April 2009

I need your help

by Joe Sousa on April 21, 2009

in Uncategorized

To all you marketing type people:  I NEED YOUR HELP!!!

This summer I am going to be bringing on an intern.  You can read more about that here: http://whatdoesjoethink.com/2009/04/joes-intern/

But I need help.  I want to expose my my intern to as many aspects of online marketing as possible.  If I were to just teach them what I know they would only be experiencing a small portion of what there is to know about affiliate marketing and web based business stuff.  So I want to try to line up some weekly calls, chats, video streams, interviews, or whatever to help my intern learn as much about affiliate stuff as possible. We all have certain aspects we specialize in and some knowledge we can share that will be helpful so I want your help.

If you are an affiliate, an affiliate manager, work for an affiliate network, an online business person of any sort, or just someone who thinks they have some good information to share with my intern I want your help.  This probably wouldn’t take more than a half hour of your time and I (and my intern) would be greatly indebted to you.

So if you are interested please let me know.  You can leave a comment here, twitter me (http://twitter.com/drcool73), hit me up on facebook, email me at joe @ macor.com, send me a text, IM me (drcool73 on AIM) or however else you want to contact me. The schedule will be very flexible and we will work around your schedule. 

Thanks in advance for your help and I am looking forward to hearing from all of you.

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Who wants to be Joe’s Intern?

by Joe Sousa on April 21, 2009

in Affiliate Stuff

So I think I want an intern this summer.  Why?

1.  I work with a lot of high schoolers at my church and while there are quite a few who know what they want to do in the future and have their college plans all figured out there are many who don’t know what they want to do in the future.  I want to show them that there is other options than getting a degree and working for someone else your whole life.  For some people that is a great way to go but for others (including me) thinking of a life like that makes them want to vomit.

2.  I have been in this industry for over 10 years now and it has grown a bit stagnant for me over the past year or two.  Hopefully by teaching someone to do what I do will give me a kickstart.  Also it will force me to be more productive as I will need to be on the ball if I am gonna train someone.

3.  There are many people I know who don’t really know the specifics of what I do.  They just know I work from home, do something online, make money, and have more free time than most other people.  I am hoping by training someone I will be able to expose more people to this industry and show them that it is possible to make an income in their spare time or even build it into a full time income.

4.  Part of me just wants to see if I know enough to teach someone else.  I have tried to help some people in the past but nothing to this extent. Do I have enough knowledge to share that will help someone else get started in affiliate marketing?  I think I do but I want to find out for sure.

5.  I want to give something back to the world. I have been very blessed to be able to do a job I love, meet some great friends doing it, work with some wonderful people, and make some money while doing it. I want to use what I have learned and what I have been given to help someone else and hopefully through teaching someone else to do what I do will help. 

Here is what I am looking for in an intern and some things that will be required of you:

My plan is to have you come into my office (well, not really an office.  Just my spare bedroom in my house) 2 or 3 days a week.  During this time I will teach you the basics of affiliate marketing and online marketing, work with you to develop some sites, show you how to find good affiliate programs to work with, teach you some paid advertising basics, introduce you to some great people in this industry who know much more than I do, and in general teach you how to do what I do.

I will also be giving you some “homework” (isn’t that just an ugly word?).  There will be some stuff you can do where you won’t need me looking over your shoulder. This will invlove some reading, listening to some podcasts, writing web content, building web pages, etc.

Also keep in mind that you won’t be my “employee”.  You won’t necessarily be working for me.  Any money you earn will be based on your performance.  If the work you do results in sales you will get paid.  That is how this industry works. I have always disliked the  idea of trading hours for dollars. That is a very flawed model for both the worker and the person paying. 

There is no prior experience required and I am willing to consider anyone who applies.  Just answer the questions below or on the application the best you can and you will be considered. There are no right answers (ok, I guess for your name and age and stuff like that there would be right answers) so get that application in.

So are you interested in becoming Joe’s Intern for the summer?  If you are fill out this form or you can just send me an email to joe at macor.com with the following info:

  • Name
  • Age
  • Why do you want to be Joe’s Intern?
  • Do you have any web skills (html, programming, video editing, etc.)
  • Which of the following statements is better?
    • People will buy what I tell them to buy
    • I want to find what people are buying and sell that to them
  • Give me 3 or 4 ideas for some sites you would like to build or products you would want to market and think would be successful
  • What other skills or character attributes do you bring to the table?
    Do you think affiliate marketing or online marketing is something you would want to pursue full time in the future?
  • Email address
  • and send me a photo of yourself

I will probably be making my decision sometime in the middle of May so get your applications in as soon as possible.  I am looking forward to working with someone this summer. It will be fun for both of us.

If you have any questions please leave a comment and I will answer as soon as possible.

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Joe’s Test Kitchen, Vol 2 – The Cadbury Scotch Egg

by Joe Sousa on April 10, 2009

in Joe's Test Kitchen

Well, it is time for another highly anticipated episode of Joe’s Test Kitchen. This is where I take some crazy food concoction, cook it up, and see how it tastes.

If you are looking for some special treat for Easter that will suprise everyone check this out. Honestly I am shocked how well this turned out. It isn’t just something that is OK and edible. It actually tastes very, very good and is something I will be trying again. Watch and see how it goes:

Yep, that is right.  The Cadbury Scotch Egg. Who would have thought a wonderful Cadbury egg covered in sausage, breaded, and deep fried would be so awesome? I have eaten fried oreos, twinkies, candy bars, pie, cheesecake, and nearly everything else you can put into a deep fryer and I have to say this is right up near the top of the list.

And it is very simple to make.  Just take a Cadbury creme egg, wrap it in breakfast sausage (if you are in Spokane go to Sonnenberg’s and get their breakfast sausage. It is awesome), dip it in a beaten egg and breadcrumbs and deep fry for 3-4 minutes at 350. This would be an awesome treat to try out this Sunday for a nice Easter dessert or breakfast or something.  Just try it and you will be plesantly suprised at how good it tastes.

Thanks for the idea Melissa.  Maybe you will get to try one this Sunday.

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MLB Opening Day 2009

by Joe Sousa on April 6, 2009

in Sports

Well, the new baseball season is upon us. This is a great time of year because mathmatically every team is still alive and fans everywhere have hope that this will be the year their team finally wins a pennant or a World Series ring. Since Spring Training numbers don’t mean much it is hard to tell who will be good and who will flop this year. But since the Seattle Mariners are my favorite team here are some quick thoughts about this coming year:

The Mariners will be much better than last year. It will be hard to do worse than last years dismal 61-101 record. 100 losses? Totally unacceptable with that roster. Last year so many of the Mariners under-performed and if they can just play up to their potential that will be a marked improvement. Realistically I don’t think the Mariners will push the Angels too hard for the AL West title but I think they could be around 80-85 wins.

Defensively the Mariners are one of the most improved teams. Last year they were horrible with a -45 FRAA (Fielding Runs Above Average which measures the runs saved or lost relative to the MLB average). This year they are projected to be at +11 so that is a jump of 56 runs. Last year the Rays made a jump from -117 to +59 and look where that got them. Defensive numbers are a much overlooked factor for most teams and with the addition of Franklin Gutierrez and Endy Chavez in the OF and dumping Raul Ibanez the Mariners outfield is much, much better than it was.

Griffy Jr. is back!!! While this won’t be huge in a statistical sense he does bring some much needed excitement to Safeco Field. Griffy is probably the most popular player ever in Seattle (maybe Edgar or Ichiro can make an argument here) and even though he isn’t gonna put up 56 homers and make acrobatic catches in the OF he can still provide some pop in the middle of the lineup and will make a big attitude upgrade in the locker room. Also being able to DH a few times a week should help save his legs and should cut down on some of the injuries.

We need big stuff from the starting pitchers. Felix Hernandez has so much potential it is sick and Eric Bedard needs to live up to his contract. If those two can be solid at the top of the lineup and push for 20 wins I think the back of the rotation will be good enough.

So there will be a lot of ifs and maybes this year with the Mariners. It could be a magical year like 2005 and they could totally outperform what they should do or it could be another disappointment. But I am guardedly optimistic this year. I think they Mariners will be better than most expect but don’t think they are in a position to push for the playoffs quite yet.

As far as the rest of the league? Here is my projected order of finish
AL East – Rays, Red Sox, Yankees, Blue Jays, Orioles
AL Central – Indians, Twins, White Sox, Tigers, Royals
AL West – Angels, Mariners, A’s, Rangers

NL East – Mets, Phillies, Braves, Marlins, Nationals
NL Central – Cubs, Cardinals, Brewers, Reds, Pirates, Astros
NL West – Dodgers, Diamondbacks, Giants, Padres, Rockies

World Series – Mets over the Red Sox

Leave a comment to let me know how stupid you think I am or if you think I am a genius

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