We want to make money!

Well there is more than one way to make a buck out there, and it looks like satire might be one of them. To understand what I’m talking about you have to check out Lasik@home. First off, the site is hilarious, but it is also a clever bit of marketing if you look at it as a site intended to promote ad revenue. Think about it this way - because the site is funny, weird, and has that slight feeling of “it just might be real” a lot of people are spreading the url around to friends so they can check it out too and share a laugh - basic viral marketing. But notice, the site sports Google Adsense ads, which of course are contextually relevant so they are therefore ads for legit Lasik Surgery practices. These are generally fairly premium ads with price-per-click going as high as $59 or more according to some sources, although average cost per click is probably much lower. Anyone stumbling on the site looking for legitimate Lasik is highly likely click on one of those ads, a nice bonus for making a cool tongue-in-cheek website.

So what do you do when you make some money? When you’re feeling flush? When you’re in the pink? You spend it of course! Well you SHOULD save it, but my new favorite place to spend it is at Kokopink. You see my girlfriend likes the color pink. Actually, she loves the color pink! If she could only take one color to a desert island it would be pink.

Kokopink is all about pink. They sell pink jewelry, pink clothing, pink electronics, pink kitchenware, even pink Nintendos. So where does all this pink goodness come from? Well from Amazon of course. The site is actually a storefront that uses Amazon’s associate program. All purchases are really just a referred sale to Amazon, the price is the same to the consumer, but the value comes in the niche. If you’re a pink-a-holic it is a lot easier to find what you want at Kokopink than surfing through the whole amazon catalog. Maybe you should open your own ecommerce affiliate store. The competition is tough, but the investment is low. If you find the right angle you might be able to make a little side income.

If you’re interested in money, then chances are that thoughts of gold have occasionally crossed your mind. I know for me the attraction for gold started as a kid watching pirate movies. I mean who wouldn’t want to find a buried treasure chest filled with gold dubloons? Of course the vault scene in Goldfinger with all those golden bricks didn’t hurt either. Gold has fascinated humans for eons, including many investors (yes they’re human too), but like all investing knowledge and timing are critical to success. So if you’ve got gold on the brain, I suggest you do your homework. An interesting place to start is Goldseek a website specializing in information on gold and other precious metals like silver and platinum.

Is there any icon of youthful entrepreneurship more enduring than the classic lemonade stand? A few lemons, a little sugar, sunshine, and smiles and voila - the piggy bank is stuffed! Of course even a business plan as simple as a lemonade stand is not without its pitfalls: bad weather, poor location, neighborhood bullies - these can all hurt the bottom line. In fact just about every business issue is addressed in this microcosm: having adequate supply to keep up with customer demand, marketing and promotion, market timing, customer service, customer retention, having enough cups…good thing the kids don’t know how tough all of this stuff is! And that’s my point, it is possible to overthink even the simplest of business plans and overwhelm yourself to a state where you won’t get started for fear of the complexities that you might face. Every business plan needs scrutiny, but they all need action too.

Now lest you think a lemonade stand is an absurdly trivial example, let me tell you about a very special one: Alex’s Lemonade Stand. Alexandra Scott started her lemonade stand at the age of four with a very serious purpose. You see Alex was a victim of pediatric cancer and her lemonade stand was her means of helping to raise money to help fight childhood cancer. Alex, unfortunately has passed, but by the time she was 8 her stand had attracted sales and donations of over $900,000 for pediatric cancer research. Her legacy now lives on in the form of the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation which has raised over $5 million for childhood cancer research. Simply beginnings can lead to amazing ends that can truly touch people’s lives, especially if started with heart, drive and determination.

Sometimes in this crazy world, it’s just about who you know. After all your world-beating business plan, or universe-denting invention might go nowhere if you don’t have the right connections to build a great team and open the right doors. Almost any book on success will tell you it is important to build your network and strengthen your networking skills. It can be the key to finding the right job, or getting the big lead that helps you close that million-dollar deal. So here’s a link to a site that is all about making links, of the people sort. LinkedIn is an interesting tool for helping you build and manage your network. First off, the basic service is free, which as you know is my favorite flavor. You can place a profile online to let other members know what your skills are and what type of opportunities you are looking for, you can also invite contacts to link to you and share networks. That’s the cool part, every member of your network can potentially help you grow your network by sharing contacts, and vice versa. Check it out, chances are someone you know is already a member.

The thing about the web is that there are lots of ideas, lots of opinions and plenty of people willing to share their insights and experience. I recently ran across one such person that I thought I would bring to your attention: The Dividend Guy. Basically this guy believes that the road to a healthy retirement is paved with stock certificates, but not just any stocks, strictly ones that pay dividends. It is a hard position to argue with since stocks that pay dividends tend to outperform the market, and oh by the way, they pay you to hold them. Check out the site, there is some great info and The Dividend Guyeven lets you see his portfolio so you can see which companies he was willing to bet his hard earned money on.

Happy Investing!