Resolutions & Goals for 2009

Greetings and Happy New Year to all readers!

It's a New Year 2009, and that means many people are making those ever so popular "New Year's Resolutions". The term "resolution" gets used so nonchalantly as each New Year arrives because resolutions seem to be just mere statements people make such as "I plan to get in better shape" or "I'm going to make more money" or "I resolve to eat better". The problem with these is that they are vague, general statements that are non-commitment type plans. They're something people blurt out as part of holiday tradition but they don't become a strong part of people's daily routines for the coming year.

The Monetizer says don't make any resolutions for 2009. Goals are the way to go my friends. Vow today to set yourself one big goal, or write down 3-10 goals you'd like to achieve in the coming year. And that is step 1 of your goal-achieving process, write them down. Keep that list handy and keep yourself committed to the goals on that sheet of paper. Maybe even make several copies for yourself so you're constantly reminded of the goals you want to achieve in this brand new year.

Also consider making those goals as specific as you can. Saying "I want to lose more weight this year" could let you off easy if you lose 2 pounds. Write down "I'd like to lose 30-50 lbs" to make it more specific and give yourself something to keep to. Or use a goal such as "To increase my online income to $1000 a month", etc. Another helpful concept is the time-old tradition of announcing those goals. But announce them to people who will help you stick to them :)

Some of my 2009 Goals include increasing my Adsense income (one of last year's goals which I succeeded nicely in), improving my health even more through better diet & exercise, increasing my eBay business sales through specific niches, buying a domain & hosting for one or more of my blogs, and incorporating one or all of my online businesses. That might be the biggest of the goals, incorporation of a business. Right now with down economic times it seems necessary to find ways to write our own paychecks, so that we control our own financial well-being, rather than the government doing so. Entrepreneurs are really what drive this great nation as they provide helpful new products and services, and create jobs for the nation. I have specifics for each of the above goals which I can't go into great detail on. I've also jotted down my goals and will carefully craft better statements to hold myself to.

2008 was considered overall a bleak, painful year financially and many people may call it one of their least favorite years in recent times. Remember that a high degree of optimism is what helps people overcome adversity and succeed. That doesn't mean don't take a concerned or cautious approach to these tough circumstances but instead find the silver linings. As I mentioned in a previous post, down times can definitely hit everyone hard, but it's in these times we need to find moneymaking opportunities for 2009. Now more than ever people can begin to find those opportunities and stick to their goals for 2009 to make it one great year!

3 Moneymaking Opportunities for 2009

3 Make Money Opportunities in 2009

If only it were that simple, right? These days you can't turn on the television without news of foreclosures, company bailouts, stocks tanking and consumer confidence plummeting. Yet where most continue to see this as an indication that the economy is hurting, The Monetizer suggests you look for the economy's golden opportunities. The flipside is of course, finding money to buy into those opportunities.

Here's 3 ways you can profit from the down economy, if of course you do your research and make good, calculated risks:

1) Invest in stocks - Stocks are especially beaten down right now and as Warren Buffet suggests you want to be greedy when others are fearful. This means don't view the low stock prices as a sign our economy will completely die. View it with more cautious optimism that there's some great deals to be had and money to be made. I can't suggest any stocks in particular, but look for names you know of well-built companies. High dividend paying stocks are always a great long term investment strategy, especially if you have the dividends reinvested.

I still like a company called Buyandhold.com which allows small-wallet investors to buy or sell stocks for $2.99 a trade. The catch with that is you can only buy during 3 different time slots a day, versus having the flexibility of real-time trading. Nonetheless, with Buyandhold.com you could begin to build a nice sized portfolio, whether it be an IRA for retirement or a regular account to build up a nice sum. Sharebuilder.com is another website with low buy and sell plans, worth checking out, or you could use one of the big boy brokers such as e-trade or Charles Schwab. Do your homework with well-known stock sites such as Smartmoney.com, CNN Money or Motley Fool to get ideas of what others recommend for investments.

2) Invest in Real estate - This is one area in which opportunities are presenting themselves daily. Foreclosures abound and according to some reports people are able to snatch up homes for pennies on the dollar. This one obviously will take a lot more funds than ideas 1 or 3, but possibly people begin networking to invest in real-estate, combining their funds to make wise buying decisions. It seems as if there may be a profitable business idea in some sort of program to help struggling mortgage-payers afford the payments until they can do so by themselves. Either way, I've seen many reports on the news and early shows about great housing deals out there. Those who know how to spot opportunities will most likely become quite wealthy if they buy now and sell later.

3) Start up a full or Part-time business - Whether it be a home-based ebay business, buying a franchise, inventing something, or doing something you love, some say right now is the best time to start. Others say it doesn't matter when you start, which could be true depending on the idea. With the economy down you can snatch up better deals on things you might need to get the business going. For example, the ebay business is a great idea right now if you can afford to bargain hunt. Between people having yard sales to generate income and retail stores slashing prices to move merchandise you can flip plenty of profitable products. With any other business they say if you get off the ground during rough economic times you can profit many times over when the economy starts to do well again.

Friends I encourage you to not ignore the news of the economy completely because that's going to be with us for some time. At the same time, when things are looking and sounding bleak you can use that adversity to spot opportunities and start making money. The next great ideas just might be born out of these trying times, and you just might be the one to do it!

As always party responsibly into the New Year...I wish everyone a happy, healthy and profitable 2009!

Make Money with Franchises in 2009?

(above logos are respective properties of the companies they represent)

As we head into 2009, opportunities will continue to surround us. One opportunity many individuals may consider is taking on ownership of a franchise. It's been said many times that buying into an established company with your own startup investment money and hard work can lead to prosperity. What a franchise seems to require most is finding quite a bit of startup money to invest in it, finding a profitable location, using a lot of your own elbow grease, marketing, promotion, human resources, accounting and many other skills. As you can see it's a risky idea as you're putting your money and time/effort on the line in the hopes of the company you buy into turning profitable. But it can also become an asset you can cash in with down the road, possibly bringing in a good source of passive income along the way.

The January 2009 issue of Entrepreneur magazine lists out the Top 10 Franchises as of right now. Without further ado...

1. Subway
2. McDonald's
3. Liberty Tax Service
4. Sonic Drive In
5. Intercontinental Hotels Group
6. Ace Hardware
7. Pizza Hut
8. The UPS Store/Mail Boxes Etc.
9. Circle K
10. Papa John's

As you can see people always love to eat as half of the Top 10 and 3 of the Top 4 franchises are fast food joints. Even in troubling economic times people will be patrons at these cheaper restaurants too. Subway continues to be one of the top choices for people to buy into, and you'd have to believe it's because it's such a profitable franchise and noble cause. The icon Jared devoted himself to losing weight by eating a certain type of sub sandwich daily. Others look to follow in his footsteps and "the world's largest submarine sandwich franchise" gives them a healthy way to eat out for lunch during their jobs. Subways promote "healthy fast food" and many people will buy into the notion of helping others to be healthy, especially with the way the US continues to label its children as becoming more and more obese. My cousin owns a Subway franchise currently and seems to enjoy the idea of owning his own business.

You can check out the Subway franchise process here.

So is a franchise for you? If you've got the die-hard work ethic to give your all to another brand, the ability to keep at it in the face of failure, and the desire to make that franchise branch into a profitable business somewhere, why not? Franchises take many of the skills you'll use in building, promoting and maintaining a profitable online business too. Just remember that the online business usually takes a lot less investment or startup money to get going. Weigh the pros and cons, and also consider the idea of combining your brick and mortar franchise with a blog or website to help drive new customers to both your online and real world businesses.

Websites for Online Shopping Deals & Saving Money

With the current state of the United States economy, retailers are finding it increasingly difficult to sell their wares. These days many big name items are selling for rock bottom prices. In some instances companies are using deals just to get customers onto their website or into the actual stores. According to a recent MarketWatch.com article, Cyber Monday saw increases in traffic and clicks for many online retailers with Walmart.com, Target.com and Circuitcity.com seeing the biggest jumps. It's no secret that shopping from home can save you good money these days, but finding the best deals online is essential.

With Christmas in a few days, The Monetizer's gift to you is this collection of great websites for hunting down the best deals the web has to offer. You can use these sites to snatch up some great merchandise online all year long. Many times you'll find free samples you can get as well!

Google Products/shopping - A good start for your online shopping is to look up the exact item you want (Make/Model etc) in Google's product search. You'll get a listing of online price results so you can then do some comparison shopping to gauge what the price range is you can expect to pay. Also if you've supplied your zip code, you can get an idea for shipping and tax charges. This is one of the best ways to find the deal you want or at least get an idea of what you might be paying. Many items won't be discounted too much like the always popular Apple iPod. From Google's product search you can head over to the #1 auction site online...

eBay.com - No secret here. The biggest online buying and selling auctionplace around. Type your item into eBay and watch the search results spit out. The usual words of caution apply though. There's scammers and dishonest sellers lurking. Always investigate the feedback levels of the person you're buying from. The deal might look great, but the seller may have recent strings of negative feedback about shipping, or even worse no feedback at all. Another thing to keep in mind is shipping. Recently there's many ebay sellers offering free shipping, but in these instances the items were bid up much higher. Know your auction bid limits and stick to them. Don't let desire for an item cause you to go on a bidding rampage!

Dealnews.com - A very comprehensive site full of the very best deals in several important categories such as video games, computers, media entertainment, clothing and more. Narrow it down to the type of product you're looking for and you'll find plenty of online deal news. Dealnews.com is one of those sites you could spend hours surfing to see what sorts of deals are going on!

Dealspl.us - This is a deals site crafted in the form of social media sites like Digg or any other bookmarking site. The way it works is a site member spots a deal online and other members can click to give that deal a thumbs up. The most popular deals of the day will be found on the front page, with full details. Members can also comment on the deals as well.

Slickdeals.net - The Monetizer would probably give this the #1 rating ahead of the rest, but there seems to be a time lag between it displaying deals some days. Slickdeals features a list of deals of each day that are in collapsed form. Click on a deal of interest and it expands to show you the details complete with a link to the deal and any coupon info you might need.

Spoofee.com - This one is alot like Slickdeals as their deals seem to overlap many times. In several rare instances, Spoofee or Slickdeals had a deal the other site didn't display immediately. Keeping an eye on both sites can be helpful. Each of these sites offers RSS feeds to help track deals better.

Fatwallet.com - This site is crafted in the forum tradition, with users posting forum threads for "Hot Deals". There's even been a section where members gave each other spare Coke or Pepsi codes for their rewards programs. This site may take a bit more time to sift through as compared to the rest, but nonetheless it can offer some gems for online shopping. One other aspect of Fatwallet involves its "Cash back" program which is free to be a part of. Check out the various deals Fatwallet has from all sorts of retailers online. They change constantly but it's another way to help save money when making purchases online.

Woot.com - The Woot site provides a daily "Woot" which is their "deal of the day". It could be anything from airfare to a high-powered vacuum cleaner to computer accessories. Just recently they had a gyroscope air mouse that worked from up to 100 feet away from the computer. Most of their deals sell out fast so this is a site you may want to load up early in the AM and take advantage of a great deal they showcase. There's also wine Woot and shirt Woot which are linked to from their site, categories self-explanatory.

Now a few things to consider. Sometimes you'll see a deal on one of these sites, but always read the fine print whether it's on the website or the deal site. Other members may have commented on a deal to give people a heads up of any extra things needed for the deal. The deal may require an additional purchase, mail-in rebate or picking up an item in-store. Even so, I've seen plenty of deals on flat screen TV's, computer hardware and software for the internet surfer who stays attuned to these sites. You can also call most websites to get additional info. One thing I'd recommend is finding out if the product you're getting a deal on is available or back-ordered. I've run into an interesting situation with one deal I thought I was snatching up, which I'll explain in a future post.

Also, keep in mind these 4 sites will usually identify the very same deals. Despite this overlap, there's occasionally a deal missed by the other sites that you'll find on just one of them. For example, Spoofee identified a deal for 50 condoms shipped for $3.50, while the other sites didn't display this. This could be due to Spoofee having a different sort of audience than the other sites, but at least they stay protected while promiscuous... :)

I'd strongly recommend for anyone who doesn't have Paypal to sign up for an account. It makes for another great way to buy items online and recently I've seen several sites offering deals such as $10 of $50 or $20 cash back when you use Paypal. Also, Paypal offers their debit/credit card which can be attached to a 1% cash back on all credit purchases made. Yet another way to save a bit on those online purchases. 1% may not look like much, but it's $10 more or so if you're buying a $1,000 flat screen TV.

Keep an eye on these sites after Christmas day passes. There's a strong possibility there will be some great deals coming up due to retailers wanting to unload merchandise from the season!

Happy Holidays & Merry Christmas to all, from the Monetizer!