Living in Las Vegas, snow is a rare commodity. It gets cold, and snow up on Mt. Charleston, but generally it’s once in a blue moon for it to snow in the Valley and stick. However, as I type we are getting flurries. Who knows, we might be making snowmen in a little bit (they did on the other side of the valley day before yesterday).

And… in my continuing odd post for the day, I read something interesting in the Las Vegas Review Journal. A commentary written by Gail Collins, a columnist for The New York Times.

I’m not going to replicate the entire article, but the section that caught my eye about dogs:

“Folks at the University of Vienna conducted a test in which dogs were asked to shake hands over and over and over again. If you have any experience with dogs, you will not be surprised to hear that they were absolutely delighted. And they didn’t care about being paid! The opportunity to perform the same trick endlessly with a stranger in a white coat was reward enough.

Then the researchers brought in new dogs that were given a piece of bread as a reward for every handshake. The uncompensated dogs watched, lost their innate love of mindless repetition and grew sullen.

“They get so mad that they look at you and just don’t give you the paw anymore,” said Friederike Range, one of the scientists.

So OK. Dogs are secretly obsessed with fairness. (And bread. Who knew?)”

Strangely enough, as I read that portion it reminds me of so many individuals I’ve “met” online. They work their little buns off for nothing, yet some “bigger dog” comes along, steals all the thunder, and gets all the bread.

This might sound familiar to anyone who’s joined an affiliate program, promoted it with real heart, and gotten squat (or peanuts) for their efforts. While the “big dog” made tons of money from your efforts.

But there is hope… and a way around this… Start your own thing!

However, you must be picky! By that we mean, so specifically “niche” picky that you’ve taken a big old umbrella of a website (or blog) down to its finest points.

“Health” is not a niche, it is an umbrella. However, “colon cleansing” is a specific niche under the umbrella of Health.

“Home business” is not a niche. However, joining a specific home business (or starting your own service or product oriented website narrowed to a single product or service) IS a niche.

This particular blog you are reading right now is NOT a niche. It is an umbrella, encompassing all sorts of niche-like features to internet marketing and social media – from monetizing blogs, to social bookmarking, to freelance writing… and so much more (hang out a while and read the archives there’s tons of help and direction in this here blog!).

Get the idea?

Another valuable thing to keep in mind is choosing something you are passionate about. If you sign up for something that just sounds like a money maker, with no real understanding of what it is or how to run it, what’s the point? You’ll merely be out the money it took to join (and maybe maintain) because you lack passion.

So snow, dogs, umbrellas, niche markets, passion… and that wraps up today’s post

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… little blue birds would be singing, cleaning my kitchen, making our beds, and in general making my day even grander

(Even if you voted for “the other guy” you’re going to want to read this post, I promise.)
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Just for Fun Sunday…

My father sent me this earlier in the week and I only now got around to opening and reading it. The caption above the image reads:

Halloween Is Going to Suck This Year!!!

He also wrote (on 10/3/08):

WILL SOMEONE STAND UP AND BE COUNTED?

At age 76, I was born during the Great Depression and it may well be that I will die within a depression that may be even greater. (more…)

As a reader of this blog, you know our aim is the day to day pursuit of helping you be successful. Politics was never on the menu… until this evening. I’ve got stuff to say and I’m going to say it.

You know what the trouble in this country is? It’s the inability for the people of this great nation to gather as one voice and declare, “We have had enough!”

To this very day, rather than have to exert the fraction of mental energy involved to come to logical, well informed, decisions, is it true that people are just blind little sheep wanting to be lead? (more…)

For anyone in the Entrecard system, you should have received an email sometime in the past 12 hours notifying you of their new toolbar. This new toolbar makes surfing your favorite Entrecard categories and blogs so much easier! It truly is a dream come true

However, a word of caution. Surfing faster is always great, but neglecting to use any marketing tool properly can be your downfall.

The Entrecard Firefox-only toolbar is an easy install and even easier activation. Once you’ve followed the instructions, presented here:

To download the EntreBar, visit this page:
http://entrecard.com/page/ec_toolbar

be sure to also take the time to read all about the various features of your new toolbar here:

http://entrecard.com/blog/?p=493

Yes it is wonderful, and yes we are thrilled, they’ve done an excellent job!

But here’s the “other shoe” that I’m sure you will want to read, it really will help you help yourself. (more…)