They say free advice is usually worth about as much as you pay for it,. That might be the case here--but I'll try to make it worth something nonetheless. First, I'm no guru or super-affiliate, I'm just a guy who has found some things that work for me online and so I stick with them and try to make improvements every day. The Japanese call that Kaizen, making incremental improvements in one's business habits and practices.

I will tell you that I used to be a teacher for 14 years. Since quitting 20 years ago, selling my books and courses has been my only source of income. I take what I do very seriously. I do not mistake it for a game.

I see a lot of beginners post things like "Can I Make $500 A Day?", or things like that and the answer is NO!--not unless you pay your dues, learn the ropes, and become one serious, motivated, hard-working SOB. But you can make money, and make some good money by picking up some free nuggets of information, and this is a great place to begin--on the Warrior Forum.

So I'm not going to give you my ten best SEO tricks, or pre-sell page secrets, or article marketing tips here. I'll give you something I think is much, much more important. What I want to give you is a perspective on how things really work in Internet marketing. (You can make extrapolations to how things work in life in general if you wish.)

You have all read the sales pages, seen the hype, and read about the guys knocking down hundreds of thousands of dollars (even millions) with big product launches, and it is easy to buy into the hype of believing you can make a fortune almost overnight selling ebooks online. But here are some harsh realities you need to consider.

First, just as in any business endeavor, there are people who are very, very clever--who are more capable than you can ever imagine, who dedicate every waking moment to finding every way to leverage what they know and turn it into cash. And I'm not talking about either the real (or phony) Clickbank gurus whose names you recognize. I'm talking about people who are not known and do not want to be known and in the spotlight--people who fly below the radar.

These are serious people. You think you know what the word "serious" means; You do not! Unless you know and understand what the word "sacrifice" means, you will never become a kingpin in this business. Sure, you want to make a gazillion dollars in this business, but here is the key question: What are you willing to sacrifice to make that a reality? Time? Money? Drinking beer with your buddies when you should be busting your rump honing your skills in marketing?

How serious are you? What are you willing to sacrifice to get to the six-figure-a-year level or beyond? What are you willing to give up? The gurus may lead you to believe that any idiot with 2 hours a week to invest and the secrets they reveal in their ebook can make a million dollars a year--but you're better off investing in lottery tickets as a road to wealth than go down that road.

How serious are you? Are you willing to do the research and learn the techniques that actually make money for people online? No one single ebook will give you that. The answers are all out there, but they are not all in one place. Are you willing to give up things you enjoy in order to learn and to put into practice the techniques you acquire? Are you willing to make sacrifices? That is what it boils down to my friend. Sacrifices!

Are you willing to go down a road of continuous self-improvement, a road whose intersections are not well marked, a road with few traffic rules, a road that can be bumpy and filled with an occasional dead end to complete your journey? Are you willing to sometimes put aside things you enjoy in order to take action on your plan.

I'll tell you one thing for sure, the biggest stumbling block for any beginner in Internet marketing is not a lack of I.Q. points--there are many Internet millionaires out there who never competed high school.

I don't mean to sound harsh, but someone once said that the world is run by "C" students. As a former teacher, and I say this with sadness, but unfortunately often the one thing that often separates the "A" students from the "C" students in our public schools is that the "A" students have learned one important lesson: If you site down, shut up, and do what you are told you will do very well in school.

Highly creative, daring, independent thinkers often do not do well in our schools. But these people run the world!

Unfortunately, sitting down, shutting up, and doing what you are told are not the qualities that bring greatness in one's life. Are you willing to step outside the box, indeed--are you willing to define a new box in which to live your life? Are you willing to be criticized by others for then living in that box?

There are boundaries between organization and chaos. They are fluxing, wobbling boundaries. Do you dare to step to the edge of Chaos, to leave the safe and certain world most people inhabit to step into the world of possibility thinkers rather than the world of limitation thinkers? The greatest rewards in life come to those who dare to do this.

But what guarantees do I have that I will make it if I get involved in Internet marketing? Guarantees?--Holy ****ski, if you want guarantees just work at the same job for 40 years and retire on social security. Depend on the robber barons of government to tend to your needs. How's that for a guarantee?

Myself, I don't invest in stocks or bonds. I invest in ideas, in people--I invest in people who know what the word "sacrifice" means. I invest in serious people, like myself and other like minded individuals. The returns are much higher.

How serious are you? What sacrifices are you willing to make? What are you willing to pony up as an ante to play in the game of Internet marketing? I would suggest you answer these questions before you plough forward getting involved in something you think is a game. Internet marketing is not a game; Do not mistake it for one!

How serious are you? Become a "possibility thinker" and prosper. Leave the grunt work of the world to the "limitation thinkers". Embark down a road of continuous self-improvement. Question all that you see, hear, and read. Question the motives behind the words and actions of others. Dare to be different. Dare to be great. Dare to take a chance on yourself and be serious when you do that.

How serious are you?

End of lecture. I once again retire from my teaching duties.