Hi Guys !  What a week of disasters! If you are one of my regular followers you will notice that my last post date – before this was January 31,2011. This is technically not correct but this is what happened. I lost 10 blog posts.

I wanted to move servers from a private server over to hostgator. I backed up the blog all 64 posts along with 18 pages of comments.  Then using an FTP program uploaded the backup to my Cpanel. Hostgator said it should be ready within 12-24 hours. One hour later hostgator advised me the file was corrupt. Imagine my disappointment! My blog had over 8000 backlinks that had taken me hours to create and it had a PR2.

Well sometimes the gods do smile down on me. My blog (or at least part of it) was there after 2 days. Yes every post had some type of corruption in it and I had lost all the tags, the plugins and the widgets – but at least I could clean them up and get on with my next task.

It is amazing how happy that made me feel even though it will require a lot of work to restore it – it should be worth it.

I planned to write this earlier but unfortunately I have been sick and out of action for the entire week. Just a little unfortunate, but it happens when you least expect it.

So now that I have most of my blogs, I will start and get back to regular updating. In fact, I think I might even do it automatically – write one blog and have it appear on several blogging platforms at once. It will certainly save me a lot of time.

So this is Sue McDonald saying I am happy to be back and I don’t know if I will every find my lost blogs in cyber space.

Hi Guys cannot tell you how glad I am that we have finally started the Advanced Course. I know my fellow students feel the same. Mark actually told us what we are going to learn and explained exactly what we would be doing during the course.

When he was going through everything and explaining that we would be expanding on the previous Newbies Course, it made me remember what my journey into Internet Marketing over the past year has been like. Yes I basically started out as a newbie about 18 months ago and for the first 6 months never really advanced. In fact, my back account was going backwards because I was buying courses, DVDs, CDs and ebook and any other information I thought would help me. There is a term for this – information overload. It was not till I joined Mark’s Newbies Course that I started to move forward. Now the reason for this is very simple.

Mark designed the course for people just like me who have little or no knowledge. It is a structured course each week building from the previous week. You have to learn all the basics before you can move onto more challenging things.  By the end of the course what had I achieved?

I started with my blog and driving traffic to it to build my list. Now I had a list of 3 when I started and now I am nearly near 2,000. It is really not about the size of your list it is about the quality of your list. Don’t get disheartened when people unsubscribe from your list because they would never buy from you in the first place. They only joined your list for the free items you were providing.

So as well as building my list (which is always an ongoing proposition) Mark got us all to produce our own ebook and get it up on Clickbank. There was a sense of achievement when I completed that part of the course. During this course, I have even managed some sales of some of the products I have – not a fortune but at least a start so you know that what you are being taught and what you are putting into action really works. Another amazing thing that I have been able to do, is get a PR2 ranking in Google for my blog and it is not even a year old yet.

So I am really looking forward to gaining further knowledge and creating more products and getting further sales. It is certainly going to be a great course – especially the section about creating multiple streams of income.

So this is Sue McDonald saying if you want to learn like I have, just join Mark’s course.

Hi guys – I did say in a previous post that two days after I got home from the US, I was going to start the Advanced Course but unfortunately my Coach/mentor was too ill to teach the course on the nominated start date. However, I have just had a skype conversation with him and we are all set to start this Wednesday, he is much better.

I really can’t wait till it starts. I asked Mark what we are going to learn and he reluctantly leaked some of the subjects that are in the Advanced Course. I don’t know whether I can tell all but I am going to tell you some – because, to be honest, the list he was reading out was massive and there was no way I had time to write it down.

One major lesson we are going to learn (and I know anyone would want to learn this) is how to create multiple streams of income. That is what we all want and to learn the exact method how to do it is super exciting to me. Imaging knowing how to do it and then repeating  the process? Yes, we will still be doing some of the basic things that we did in the Newbies Course but this time we will take some things to the next level. There is always driving traffic but there are many ways to do that. Once again, we have product creation and that is always interesting but I know Mark is going to have us making more videos – not my favorite part of the course.

So if you are a constant reader of my blog, and have followed my IM journey with me, you will see where I started and where I am now. I have even managed to make some sales along the way and now have a list approaching 2500. Now considering I started with zero that is not a bad effort even if I say so myself. You can learn how to do it also.

If you want to start making money in the field of Internet Marketing as I have done, you first have to master the basics. There is no easier way to do this than by joining a course that will take you from where you are now to where you want to be. Mark Terrell has written this course to help you achieve results, just sign up for a seven day trial for just $1.00 and get the unlimited access to Week 1 of Coaching Newbies and the member’s area. Then you will start to see that you can be successful and learn exactly how to achieve all the goals that you set yourself.

So this is Sue McDonald saying why not take the first step to learning how to make money online.

Well we arrived back home – going in 30 hours from -14 degrees Celsius to +30 degrees Celsius. Definitely a great difference from our time in the US but we will cope  the thing is you just have to adapt. We have come home to a state where our capital city Brisbane has been flooded and the state is trying to get back to normal.

Fortunately for us, we live south of Brisbane and our house was unaffected but this was not the case for some people who have lost everything. For these people, there lives have changed. Everyone in life has at some time to adapt and change and this can be both good and bad. The best way to do this is to have a positive mindset that you will are going to be a winner.

So now I am home, what are my plans? My initial plan is to attend more classes and increase my knowledge in the field of Internet Marketing. I have had to make some crucial decisions regarding a business deal and one decision has been rather difficult for me but I know that whatever happens I have made the right decision.

This is what life is all about really  change. If you are not where you want to be or you do not have what you want yet  you and you alone have the power to change everything. Now I am not saying that by making the decision to change that things will happen immediately, but if you know what you want from life, it makes it so much easier to work towards attaining your goals. Remember that goals are dreams and desires that have to be completed in a certain time frame.

Affirmation and visualization is one of the easiest ways. Write down your affirmations and repeat them over and over to yourself. This is how you reprogram your brain. When planning for a change, be realistic in the time frame that you are going to allow yourself to reach your goal. If you wanted to travel overseas to work (for example)  write out a detailed plan how you are going to achieve it.  Note I did not say how you might achieve, I said how you are going to achieve it. So we have our goal in mind and a written plan and now we have to implement the plan. Always be positive with your affirmations never include words that are negative or the word “want” because that means you are lacking something.

So all that is required from us is to follow the plan and along the way celebrate the milestones you achieve. Getting started is the hardest part but remember the Chinese proverb “The longest journey begins with a single step.” This is your year so take that step or should I say leap!

So this is Sue McDonald just saying in another way – “Just do it”.

Well now that Christmas is over for another year, I hope you have made plans for the year ahead. Now, I know each year we all make New Year’s resolutions. What I really want you to think about is exactly where you want to be and what you want to accomplish in the year ahead.

If like me you are in the Internet Marketing niche, I want you to really be realistic and plan your year to achieve what you want to do. For this plan to work we have to write out the exact road map to getting where we want to be.

I was in a college lecture once and the lecturer posed this question to the group. If you don’t complete this course, where will you be in one year?  Most of us looked at one another and were confused.  What did he mean? Where would we all be in one year if we did not complete the course? No one answered – the lecturer answered the question himself. He said  “The answer is very simple, you probably will not have advanced in your job, but you will be another year older and have wasted another year of your life.” Those words really made me think. What he was saying was that time is a commodity that cannot be replenished. Unlike restocking you food pantry, by buying more food, you can never replace the time that you waste.

So whatever you think you want to do, think very carefully about how you are going to achieve your goals. So this is why I want you to think and plan and do not waste any opportunities that present themselves to you.

If you have wanted to get educated in Internet Marketing, I would suggest that this is the very time for you to take action. A lot of people want to know exactly the right steps needed to be successful in this field. There is no easier way that getting a coach/mentor to show you how to gradually learn all the skills necessary to move forward and finally break through and start earning some money.

As your skill level increases, be prepared to help other people and you will find that there is a Law of Karma “ what you put out there, you will receive in return.” So be prepared this year to help others and experience the joys of giving and receiving.

So this is Sue McDonald wishing you great success for 2011.

Hi Guys – If you have been following my previous blogs you will know that we were coming to the US for Christmas to spend some time with family and friends.

Well the flights were great and on time and we even arrived ten minutes early- so that is unusual because we had three planes to get here. When we got to LA and saw on the airline advisory board that there was three inches of snow on the ground at Chicago, we feared we could get snowed in. It has happened to us there before but luckily it stopped snowing before we arrived and we left there on time. When this did happen to us a few years ago, fortunately on the way home, we were supposed to leave Chicago at 9.30am but never left till after 10.30pm and had missed our flight back to Australia. Just the joys of traveling!

Well now I have to do some Christmas shopping. We went to New York City for the weekend and we went to Macy’s but it was so crowded. It was wall to wall people and so difficult to move around. The real reason for the trip to New York was to go and see the Rockettes at Radio City. They were absolutely fabulous and the four of us really enjoyed them. Should have been on my bucket list but I missed it out- but well worth it.

We took the sight seeing tour bus but I think we walked more miles than we covered in the bus. This was my third trip to New York so I had an idea of the general areas. We went to Chinatown for lunch and enjoyed it. This Chinatown is no different – mostly copy goods that are sold there and all we bought were two pairs of gloves to keep our hands warm and our lunch and then walked back to get back on the bus.

So after breakfast and more shopping on Sunday morning, we left New York to drive back to Rhode Island and it rained all the way. So now we are settled back into work on the computer.

We discovered we did not have the power pack for the computer so we had to order one on line and it took 3 days to be delivered by post. The company said next day delivery but that was not true – so now I am back in business and can continuing doing what I like.

Well Guys this is the real Sue McDonald and I will tell you more about my holiday adventures next time. Stay safe till then!

Well this is certainly the countdown now. We fly out to the US tomorrow and I still have not even packed my bags. So I have less that 24 hours to get all the rest of my jobs done.

I love traveling but one thing I don’t enjoy is the time you spend in airports. If you travel a lot you will understand what I am saying. We fly from Brisbane to LA and then on to Chicago and then to Providence. Now if all flights are on time I estimate we will only wait about 7 hours on the way over but the return journey we have a waiting time of nearly 10 hours. Our flights have been changed twice already and who says they cannot be changed again.

On the way home, the first leg of the journey stops off in Washington then to LA and then home.

I am really looking forward to this break, but in truth, it will not be a break from Internet Marketing. I am taking the trusty laptop so I can continue to do all the things I have to do to have a successful business on line. I still have three weeks of the present course I am doing. So I have my homework and webinars that I have to do.

The advanced course with Mark, starts two days after I get home and I am really looking forward to it. In it, he teaches how to create multiple streams of income and basically make money while you sleep, or better still, while you are go on a holiday.

Well Christmas is fast approaching and then comes the New Year and all of those resolutions that we all make. I have but one resolution and that is that I am going to be successful at whatever I do. This is not boasting but just stating a fact. I am prepared to work very hard for what I want and I know if I do that then I will achieve all that I want. I believe that if you do nothing you will get nothing so think about what you want and how you are going to achieve it. Think carefully about your New Years resolution and whatever you want, plan how YOU are going to get it. YOU are the most important person and you should only want the best for yourself.

If you are in the field of IM and you want to be a success, I would suggest that you get yourself a coach/mentor and learn the business step by step. You didn’t drive your car without being taught and IM is no different.

So this is Sue McDonald saying will talk to you when I get to the US. Take care till then and I will let you know about my holiday.

Hi Guys! Just watched a short but interesting video from John Assaraff. If you watched the original “The Secret” you will know who he is.

The question he posed in the video was “Do you know the difference between Interest and Commitment?”  The person who is interested in doing something is more often than not the person who never achieves his/her goals. They say they are interested in achieving a result but they are always making excuses why something is not working. They can’t or they won’t accept that they are the problem. They are the ones who are to blame for not getting the results. They allow themselves to believe that the goal they originally set for themselves is well beyond their capabilities and accept their failure.

On the other hand, the committed person will take any action or do what they have to do to achieve. They commit themselves to learning new skills and gaining the knowledge they need and they do not make excuses. That is not to say everything is plain sailing for them, yes, they can get into stormy waters but they will ride them out and get back into the calm again. A committed person will not take “NO” for an answer. They will explore every avenue to achieve their goals.

So which one are you? Are you the Interested person or are you the Committed person? If you want to succeed you have to fall into the committed category. You have to have the mindset that YOU will achieve what you want to. YOU are the master of your own destiny and never make excuses. Always think in the positive. You cannot change the past and you have your plans for the future but you are now in the present and the present is what you give yourself. That is right give yourself the”present” and achieve all your dreams. If you encounter problems, solve them, learn from them and keep moving forward.

So this is Sue McDonald saying make sure you are the Committed one and you believe in your ability to get what you want.

Hi Guys. Just read a blog from Lisa Wood. Now let me tell you what is happening. Lisa and David are taking their 5 boys and starting a new life on the road. They are asking people to give their bus a name. Lisa is an internet marketer so it will be a working holiday.

I can’t imaging traveling with a whole family in a bus but the only way to know what it would be like is to try it and that is what they intend to do. Australia is such a vast country that people do not realize how big this island is. Now I am a traveler and I have been overseas about 15 times and some of the questions I have been asked about our country can put a smile on your face.

I live on the Gold Coast and someone was coming from the States for a visit. They wanted to know if I could drive them to Cairns on Sunday so they could go white water rafting. The distance between here and Cairns is 1783 kilometres or 1107 miles. When I explained that to them their reaction was “it looks like a tiny island on the map”. I said it takes the same time to fly from LA to New York as it does to fly from Brisbane to Perth.

People overseas are always fascinated by our wild life. One person in England asked me did we have kangaroos in our back yard. Answer – no I live in a city. If you live in the country you may see a kangaroo in your back yard but not in the city. Another worry from a friend in England was the sharks in the water and the snakes on the land. We have some of the deadliest snakes in the world. Snakes live in bushland.

Nowhere in the world have I found beaches like we have here – not in the US or Europe or the UK. We have the most beautiful beaches in the world. Now that is not just a biased statement – Surfers Paradise was named one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. The sand on our beaches is just soft white beautiful sand not pebbles or ground up shell. You can walk without shoes on the beach and just enjoy it.

Now this is what the Wood family are looking forward to while they are traveling in their “Busy Lizzie” – busy because of the amount of people in the buss and Lizzie as a play on Lisa.

So this is Sue McDonald wishing Lisa David and the family – a great adventure.

Hi Guys! Like the sand falling down in the upturned hour glass, time is running out for me to get all that I have to get done. I have not done any Christmas shopping and I know there are family and friends who will be looking for their presents – so I had better start moving. I still have some Internet Marketing projects I want to complete also.

I have four weeks exactly tomorrow till I fly out on holidays and if all the flights are on time and we are not delayed it will be 38 hours from my home till I touch down in Providence. Now that is a long time, but that is just if everything falls into place and there are no hiccups. So apart from times in the airport, I will not have time to turn on the trusty laptop. I dare to say I will not turn it on till the following day after I arrive.

I have done this particular flight several times now and sometimes things have not always gone according to plan. Once we were held up in LA and missed our schedule flight and ended up flying to Atlanta and then Providence not Chicago and then Providence. On one of our return journeys in January 2007 we spent a whole day snowed in in Chicago – not a lot of fun that day. We finally left Chicago around 10.30 in the evening but we had missed our flight back to Australia.

Oh the joys of these long hauls but earlier this year I flew to London and that is 25 hours in the air.

Going to the US, we cross the International Dateline – we leave Australia on Tuesday 7 December and arrive in Providence in the evening of the 7th. Now the reverse happens on the way home. We depart January 15 and lose the 16th all together and arrive back in Australia on the morning of the 17th.

My grandchildren do not understand how you can lose a day and I have tried to explain it but I don’t think they still get it. Their biggest worry is what if that was your birthday or even worse than that – Christmas Day? The things that children worry about.

So this is Sue McDonald saying I am really looking forward to Christmas with my family and friends in the US but still have a few things to do. Will keep you posted on how things are going.