For over 10 years of being in business online, one thought process has remained a constant in this industry. It’s the premise that people can build businesses online without spending a dime at all.

I came from a ‘PTC’ background when I first got started in the traffic exchanges. Essentially I tried the ‘free’ route to get started and sure I got the odd 30 dollar commission from programs like AllAdvantage.com (for all you old timers in the biz). But they were far and few in between.

The real money for me started when I invested that 30 bucks, back into my own business. Check out The Pizza Plan for my detailed month by month budget I started years ago, that I still believe is a very valid budget plan.

You see, we think in small chunks. We are worried about ‘this month’s commission’ payment rather than long term goals and I’m not saying everyone wants to build a massive online empire but even a small time affiliate will make ZERO if a sale is not made. There I said it…

If no one buys anything, and we all do this for free, no one makes any money.

Why are programs like the ‘teams’ so successful? Sure they promise the world, but what the encourage is for people to make an investment, usually around 20 bucks a month. They make sales, and sure the guys on the top make the most but people still make money. Sales are made, good things happen. Now this isn’t a debate on whether or not ‘team’ are a good idea, but something I really appreciate is the culture they create of people ‘required’ to pay money.

We have plans to create a very cool monthly budget at ClickTrackProfit to show people that yes, you may spend a few bucks every month but if spend cash and your downline spends cash and their downline spends cash…We all can make some money with this business.

Again, I’m not trying to tell people to mortgage their homes to get into business, what I’m trying to say is that when everyone doesn’t spend a dime, no one makes money. And in this business, for over a decade, it’s been taught that one can do it all for free. That ‘do it all for free’ mentality is one of the biggest plagues in the traffic exchanges!

So whether you are looking to develop an online career or trying to make a few bucks extra a month, remember, sales are a good thing. We should all encourage the people in our circle of influence to spend a buck a two. It’s a good thing, sales!

This past Monday we had a great turnout for our first Social Surfing Secrets seminar and I wanted to thank each and every single attendee that came out.

We used to suggest this ‘technique’ years ago in the old SWAT Traffic training room and it always amazed me how many people got the exact same advice, but rarely acted on it. The trick was this, find a program that you enjoy and then contact the owner. Tell them that you will create a detailed guide book for their program and see if they would send their members to your report….

Now here’s the kicker…99% of program owners would LOVE to get this written for their business and would email their members in a heart beat…if it meant they got a great training product created for them for free. It’s a very natural and easy way for a newer marketer to jump start their list and well, piggy back off the program owner’s promotional efforts…

Of course when we told people about this technique years ago, maybe 1 person would act on it.

Well this week, we had ACTION taken and thanks to Mark Hodgetts for creating a brand spanking new A to Z guidebook for I Love Hits!

HUGE! I plan on not only telling Hit Exchange News about this, but I’ll also be mailing I Love Hits and putting a link for it in the members area of the traffic exchange. Now I’m not saying Mark will make a million bucks from this, but he’ll build a list, he’ll get some people to recognize his name and he’ll be building a great reputation in my circle of influence.

Action! All he took was action. I don’t think it cost him any money to put this together, all it took was some of his time and effort and presto…He’s my new favorite person online LOL

This is about as guaranteed as it gets folks…If you want to build a list, get in with a program owner and start building your reputation…That’s the ticket, right above. So I have to ask…How many of you that read this will take action?