Things That Don't Work

I have been involved (at some level) in internet marketing for over a year now and I think that I can promote myself as an expert in one of its aspects – that being “what doesn’t work”. In fact – I think I am an expert now in the field of “what doesn’t work”.

With the knowledge that I have gained over the past year and the expenses that I have incurred – I have created a nice list of things that don’t work.

I have found that there are actually two benefits from “things that don’t work”. (I love taking negative experiences or events and turning them into positive outcomes, forecasts, and even realities – why else would I write a blog about things that don’t work?)

The first benefit is taxes. Its tax-season for many (I filed in early Feb because I knew my daughters were helping me get a nice chunk of change back from the gov). Uncle Sam through his relationship w/ the IRS has some specific guidelines as to benefitting from “what doesn’t work”. They don’t like the home-business owners who have a list of things that they spent money on that did not work. For the 2007 tax year I was able to write off a nice bit of change for the things that did not work. I would suggest a book titled “Lowering Your Taxes – Big Time” by Botkin for some good information on what you can do about writing off your home business expenses. Be warned this benefit has an expiration date. If you write off a couple grand this year and show little if any income….it may not work next year. The pencil-wielding accountants at the IRS will call your HomeBiz a “Hobby” and disallow your write-offs.

The second benefit that you can realize from “things that don’t work” is the experience you gain. (The school of hard knocks has more successful graduates than all Ivy League schools combined.) There are hundreds of great quotes about famous people who failed time and again – yet learned from their mistakes and their fruitless attempts – only to rise to later successes. I hope this is you. For that matter I hope it is me too.

Ah … a third benefit just came to me. I will tell you about it w/ tongue firmly planted in cheek. In the case that you got into the internet marketing arena to help get your family out of a financial crisis – then turn the positive into a negative. Expand the “3-ft rule” that they teach in MLMs. Here is how:

When the mortgage company calls and wants to know when you can make the house payment – go ahead and get things settled – then promote your business to the associate who called you. Everyone is a prospect, right? They called you and took you away from your home life – turn it into your favor. Call it Debt-management meets Social Networking.

Tongue in cheek aside, I would love to hear an experience from someone about this. I am sure that its been done. And I would also think that the person who can do this – will not be in financial crisis for an extended time.

So there you have it, friends. I intend to share some of those “things that don’t work” experiences in this blog thread over the next few weeks. I hope that you enjoy it and I hope that I can follow it up with some ideas along the lines of “things that work wonders” – because that is what I believe will happen for me.