Thursday, March 24, 2011

Guitar Tricks Online Guitar Lessons Review

Are you just starting out on learning to play the guitar? or are you already an intermediate or advanced player? Whatever your answer is to this question, as an internet user, you will know the power of learning online. Guitar Tricks is a company who have been providing guitar players with online video lessons for over ten years. There are more than 3000 lessons to choose from. Whatever level you are at, Guitar Tricks has something for you.

Guitar Fundamentals

For new players Guitar Tricks has developed their guitar fundamentals course. This teaches you to read music, play chords and all about basic song structure. This is a self paced course where you progress at your own pace. The videos can be viewed as many times as you like. Text based learning materials are also provided as a download, this means that if you want to practise away from the computer you have everything you need. Any of the videos can also be downloaded to your computer for offline learning.

Intermediate Lessons

These lessons continue on from the fundamentals to teaching you different styles of guitar playing such as blues, country and rock. The guitar teachers on Guitar Tricks come from a variety of musical backgrounds, each one is a specialist in their genre, so you will get a thorough grounding in the techniques in a certain style. It's all here for you to tap into and become the guitar player you always dreamed of becoming.

Advanced Lessons

After completing the intermediate lessons you will have the ability to be able to follow any of the specific style courses for the type of music you want to play. What I really like about Guitar Tricks is that if you wanted to play like Clapton or Hendrix you can look them up and specific lessons will be provided on those players techniques and styles. The site provides a real online community in its forum, here you will find like minded guitar players to find the answers to any of your guitar playing questions. Guitar Tricks also has a fantastic learning tool called Jam Station which allows you to play along with over 150 full band tracks, this really helps you to improve your timing and feel, and is the next best thing to actually playing along in a real band.

Free Guitar Lessons

Guitar Tricks offer some free guitar lessons to try, once you decide that you want to join the cost is $14.95 per month, which is a great price for all the fantastic lessons you get. If you're serious about your guitar playing head over to guitartricks.com and check it out for yourself.

Hereafter - Watch It For Master Storyteller Eastwood

The tale of three people who are touched by death, Hereafter isn't exactly what you'd call a Clint Eastwood film but then what exactly is a Clint Eastwood film? Even with two Best Director Oscars nods and over 30 films as a director you don't know what to expect from someone like Eastwood. Musing over what happens to us once we die, for a better part in Eastwood's hands Hereafter remains unusually absorbing.

Even though Marie Lealy (Cecile De France), a French television star, survives a tsunami while holidaying she can't get over her experience of being clinically dead for a few minutes. The entire episode transforms her and she spends most of her time thinking about what she saw and how she felt in those few minutes.

In San Francisco George Lonegan (Matt Damon), a former successful psychic, shuns all kinds of social interaction for his gift is his curse that destroys any chance of a normal existence. George works in a factory, spends his evenings taking cooking classes, and puts himself to sleep every night while listening to Charles Dickens' audio books.

In London twins Marcus and Jason dodge the child welfare officials as they handle their mother's substance abuse; Marcus splits to pieces when Jason dies in an accident. The three find it difficult to explain what they feel to people around them; Marie's office romance and a successful career ends the moment she starts losing herself to her thoughts; George's own brother Billy (Jay Mohr) keeps pushing him to restart his 'business' and Marcus evades bonding with his foster parents while his mother, Jackie (Lyndsey Marshal), is in rehab and he chases every clairvoyant to communicate with Jason. A year later the three meet in London at Marie's book launch and find in each other the person they can connect to.

Even at a little over two hours Hereafter is a film where much doesn't happen. It's not like Peter Morgan's story lacking drama and depth; no, there is enough of that and Eastwood makes most of it. He keeps the interest levels intact and jumps effortlessly between the three parallel story tracks, something that has perhaps become a little too common in Hollywood films. Eastwood, however, manages to circumvent the standardized treatment that accompanies a narrative with multiple story tracks. They don't seem to be playing up for the one big scene where the three lives will finally traverse and neither do they look like three different stories forcefully bundled up together.

Hereafter is a story that asks big questions in an unassuming manner and Eastwood makes it engrossing by keeping it minimalist and never lets anything--the acting, James J Murakami's production design, Tom Stern's cinematography or even his own background score to lose to sentimentality.

In Hereafter Eastwood takes his actors, just like the characters they portray, to places that they might not know how to react in and this is what forms the spine of the film. A very restrained Matt Damon is much at home unlike his François Pienaar that looked lost at places in Invictus, his previous outing with Eastwood.

Cecile De France plays Marie with great honesty. Almost effortlessly as Marie, it's difficult to imagine that this troubled soul was played by same person who survived a mysterious killer in High Tension.

The twins Frankie and George McLaren pitch in very credible performances and along with Lyndsey Marshal perform some of the sweetest scenes on cinema.

There is no denying that Clint Eastwood is a master storyteller and in Hereafter he offers one of his most thoughtful works. Yes, the film is slow and yes it might even seem dull, boring and while there might not be a 'payoff' in the true sense, Hereafter will stay with you.

Hereafter Rating: 3/5

Hereafter Cast: Matt Damon, Cecile De France, Jay Mohr, Lyndsey Marshal Frankie McLaren and George McLaren

Hereafter Written by: Peter Morgan

Hereafter Directed by: Clint Eastwood

Kim Roach's How To Build A Targeted List of 3,000 in 30 Days - A Critique

Kim Roach is known in the Internet Marketing world as the "traffic queen." She started in affiliate marketing and later specialized in website traffic generation.

She recently compiled 20 of her best traffic methods and packaged it into a product she branded as "Traffic Dashboard." It was a product that was the culmination of her over 3 years of solid traffic work, experimentation, case studies, and tracking "down the last click." She prides herself as a "testing freak."

She says that her methods can drive traffic to your site "tonight," and not "6 months later."

One of the modules there is "How To Go From Nothing To Over 3,000 Subscribers in Just 30 Days. She calls it the "30 day blitz."

It's a case study on how to build a targeted list of 3,000 subscribers in 30 days if she were the one to do it, starting from zero!

I describe here how she would do it.

First, the prerequisites:

1. You must provide a budget of at least $500.

Ouch!

Did I hear someone exclaim? But yes - you read it right. Budget at least $500. Well, I must credit her for being upfront about this. But listen, isn't time -- money? For that much, she says that you would be short-cutting 6 months of arduous, yet un-guaranteed SEO work. Well, the skeptic would say -- spending $500 does not guarantee if I will get the results as projected, either. Right.

But... would you rather wait 6 months to know if you were right? If you break it down to the dollar, $500 divided by 6 months is equal to $83.33 per month. It is $4.16 per day on a 5-days-a-week, 4-weeks-a-month basis. And if you work just 4 hours a day on your business, that translates to $1.04 per hour. Now, let me ask you.

How much is your hour worth?

2. You must have prior knowledge of the traffic methods involved. But don't you worry because her course guides you small-step, by small-step.

Second, the "bait."

You will allocate two days to create a report that answers the "pains" or "pleasures" of your target market. In this case study, she chooses her favorite niche, the "internet marketing" (IM) niche.

Package this report into a PDF document. This report will be your "give," when you ask people to subscribe to your list (your "take"). It is also more commonly called an "ethical bribe", in exchange for the name and/or email address of your target subscribers.

Three, the process:

1. "Solo ads". Pick an ezine in your niche which accepts "solo" ads. This is paid advertising. Allocate $200-$300 for this. There is a resource she identifies, that makes the selection of an appropriate ezine easy.

The result of this campaign is a "seed" list.

With a "seed list," you can exponentiate your campaign.

In the IM niche, you can go to the Warrior Forum (WF), the biggest and most respected IM forum around, where the "vets" and the "noobs" intermingle. You can use the following opportunities.

2. Warrior Forum banner advertising - you pay to advertise your banner ($100/ day)

3. Free WSO (Warriors Special Offer)- you offer your Report for free ($37 fee)

4. Warrior Forum "War Room" - the paid membership section of the WF. Here you can find JV partners who are actively seeking business with fellow warriors (e.g., ad swaps, list swaps, banner ads)

5. Ad Swaps - here is where your seed list comes into play. You find a partner who will publish your ad in exchange for his.

Kim lists 3 more methods to complete her 30-day blitz. But I will not discuss them here.

My critique:

1. Kim's choice of methods, although fast by her standards and experience, calls for upfront cash. Therefore, this limits the methodology to those who have the "money to burn," in exchange for the time saved.

2 It calls for a solid working knowledge of the methods involved. If you are starting out, this can be a big challenge. (She assures you though, of her hand-holding support).

3. Because of the two reasons above, her 30-day blitz methods may. or not be appropriate for you, depending on your circumstances.

However...

An astute entrepreneur will learn a lot from her approach. He will "mix and match" whatever works for him.

Remember that what she is sharing is a collection of tried and methods she herself discovered.

For that alone, it saves you a number of mistakes you are bound to commit, and therefore increases your chance to make things work the first time.

Remember the saying -- succeed by "failing your way to success."

Eniva Bankruptcy - Is Eniva Bankrupt? - The Lesson to Learn

Background: Eniva Corp. was founded in May of 1998 by two brothers Andrew and Benjamin Baechler; it is based in Anoka, MN and had moved to a 435,000-square-foot building in 2008. It would seem that the chapter 11 filing was precipitated by an eviction proceeding brought about by the court-appointed receiver for this building.

Business Opportunities: Eniva is a company that builds upon residual income. Eniva's unilevel "Trinary" hybrid compensation plan offers 10 ways to earn income within the company with varying rewards and perks but a lot of people in the multi-level marketing business don't realize how big a commitment in time and money is involved in keeping new distributors constantly coming in, keeping them motivated and going.

Eniva Products: The company manufactures a comprehensive line of advanced nutraceuticals, dietary supplements, and body-support products for humans and companion animals. Eniva have a great range of products and a selection of very affordable books but probably their most notable range is the Eniva Vibe, all in one liquid nutrition, the downside is that it has to be refrigerated after opening and has to be consumed within 40 days.

The Eniva Compensation Plan: You can earn customer over rides when you enroll someone in the Eniva Wholesale Club Membership and you'll receive a $40 bonus on the products included with their membership. Achieve the different ranks offered and you will receive the applicable credit for each position. There is the Area Manager builder bonus, each time a Personally Enrolled Member achieves AM, you earn a $200 from their product sales. Then there is the team commissions where you receive commissions based on the volume of purchases in your team placement tree. You can receive up to 7 levels of pay based upon your qualifying rank position, to name just a few. Phew! Eniva has many requirements for advancement with various distributorship tiers, based on increased sales and team size. In general, the specifics of advancements are rather complicated for those who prefer simplicity.

Eniva Bankruptcy: So what contributed to Eniva's Chapter 11 filing and what can be learnt from it?

As mentioned earlier the filing was precipitated by eviction proceedings from the landlords and a spokes person for the company said Eniva was the victim of predatory lending practices and unscrupulous business behavior, which had prompted the bankruptcy filing. A Chapter 11, is the reorganization chapter of bankruptcy, so with some business restructuring, Eniva has every possibility of renewing itself. Unlike many other supplement companies Eniva has its own research and development team and Eniva's products are developed in their own pharmaceutical-grade facility.

3 Factors I Believe Could Hinder the Recovery

* In my opinion, a product that is sold as a luxury add-on, in to-days climate such as Eniva's Vibe which has to be consumed within a short period of time, forces people to keep reordering and will naturally see declines in sales as household incomes dwindle. When we find out that we have to trim our budgets, food and housing will always come before wellness products.
* If consultants were taught how to brand themselves on the internet with the necessary online marketing tools they would be able to generate more profit and create a name for themselves, not just the company. It is a known fact that people follow people they like and trust, and if you brand yourself in such a way that gives you a great reputation, then you could survive the struggles of the parent company.
* Eniva's consultants use the company's personal replicated web sites to brand themselves, but there are limits to the variety so after a while you could be looking like a good many others and you would struggle to be seen as an individual. I think that this is a major downfall of Eniva, and many other similar MLM companies.

So What Is The Solution? Well like a good many companies in difficult times it just takes one small slip to unsteady the mother ship so the lesson here is to make sure that you are in control of your financial future and the best way to do this with a home business is to market yourself online. Get some excellent tutoring and you will never look back. I think that the Eniva bankruptcy along with Eiro Research earlier this year and Arbonne last year will have made many who work in the MLM business ponder their futures and they may now be looking for a new, recession proof opportunity. The Internet offers a good option since it does not rely on a single economy to survive. By having an online business you will be tapping into a global market that operates day and night all year round in a world that never sleeps with billions of potential consumers out there everyday!

Local Mobile Monopoly Review - Is It Legitimate?

Is Local Mobile Monopoly a scam? This is a new full training course that comes with walkthroughs, tutorials and full support for its members to start making money with this new business concept. There are a lot of software programs provided with this system which I found quite intimidating at first when I first saw everything.

1. What Exactly is the Local Mobile Monopoly Business Plan All About?

Emails are answered within a few hours through a support that also fully understand what users of this marketing strategy are going through. This is a business opportunity that is completely legal based around the concept of mobile marketing. It can potentially help small to medium businesses around you get started many more customers while you make huge profits without having to come up with any starting capital.

2. Is Local Mobile Monopoly Just Another Overhyped Internet Marketing Scam?

There is no need to have to make false claims about how this system works and it is certainly not a scam. It is necessary that users first get into the mindset of learning to offer others what is of true value before trying to communicate these ideas across to your customers. With that mindset firmly in place, I have found that the majority of businesspeople that I approach with this idea are actually very welcoming of the idea of using mobile marketing to bring new customers to them.

3. How Do the Businesses That Use the Local Mobile Monopoly Marketing Concept Benefit?

Through this process of bringing new customers to their businesses, it is also possible to generate a good amount of income for the user and the businesspeople are very willing to make this investment. Eventually, what these businesses will get from you are more sales and more customers due to the fact that you are using mobile marketing to drive these new customers to their businesses.

4. Why Would You Want to Get The Local Mobile Monopoly Training Package?

One of the most important components that I have found from this course is the set of scripts that explain the key concepts that must be communicated when finding businesspeople to accept this idea. They have made is much easier for members to duplicate success and not have to re-invent the wheel every time they talk to a new business person. There are also answers to deal with 99% of the questions that will be raised.

How to Get Lots of Money for Anything Fast - An Honest Review

Before I get into my personal review of "How to Get Lots of Money for Anything Fast", I want to provide some background information on how it came to be. Anything Fast is an ebook by Stuart Lichtman, creator of the Cybernetics Transposition process. Stuart developed this strange, yet effective process during his studies at MIT, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He studied practically every field of engineering and was curious to find a system that could model humans.

It took Stuart about 18 months to develop the Cybernetics Transposition technique he describes in "How to Lots of Get Money for Anything Fast". One of first time using the technique, Stuart generated about $2.5 million dollars in investment funding!

My first experience with the Cybernetics Transposition technique was several years ago, when I stumbled upon the ebook by accident. I decided to give the technique a try. I set up an objective (The objective is the end goal, also known as a "target") to create an online business that generates $12,000 in sales passively. I prioritized my target following the instructions from the book. After that, I cleared out unconscious blockers and was done the process.

A couple of months later, I launched my online business. In the first year, I made about $20,000 in sales! I had completely forgotten I used Stuart's technique to create my business. I only realized this when I was going through my old notebooks and found my "Cybernetics Transposition" notebook with my target written down. The whole process of setting up and launching my business was incredible easy because the CT process had aligned my brain to effortlessly achieve my objective.

The ebook was written by Stuart and Lichtman and Joe Vitale, a "wealth attraction" guru, featured in the secret. The book is very detailed and clear and teaches you how to align the different parts of your brain so you can achieve your goals easily. It has eleven chapters and covers the Basic Achievement process as well as the Super Achievement process. The Basic Achievement process (also known as the BA process) is used for goals that are mildly difficult. The BA process works well for goals that include getting moderate amounts money for something in a short amount of time. Many users report receiving the exact amount or more money than what they wanted from a friend or relative a few days after completing the BA process!

The Super Achievement process works for more difficult goals, including ones that may seem "impossible". While I have never used the SA process personally, Stuart's Super Achievement Coaching Program has a 100% success rate, meaning that everyone in the coaching program achieved their goals by their deadlines.

The one thing that I don't like about Stuart's book is that it does get repetitive. The 2nd edition of the ebook is out now which contain subchapters B and C for each chapter that pretty much re-explains the content in the earlier part of the chapter. While it is ideal for someone reading the ebook for the first time, I found it annoying to keep reading the same things over and over again. All in all, this is a fantastic book, and has been regarded as the "most important book on making money ever written" by a marketing experts.

Tips For Shopping For John Deere Collectibles

If you are an avid John Deere collector or know someone who is then shopping online can be a great resource for finding a great contribution to the collection. However, there are some things you need to be aware of such as am I buying an "Officially Licensed John Deere Collectible?" Here are 9 tips to help make it a safe and enjoyable shopping experience.

1. Look for officially licensed products: There are many John Deere Collectibles out there but only "officially licensed" John Deere products have been under the scrutiny of John Deere Company and passed the test to qualify. Also, only "officially licensed" products are sold at reputable retailers and if there is a problem, they will be around to help you solve it.
2. Purchase from secure shopping sites: Be sure you are buying from a secure website. While you're looking around look for an icon or symbol to let you know that it is secure. Check for the lock on your web browser. Is it in the locked position when you begin checkout? It should be. Review their frequently asked questions or "FAQ's"
3. Allow time for shipping: Remember if you need to have an item for Christmas shop early to allow for shipping time. Many retailers will offer incentive to shop early to boost holiday traffic because they can get backed up in the last couple of weeks prior to Christmas. Express shipping will cost you dearly, so only use it when absolutely necessary. Also, personalized or special order items take longer to process before they ship so you will find delays there too.
4. Returns: What is the retailer's return policy? What if I purchase a John Deere Collectible and it is not as I expected? What if it is not as described? Are there any guarantees that I can return the merchandise for a refund or exchange? Be sure the read the fine print.
5. Add sites to your favorites: Bookmark your favorite online sites for John Deere Collectibles. Comparison shop easy with the web browser. When you are ready to shop open your favorites list and away you go. This makes it really easy to find and get back to that site where you found that special item.
6. Sign up for email newsletters: Subscribing to a retailers email newsletters will notify you of new and exciting JohnDeere collectibles and sometimes give you special coupon codes not available to the general public.
7. Look for Coupon Codes: May retailers offer free shipping or discounts with a coupon code. Surf their site for any available coupon codes and subscribe to their newsletter to receive all their coupon codes by email.
8. What value-added items can I get from a website?: Some John Deere Collectible retailers offer gift wrap or free note cards as an incentive when I'm shipping a gift directly to it's recipient. This saves the shopper an extra step by mailing the gift directly. Also, some sites offer personalization. It can range from custom engraving or embroidery. This can add a little something extra to make the gift even more special.
9. Keep your records of your purchase: Always keep a paper trail of your purchase. It is always a good idea to keep your receipts for refund or exchange. Never purchase with cash because nothing can be tracked to your purchase. Paper records will protect the buyer if something does go wrong.

Your holiday shopping online for your favorite John Deere collectible can be a fun and safe experience if you follow these 9 tips this holiday season.