John Dilbeck Musings

I am grateful for…

• …all the wonderful people in my life.
• …being born into a loving, caring, honest, and hardworking family.
• …the woman I married. Even though we grew apart we remain good friends and I love her.
• …my daughter, son-in-law, and grandkids.
• …all my friends, many of whom have been friends for over 30 years. You have been with me through good times and bad. You have taught me valuable lessons. Together we have experienced life.
• …clients who allow me to provide services for them.
• …customers who purchase goods and services based on my recommendations.
• …the many associates I have met online. Sharing knowledge, experiences, and opinions helps us to grow into better people who are able to provide better service and live better lives.

The more I appreciate the great people I know, the less I like the pushy, greedy, and bad-mannered people who intrude themselves into my life. Today, I fired a couple of clients, several customers, several MySpace friends, and this week I’ve unsubscribed from dozens of mailing lists, newsletters, and blog subscriptions.

I am deleting many business accounts that have me “spinning my wheels” so I can concentrate more energy on the ones that are producing quality results.

I am separating from the people who bring me no joy and attracting the ones who inspire me to grow and flourish.

It is time for me to refocus my efforts so I can do more of what I enjoy doing and stop doing the make-work and non-productive tasks that bogged me down over the last few months.

I’ve tried a lot of things in my business over the last year, and most were abject failures, but the experience helped me identify what is useful and uplifting and differentiate between them and all the time-wasters, psychic black holes, and energy vampires.

We are known by the quality of our friends and associates. I hope being associated with me is good for you. I appreciate you.

I am growing better all the time.

Are you?

Act on your dream!

JD

Recently, Amazon.com offered a beta release of two new marketing tools for their many associates.

Omakase links

The first is a new type of link, called Omakase, that is automatically optimized for both the associate and for the Amazon customer viewing the link.

As I understand it, this Omakase link looks at both the products most sold by the affiliate and the type of products most often purchased by the viewer, if he or she is an Amazon customer.

Currently, I’m testing an Omakase link in the top-left corner of this blog on my Amazon Store page. I’ll probably test it on other sites over the next few weeks.

I would appreciate it if you would go to my Amazon Store page and see if the four products shown are something in which you may be interested. Don’t purchase if you don’t want, but I would appreciate feedback on whether or not the products closely match your preferences.

You are invited to offer feedback by commenting on this post.

Amazon aStore

The second is not just a link, it’s an entire store that can be customized by the associate.

Since I have a general readership, I offer links to most of the products Amazon offers in my Amazon aStore.

I’ve selected nine featured books related to blogging, success, and marketing on the opening page and have links to most of the categories of products offered by Amazon.com.

This store can be linked to as a stand-alone store, or can be added to a website using iframes or framed pages. Currently, I’m testing it as a stand-alone store that I’ll link to from a variety of blogs and websites.

I would appreciate any comments you have on the Amazon aStore.

Your purchases support this blog

This blog is supported by your purchases from the merchants I promote, with Amazon.com being one of them.

By purchasing from my links, you allow me to stay home full time and care for my Mom, who otherwise would have to go into a nursing home because I would have to get a job or take on out-of-home projects.

I appreciate your purchases and hope you will continue to find items of interest on this blog.

I do not earn a lot from Amazon, but I welcome every commission I receive from them as a result of your purchases.

Thank you.

JD