very different ideas spawned two giveaway sites with only a few minor differences in their website names.

1) Giveaway-A-Day
    "Giving Away 1 Prize A Day, 365 Days A Year!"

I've won three times (Fandango Bucks, Chevron GC, Amazon GC) and although there was a shipping error on the second one, it was resolved amazingly fast via email. Their customer support is out of this world (in a good way - not literally!). I don't know how they can give away so much free money, but I love it!



2) Giveaway-of-the-Day
    "Free Licensed Software Daily!"

They make deals with software companies to give everyone free copies of programs you'd normally have to pay for! Everything from screensavers to file converters to image editors to CD/DVD burning progs to random stuff like police sketch software or biometrics analyzers. They also have a "Game Giveaway of the Day!"

How Do I Get Traffic To My Site?

Maybe you've been asking yourself (or others), "How can I let people know about my new contest?" or "How do I get traffic to my site, period?" or for those who learn by example "How do YOU get traffic to YOUR sites?" I hope you've gotten some good responses, but you probably haven't, or you wouldn't still be reading. Well, there are some very good ways out there, and you know I'm all about the free, so here's my advice (also free). Traffic Exchanges. Very simple concept, but used with a twist (stay tuned below for that tidbit). Here are the sites I'm currently an active member of, illustrated with banners (for the visually-stimulated) and explained using Pros/Cons lists (for the logically-minded):


Pros: decent timer, lottery ticket for every 8 pages, chance to win real cash, additional bonuses, credits for reporting sites that break the rules, nice upgrade price
Cons: ratio is a little low without upgrading to pro so you wind up promoting banners more than sites



Pros: decent timer, nice visual surfing interface, addictive prizebar, chance to win real cash, nice upgrade offers if you catch them, additional ways to earn credits other than just surfing, great quotes and/or helpful advice at the bottom of every page
Cons: new front-page GUI makes site-navigation less user-friendly, text ad feature has yet to work in a manner that makes using text ads worthwhile (show too fast so that credits are quickly diminished)



Pros: earn real cash while surfing, poker game for chance at bonus credits, can choose target or exclusion countries for your ads, homepage text ads option gets great results and is a cheap bargain, super-cheap upgrade price ($10 for 3 months)
Cons: can be painfully slow, high timer, had trouble at first with the poker game not crediting correctly, limited audience



Pros: fantastic user base to advertise to (over 90,000!), earn real cash while surfing, attractive site overall, new bonus pages in rotation, ongoing competitions, good ratio
Cons: so-so timer, anti-cheat mechanism can be annoying (match the gibberish word or do a math problem), bonus pages can easily be missed if you're not paying attention



Pros: best real-cash ratio, large bag of free credits just for signing up, great banner/text credit conversion ratios
Cons: so-so timer, site navigation can be confusing, sidebar text ad monitor not working, site has been completely down a couple times



Pros: speedy fast timer, lots of blatant bonus pages (every 15th), decent upgrade offers if you catch them, easy sidebar site navigation, ongoing daily credit contests, part of super-surf network (addtl credits for surfing specific other TE's at the same time), great surfer base/lots of members to advertise to
Cons: *warning - side rant* They post your login/password in every email they send. I contacted them about this procedure and their only response is that it produces more logins/surfers daily, and it may in fact, however, I think it's unsafe to have your password posted in plain text so often (especially if you use computers in public places), so I changed mine to a random password that I don't use for anything else, and I don't have to worry about forgetting what it is because I see it every time I read an email from them (usually daily). *end rant* ratio is a little low lending to using banners more than sites


Well, there you have it, my traffic story. The order they are listed above is how I open them, and I surf them all simultaneously. In firefox, I have them each bookmarked in a single folder and just click "open all in tabs." I move down the line, using the faster timers (trafficsplash, freetrafficlotto, trafficbunnies) to fill in the gaps. In a couple hours on a weekend, I can build enough credits to have my sites and banners seen throughout the rest of the week while I work my day job (hopefully one day able to quit because my internet marketing has taken off so wildly!).

These are, however, in no way a Top 5 (or even 6), they are just the ones I use because they work well and provide me with the service I need. I've been very tempted lately to try a couple of the other larger networks out there, just to see something new - I'll keep you posted and let you know if/when I do.

Best of luck and hope you had a Happy Halloween (I went to bed early and slept like a baby - it was great!)

Win Millions Online For Free

Here's a great site with a wonderful collection of ways to win more than a million dollars each from several different sites - all completely free online! You can get there three different ways: Free Millions Online, Win Free Millions, or Win Millions Free!

I'm sure I don't have to tell you who made the site - *wink wink* but I think it's a pretty good turn out on such a modest budget and with such a lack of programming knowledge/skills.

As a side note, I locked in a fantastic hosting deal, with unlimited pretty-much-everything, all for 3.95 a month, from HostMonster. The special is currently 5.95, which is a heck of a deal, and regular price is only 6.95 (still a deal!). So check it out if you need a cheap way to host your very own site!

Time to Win With Keno 49!

I mentioned it before in my Netwinner post, and it's finally here!



If you've played the other Netwinner games, including BANKO, you're probably aware of the slow gameplay they provided. Keno49 happily (for all those impatient ADHD folks out there) plays quite a bit faster, allowing you to play all 10 plays in under 20 minutes.

If you've ever played Keno, you know that you can win for not matching anything, which happens to be my strongpoint - so I love this new addition to the Netwinner family! I hope you do too!

Prizes range from entries into the major drawing, all the way to a $250 Gas Card! Get playing today and drive around for free tomorrow!

Need Some Nice Traffic?

Maybe you like Joe Tech's Ad-Slot Widget:

...but it has you wondering why you spend all day refreshing his page to try and win a text link that will be replaced within a day (for small ads) or a week (for extra large ads).

Plus, you know sites like Blogrush absolutely SUCK for any real traffic needs, and Entrecard is ok, but doesn't give you many options for bumping your traffic up quickly without a lot of investment (you have to build up credits or buy them, and the new limits really put a damper on any plans to advertise for free on a popular blog more than once a week!)

Introducing a few fantastic solutions:

1)

2)

There's a lot to be said about these sites, but I'll try to keep it simple for now. If you need traffic, you need to utilize these resources; they allow for site, banner, and text link promotion, and FreeTrafficLotto gives you the chance to win cash as well!

You can use the sites totally free and get great results, and "playing" for the credits is kinda fun and definitely addictive! However, if you're looking for a boosted solution, or don't have as much time to invest, you can purchase a "pro" account on either site, ridiculously cheap! With FreeTrafficLotto, you can get the benefits of pro for only $5 (the price of approximately 2000 entrecard credits - which would buy you only one day of advertising a single 125x125 on a popular site there!), and for $6.97 (introductory price only) you can get a "pro" membership on Traffic Bunnies. Something to keep in mind for those larger traffic flow needs!

Enjoy your new flood of traffic!

Charity Cash Cow

The newest game from Moola lets you win money and donate some to a list of reputable charitable organizations. Play today!