I love “lists” like this one. I had this site bookmarked for a while, but just re-discovered it. If you’d like to see a brief list of ways to make money on the internet - legitimately - then check out this post at Little Dumb Man!

Here is my latest article, entitled "No More Resolutions." which deals with New Year's Resolutions and how to ensure that you achieve them in 2007! Let me know what you think in the comments, and please feel free to distribute the article (unchanged) wherever you'd like!

It never fails. Every year around this time, you and I begin to consider our “New Year’sResolutions� for the coming new year. Usually the list includes 2 to 5 “goals� that we set for ourselves, encompassing all subjects from health to money.

Consider the “New Year’s Resolutions� that you made for this past year. In 2005, the promises you made to yourself for 2006 were probably very similar to your current resolutions for 2007.

Maybe it was “lose weight�. Or perhaps you wanted to “make a little extra money this year�. It could have been a resolution to get more organized. Whatever your 2006 Resolutions were, I would be willing to bet that your 2007 Resolutions are pretty darn similar!

Am I right?

It doesn’t have to be that way. Hope is not lost in attaining your goals for 2007. Next year at this time, you could be looking back with the knowledge that you kept your word. It is possible.

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, but expecting different results.�

With that quote in mind, I want you to consider how many “New Year’s Resolutions� you’ve had in your life. It was probably too many to remember. Or even worse, you’ve had the same resolutions for years now, but never seemed to keep those promises to yourself.

Maybe it’s beginning to hit you. New Year’s Resolutions – for most people – just don’t work.

It could be because everyone seems to have (and break) New Year’s Resolutions year in and year out. Or maybe there’s a desire in all of us to improve ourselves, but not enough of a desire to force us to change what we don’t like about ourselves.

Regardless, it is important to realize that you do not need to have New Year’s Resolutions. In fact, you should NOT have any New Year’s Resolutions. You need to think of your “goals� for 2007 in a whole different light.

There is a way to ensure that your goals for the New Year become reality.

Of course, it’s not easy. But nothing worthwhile really is.

When you “resolve� to make a change, it is a promise to yourself. When we make promises, we usually tend to keep them. That is, unless the promise is to ourselves! Why does this happen?

Because a promise to another person places trust on the line. If I make a promise to my fiancé, and then break it, I will feel devastated because I let her down. Promises to ourselves do not work that way (for most people).

If we promise ourselves to lose weight, but break that promise, the only person we hurt is – you got it – ourselves. And subconsciously, we can handle that disappointment. After all, nobody else got hurt, and we can try again later! This is why New Year’s Resolutions don’t work. They are simply promises to ourselves, which have no “emotional weight� put into them. Sure, we may be disappointed if we fail…but we can handle the disappointment.

Therefore, it’s important to look at our goals from a different angle.

Instead of “resolving� to do something, you have to convince yourself that you need to do something.

For example: You need to do something about your weight. There’s no choice. For every pound overweight, you’re adding risk to your health. You are literally shortening your life with every pound of extra “padding� that you’re packing on. You need to understand that. I mean REALLY understand it. Your life is shorter than it could be, if you only reached that goal of losing weight!

Another example: You need to do something about your money situation. There’s nothing quite like struggling from paycheck to paycheck. It’s possibly the worst feeling in the world, stretched out over an entire working lifetime. You’re literally killing yourself through stress with every year that passes and you’re still in the same financial shape as you were the year before. It’s not just me saying it…this is FACT.

Now, you could be reading this (if you’ve made it this far without writing me off), thinking, “This is nothing that I haven’t heard before.� “It’s all so much easier said than done�.

That’s why I told you it would be hard: Because the answer to life’s struggles and problems lies within life itself. Life is incredibly hard. No matter what, you’re going to have to work at life. It doesn’t just come easily.

If you agree with that statement (that life is hard), then you need to realize: if you’re going to work hard at life anyway, then why not work hard toward a goal?

If you cannot convince yourself – and I mean that in the strongest sense of the phrase – that you need to change, you will ultimately fail.

Sure, you may find some short-term benefits if you stick to your “normal� New Year’s Resolutions. But before long, those resolutions – once they are met – will no longer mean anything. You’ll find that it is difficult to keep your eye on the prize, when the prize has already been won!

That is why it is so important to convince yourself that you need to change. You don’t have a choice anymore. In order to make it to 2008, you need to get healthy, lessen your financial burdens, and become an all-around better person. It is all possible, if it comes from a position of urgency rather than a promise.

The alternative? Next year: same old resolutions, same old shortcomings. You know what it’s like…you’ve done it all before!

_______________________________________________________________________________
Brett Laffin is the owner/editor of Money2BMade.com. What can a college student teach YOU about making money online? Come find out at my money-making blog, full of internet marketing advice, motivational writing, free products, and so much more!

The people over at PayPerPost have just announced their acquisition of a website geared at bloggers, called Performancing.com. The entire site is not being sold - only certain aspects are being taken over by PayPerPost.

I had not heard of this website until the news was announced, but am glad to find out about it! Performancing.com is a website for bloggers, which offers a free Firefox blogging tool, the ability to earn money on your blog through advertising, and (my personal favorite feature) - a fully functioning tracking service called Metrics. This tool allows you to learn more about your blog’s visitors through various tracking methods. And the best part: it’s all free!

Check out Performancing.com for more info, and to sign up for an account!

Now that the New Year is upon us, our television screens are filled with people talking about their “New Year’s Resolutions”. I’m sure that you’ve considered the things that you’d like to change about yourself in 2007. I know I have!

But maybe it’s not about that. Maybe you’re only setting yourself up for defeat, making these New Year Resolutions…

Actually, I’m currently writing a short report (which I will be offering for download soon) about that very topic. It will include my personal opinions and predictions about what will be “hot” in internet marketing and internet business in general in the coming year. Plus, it will help you to prepare for the new year in the best possible way. So keep an eye out for that within the next few days…

In the meantime, it’s interesting to read this new Marist/NBC Poll, which deals with New Years Resolutions. Read it for yourself right here (PDF). But here’s a quick summary…see how it compares to your personal list:

Overall Most Popular New Year’s Resolution: Lose weight.
Most Popular New Year’s Resolution (Men): Be a better person.
Most Popular New Year’s Resolution (Women): Lose weight.
Percentage of Americans Who Are Likely to Make a Resolution: 44%

Again, keep an eye out for that new report I’m writing. It will help you to make more money in 2007, as well as to help you optimize your life for the new year!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! Looking forward, now, to the NEW YEAR!

In my attempt to get this blog up-to-speed and optimized for 2007, I have finally taken the time to add a TAG feature.

You’ll notice at the bottom of each post, from here on out, will include a list of “tags” - basically a list of short “buzzwords” to help organize each post and make them more “search-friendly”.

I actually made use of an awesome WordPress plugin called Ultimate Tag Warrior. So far, so good! If you have a blog of your own (and you should!), look into using tags. This free plugin will help simplify the process…which is ALWAYS a good thing.

I just wanted to quickly wish everyone here a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS, and I want to leave you with one last thought for the holidays:

Usually in life, it’s always about the money. This Christmas, make it about the people you love. That’s really the most important thing in life. Once the New Year hits, you can get back to work.

Regardless - everyone, enjoy your Christmas…and God Bless you all! I’ll be back before the New Year with a new post I think you’ll enjoy!

I recently came to learn about a website called Squidoo.com. This site offers something brand new to the internet scene…and they call it a “Lens”.

Now, a lens can be a bit confusing. It took me a little while to understand the point of a lens, and how it could be useful to ANYONE. But soon I learned the real power behind these “mini web pages”, and how they can help almost any website to gain more traffic.

You see, a lens is simply a “compact how-to guide”. It puts everything you know about a topic onto one web page, and helps to guide the reader to more information on the topic.

For example, I just created a lens of my very own. It’s about a topic I like to continuously learn more and more about - How to Make Money Online! I will constantly be updating this lens with new ideas, techniques, and resources…and will include a link back to this blog in the midst of the advice. Maybe I’ll get a few new visitors to my blog, but regardless, it’s a great way to get your name out there! Hey - maybe you’ve found this little blog through Squidoo. If so, my point has been proven!

Even if there’s no “surge” in traffic, there’s always the extra link pointing back to my website out on the internet. That’s always a plus.

If you’d like to learn more about Squidoo, check them out here: Squidoo.com!

Don’t know if you’ve heard, but the internet marketing “master”, John Reese, has been busy working on his brand new project for 2007 - Income.com. (Only John could obtain a domain name like that, huh? I wonder what it cost him for the domain alone…)

For anyone who doesn’t know who John Reese is, he made internet marketing history on August 14, 2004, when he made over $1,000,000 in 24 hours. You can read more about it at MillionDollarDay.com.

This time, Reese is focused on teaching and training anyone who is looking to make money online - and the site is free to join! I’m not sure yet how John will make his money from the site, but suspect it will have a membership fee of some sort, if you want to upgrade to a “premium” version…but that is complete speculation on my part. It’ll be interesting to see what John has up his sleeve with Income.com, but I would definitely recommend that you keep your eyes peeled for the launch of the site.

John is one of the “gurus” who really know what they are talking about. Be sure to pay attention!

…You have to check out a brand new website that was just launched. Over 1,000 Internet Marketers, including Dave Vallieres and myself, got together and created a much-needed service in the field of Internet Marketing.

Until now, it was next-to-impossible to find honest, non-solicited, ad-free reviews of internet marketing products on the internet. Any “reviews” that were available were usually laced with affiliate links, making the “review” more of an “advertisement” for the product. When you wanted to buy the latest software, ebook, or membership, you were all alone. You didn’t know who to trust. That, my friend, is no longer a problem.

I would like to extend my personal invitation to join RatingsHub.com - the brand new website which relies completely on user-submitted reviews of Internet Marketing products, services, and memberships. In fact, if you’d like to review a product that you’ve recently purchased, we’d love to hear your opinion! Of course, the entire site is 100% free. And not only is it COST-free… it is also AFFILIATE LINK-free, AD-free, and BS-free! This ensures that only QUALITY reviews are posted on the site…not “advertisements” disguised as reviews!

The site does require a “Referral Code”, however, because we wanted to ensure only serious-minded people will participate in the review process. Of course, all of you - my readers - are some of the most focused and serious people on the internet…so please accept my invitation to join the site, and see why RatingsHub is becoming the place for Internet Marketers to voice their opinions, and make intelligent decisions!

When I saw the first commercial for the new movie “Rocky Balboa”, my first thought was “…Anything for a buck, these days…” I couldn’t understand why another Rocky movie was necessary. I really thought 5 was enough.

Then I started hearing some reviews coming in…people were actually praising the movie. They said that the movie was actually worth seeing. I was shocked. But for the heck of it, I did a Google search and located some of the movie trailers.

I’ll be there on opening night.

The reviewers are right…it actually looks like Stallone was able to revive the character of Rocky without “selling out”. It actually looks like the movie will be worth the money…at least based on the trailers!

The first trailer I saw was the one that got me most excited to go see the movie. It’s just a “teaser” trailer, but it contains a monologue by Balboa that is one of the greatest moments I’ve heard in a movie in a VERY long time. Take a look at this trailer, and just try not to be inspired.

…And I’ll let you know how I liked the movie once I see it.