Category: Making Money

Profiting from the sale of personal or business items. Working for pay. Investment purchase at below market prices and reselling at or above market value. leveraging one’s time and resources through the efforts of others for residual income.

  • A Comparison: Resume and Curriculum Vitae


    Resume components and objective

    The resume document is comprised of one or two-pages summarizing an individual’s career objectives, professional experiences and achievements, and his/her educational background. If you are the preparer of your own resume, its heading should contain your name, address and contact information, while the body of your resume should be broken into these sections: career objective, profile summary, professional experience, achievements, scholastics, and references.

    While your career objective should be brief (up to two sentences), it should give your potential employers an idea of how you wish to move forward in your professional life. A concise profile or a summary should discuss who you are and how your skills and experience best apply to the job in which you are interested. The summary, as well as other parts of your resume, should not contain personal information that discloses ethnicity, sexual orientation, marital status, age, living situations, or any other personal information that is not directly related to your career.

    Personal profile summary should only contain a few well-written sentences that convey what you can bring to the table in terms of the specific job for which you have applied. It is recommended that you use this section to attract the employer’s attention, but don’t go overboard in trying to be creative; keep it professional. Your experience listing should include information on one to five jobs you’ve held, starting with your current or last job, and listing previous positions in chronological order.

    Chronological Resume Template: Resume Solution, What you Need to Create your US and Canadian Resume (Template, Resume, Functional, Jobs, Opportunities)

    More about the resume

    In addition, your education should include college, graduate and post-graduate work, as well as any courses or professional certifications which are relevant to your career development. Achievements, volunteer positions, publications and interests should be listed only if they are relevant to your professional work experience; and references should be listed if requested; best practices suggest not to list generic statements about references being available upon request as this is understood. Keep the information relevant and concise ion order to present your well-written resume to potential employers.

    The Curriculum Vitae (CV)

    Curriculum Vitae or CV is a collection of documents that describe your education and professional history, focusing on your achievements and showcasing higher level of detail than a resume. Individuals who typically use CV as a form of application are those seeking positions in education, entrance into graduate and post-graduate programs, and/or research; and they are required, in most cases, to discuss their professional philosophies.

    While resumes are often limited to one or two pages, a CV is comprised of a compilation of documents, and has no limit on length; which means it can extend over several pages (typically four or five pages, but can be more based on experience and achievements). In this respect a Curriculum Vitae contains similar information as your resume, but it places greater emphasis on education and scholastic accomplishments.

    Philosophically speaking

    Unlike your resume, a CV would contain information on scholarships you may have received; texts or research you have completed and published; grants you received; community and volunteer work; teaching philosophy; and other such academic work. You will begin by listing your career objective, in summary form, to showcase the level of commitment you have to your goals and the steps/actions you are willing to take in order to achieve them.

    If you are applying for a teaching position, for example, you would provide a brief outline of your teaching philosophy. Immediately following your goals, you’d list your achievements, highlighting your education first. Here, you can mention your thesis project or dissertation, courses that support your career objective, publications and research (in progress or completed), certifications, studies abroad, languages, etc.

    In concluding your CV

    Following the goals and achievements section should be a section for your experience which should emphasize a work history that supports your career objective. This should be the extent to which you go in providing information and therefore should conclude your CV. If you are unsure which form of application to use, do the appropriate research and create a resume or CV that best fits the format commonly accepted in your industry.

  • Super Affiliate Success and Your Inner Overachiever




    A perplexing Web-based marketplace?

    The Web-based business structure is a bit more puzzling than the standard offline business prototypes most of us have been familiar with before being introduced to all the new technology driven businesses that have sprung up over the last two decades; and if you are not really knowledgeable about Web-based business models and the digitally advanced marketplace in which exist, then it may be doubly perplexing.

    It’s a cold, hard fact, but those who fall into the “not-really-knowledgeable” category will be left completely blank, asking themselves what type of online business is best for them; but if and when they find the answer to that question, it may very well have something to do with affiliate marketing, a business model defined by revenue sharing relationships between advertisers, merchants and sales driven networks (merchants, for purpose of this post); and Web-based publishers and affiliates (affiliates, for the purpose of this post).

    Affiliate marketing is a low cost marketing method which many merchants utilize to sell their products and services. In this type of Web-based business, a merchant doesn’t have to take as many risks as compared to other businesses because s/he is not required to pay an affiliate unless, and until, the affiliate’s activities result in a sale. Once a customer is referred by an affiliate and that customer makes a purchase, a portion of the profit from the sale to that customer will be paid to the affiliate as commission.

    The cream of the affiliate crop

    Usually an affiliate receives a commission for referring clicks, leads or sales to the merchant’s website; but the affiliate income can be a fixed dollar amount or a percentage of sales produced. From this simple commission-based referral system, some affiliates become experts on this field. In fact, some of them have been known to earn more than five figures every month as a result of their prolific marketing methods and the resulting sales.

    However, among the thousands of affiliate marketers on the Web, it is only a very low percentage (between 1 to 5) of them that have attained the level of success which can be referred to as super affiliate; and if you’re among the lucky ones who achieve this so-called elite level, you can then be aptly referred to as a “super” affiliate.

    This means you are capable of achieving noteworthy percentages of product sales, or traffic to your merchant’s website. Super affiliates are not only experts on search engine optimization, they are also excellent operators in methods such as newsletter marketing, email marketing, reciprocal linkages, keyword optimization, link exchanges, advertising in forums and other methods to advertise and promote their products and services.

    from affiliate to super affiliate

    So the question is, how does an average affiliate (or average John/Jane Doe) become a super affiliate? And how can s/he overachieve a way into super affiliate stardom? If you, as an aspiring super affiliate, wanted to make your way to super affiliate stardom, the first thing you will need to know and accept is the fact that it will not be as easy as you might imagine; and it surely won’t happen overnight. Keep in mind that you will need to embrace some tactics, get active in effective online business strategies, and of course, make a hefty time commitment to that objective.

    You can’t be a super affiliate without the requisite blood, sweat and some tears that the super affiliate trailblazers have experienced on their way to success; and you certainly can’t do it without the following traits: patience, persistence and thirst for knowledge. Matched with an effective, efficient strategy, these three traits will provide you with a workable formula towards super affiliate stardom.

    Affiliate marketing strategies are a bit difficult but they are achievable; you just have to work hard on them. First, look for a unique and exceptional niche and focus on it. Keep in mind that the reason individuals in the affiliate marketing business didn’t turn out to be very successful is because they tried to offer too many varied products (everything under the sun?), instead of devoting all their attention in a particular niche market.

    Focus, focus, focus!

    If you want to become a super affiliate, try not to scatter all your efforts; concentrate on your niche and make it grow by means of promoting, advertising and selling it well. The next step you must take after you have established your affiliate store house is to promote it. Most affiliates resort to pay-per-click engines; but what’s more advisable is to learn how you can create organic search results. Or better yet, hire a search engine marketing company; and through this entity, you can avoid losing your profits on pay-per-click search engine ads.

    Then, familiarize yourself with your product and know your audience. Remember that credibility builds trust, and you can only provide information that boosts your credibility through your knowledge of the products and services you offer via your website. If your target audience don’t trust you, how could you expect them to purchase from your affiliate storehouse? Moreover, if you take time to learn the products and services you are recommending, it will be very easy for you to establish a website that converts well, which will enhance your affiliate income in return.

    Try to promote and resell products from different merchants, as there is absolutely nothing wrong with this strategy since it is just a way of protecting your business and broadening your horizons. This methodical expansion helps to protect you from the so-called famine effect. Aside from that, promoting different merchants on the same site provides your site visitors a handful of destinations to choose from. This strategy will also make you aware on what your visitor want to see; and it can also help you find out how well various merchants perform against each other.

    List-building the easy way
    Thirsting for knowledge is a positive trait

    As mentioned earlier in this page, a super affiliate wannabe should have this trait – thirst for knowledge. It is because this trait can help him/her stay up-to-date and remain on top of the trends. If you are knowledgeable in internet marketing, then you know that what was adopted few months ago may not be applicable at today. So it is important to seek knowledge and make sure that you are updated on what’s new about affiliate marketing on a daily basis.

    Keep in mind also, that super affiliates take time to read, learn and embrace the changes in other Web-based marketing businesses. Ultimately what is most important is to never, ever give up; because being engaged in the affiliate marketing business is hard, that’s why you must be equipped with patience and persistence. Check your statistics and find out what things are working and those that are not; and make changes if the situation demands.

    These are just few suggestions and ideas you could study and utilize if you really want to boost your affiliate income. However, this is important enough for me to reiterate: you have to be patient, persistent and knowledgeable. Then, you must adhere to the above mentioned strategies, and you could really find yourself on the road to super affiliate stardom.

  • Method of Listing Publications on a Resume


    Relevance of publications to career

    There are many industries in which publication of an individual’s work is a critical part of his/her career development; and as professionals in industries that require us to actively publish research studies, essays, articles, textbooks, and other literary work, we have to find ways to account for such publications on our resumes. There are a number of things to consider with respect to publications as a resume is being developed.

    First, if you are the subject of particular resume, ask yourself how relevant the publications are to your career objective. If you have recent publications that support your career objective, make sure to create a separate heading on your resume and list the publications in reverse chronological order. Follow the AP style when listing a given publication, omitting your name from the listing if you were the only author of the text, as that is implied.

    Publications that do not support your career objective should not be listed on your resume; and while such works may be helpful to mention to your potential employer via a cover letter, it is not necessary to take up space on your resume with information that does not directly impact your career. Also, if you have a submission in progress, or you are working on texts which support your qualifications – for a particular job – that you know will be published at a later date, include them on the resume under a sub-heading of “submitted to,” or “to be published in,” (publication name).”

    A literary resume section

    However, if you decide to include works in progress, you must make sure that they will get published at some point in the future. This is mostly critical for freelance magazine, newspaper or creative writers; but do not list every article you have submitted for publication, unless you are certain that it will get published; and if your list of publications is fairly extensive, do not dismiss it completely from your resume, because you do want your employer to know that you have either published, or are in the process of publishing, your work.

    To accomplish this you could simply create a section within your resume dedicated to publications, while taking care not to go overboard with the number of publications you list on your resume. It is acceptable form to list three to five publications in reverse chronological order in the section you’ve created. This will give your potential employer an idea of your work, the publications, audiences you have reached, as well as your qualifications. At the end of your publication listing, including a statement that tells the employer a complete listing of publications can be provided upon request.

    Include publications that support career objective

    In your professional summary, or cover letter, you can indicate the total number of publications you’ve had in your career; and you can always create a separate document that includes a complete listing of your publications (if the list is extensive), following the ASP style. Also make sure that your list of publications credits other authors properly. You should have a print-out of this list, along with your resume that you can bring to any job interview, or forward to the hiring manager at their request.

    In addition, if asked about your publications, offer your potential employer a copy of any of articles you’ve written for their review. Overall, you should disclose any information about publications, if such publications supports your career objective and highlights your qualifications for the job. Review the information you list carefully and make sure that names and dates of publications are correct. Keep in mind that –even minor mistakes can raise questions about your credibility.

  • Affiliate Money-Making Promotions and Sales




    The nature of affiliate marketing

    In the business of affiliate marketing the affiliate provides a service for which s/he is paid a commission. That service is the promotion and sale of products (and sometimes other unique services) that are not owned by the affiliate. Products sold by affiliates are actually owned by merchants (product creators and developers) who goes through all the trouble to develop software programs, services and/or digital content products which they wish to market; and that’s where the affiliate goes to work promoting and selling those products and getting paid.

    In its purest form, affiliate marketing is essentially a revenue sharing arrangement (per an affiliate agreement or contract) between a product developer, known as the affiliate merchant, and the affiliate marketer who is anyone that is willing to promote the product(s) for sale through advertising and using various types of legal means to bring about the sales. Of course such promotion and advertising will be at the expense of said affiliate.

    Getting paid based on results

    The merchant/affiliate relationship will allow an affiliate merchant to grow his/her revenue by paying only for the advertising – in some cases – or referrals, that actually results in a sale. And the affiliate marketer will profit by making a percentage on any sale that s/he does not have to manage after the transaction is complete and deemed closed by all parties concerned.

    Getting paid will depend upon how an affiliate program is set up. For example, some merchants will run their own affiliate program through special types of software that assigns each affiliate marketer a special link that is used in promoting the product. Such software will track the sales of every marketer and the merchant will pay commissions on a periodic basis using either PayPal or another payment gateway or method.

    If you are an affiliate therefore, your income – in frequency and amount – is directly tied to how well your selected product or service sells. This reality makes your selection of the affiliate merchant you’ll be partnering with, one of the most important decisions you will make in your affiliate marketing business; so make sure you choose carefully when looking to establish an affiliate marketing relationship with one of the many available merchants in the Affiliate Marketing field.

    Knowing your affiliate products

    Choose programs that you aren’t embarrassed to promote, and programs that you’ll feel comfortable recommending to your family and friends if they were to ask you about it. Keep in mind also, that you will do much better if you promote products that you fully understand, and are already familiar with, or intend to familiarize yourself with. This way, you’ll be able to write better ads without having to strain yourself coming up with the right things to say.

    You should only promote products and services for companies who have gone to the trouble of providing you with training programs and sales aids, such as banners and other marketing materials that you can either use directly on your website, or model your own after. And be on the lookout for programs with commission rates of 50% or more. You should give preference to programs that pay commission on multiple levels, which means you can also earn commissions on sales made by folks who buy the products through your link then go on and become affiliates themselves, making them your sub-affiliates.

  • Resume Exclusions: What Not to List on Your Resume


    The task of resume preparation

    Anyone who has ever written a resume will probably agree that composing and structuring one of these documents is a very difficult task, a task which you will have to undertake in the preparation of your own resume; because it takes time and patience to fit your entire professional history within one or two pages, in a way that presents you as the best candidate for the job. While we focus so much of our energy on what must be included in our resumes, we often forget to stop and think about the information that should never be included.

    With that in mind, there are at least five pieces of information you should exclude from your resume, and they are listed in the following paragraphs as an informal guide you can refer to when composing your own resume:

    Knock ’em Dead Resumes: A Killer Resume Gets More Job Interviews!

    The first two exclusions

    1. Do not get personal – Any information that discloses demographics should not be listed in your resume. Items such as your age, race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, marital status, physical appearance, or your personal philosophies that are not critical to your job performance must be excluded, as these pieces of information could become detrimental, and be used against you – or be mis-used in the hands of an ethically challenged individual. So such information should never be listed on your resume.

    Presenting yourself as a professional to your potential employers is the goal, and as such, the method (resume document) in which you use for your presentation should not be a list of your hobbies or interests. On the other hand, it must be a well formatted listing of your education, qualifications and employment history; so stick to the information that is relevant to the job, as well as to your career objective.

    2. Do not list historical salary information on your resume – This is a strict rule and you should follow it as closely as you possible can, since your employer is more concerned with what your desired salary is, than of what you earned in your first job out of college. If you are asked to provide historical salary information do so in your cover letter, not your resume. As a best practice, always list the minimum of what you are willing to accept for the job, and avoid using a salary range.

    Chronological Resume Template: Resume Solution, What you Need to Creat your US and Canadian Resume (Template, Resume, Functional, Jobs, Opportunities)

    Having said that, it is important that you do your research so that you will have a good workable knowledge and understanding of what an acceptable salary is for the job in which you are interested. Whenever possible, leave all salary conversations for the interview with your potential employer.

    Other Omissions: jargon and personal webite

    3. Do not use jargon or too many “big words” – Unless you are absolutely certain that the person reading your resume will understand the terminology you are using, avoid using jargon in your resume. Pattern your resume as if it was being directed toward recruiters, rather than to an immediate hiring manager, because the human resources associates are usually first to scan your resume. While it is important to showcase your knowledge of a particular field through your education and experience, it is ill-advised to use jargon since it has no place on your well-written resume.

    In addition, avoid using too many “big words” since you don’t want to give the impression that you’re hiding behind your vocabulary; and keep in mind that making your resume overbearing is the fastest way to ensure losing the interest of your employer. Just use the action words that are relevant to your career level.

    about resumes, cover letters and interviews

    4. Do not list your personal web site – As a rule, you should not include your personal web site if it contains your photo or other photos that may be viewed as inappropriate, especially if it contains jokes (even if they are clean jokes), or your personal blog. In other words, if the site you have is entirely for personal purposes, you are best advised to leave it off your resume. Only include a link to your web site if the pages are set up in a way that showcases your professional portfolio, a copy of your resume, reference letters, presentations, photos taken for professional use, or your web development skills.

    Critical little nuisances must be removed

    5. Do not allow typos or other errors to remain – The most important factor in achieving a winning resume is proof reading. Understanding that you want to put your best foot forward, errors on your resume will defeat the purpose; so if your resume contains grammatical and spelling errors, your potential employer will get an impression that you are not detail-oriented. S/he may also come to the conclusion that you are somewhat sloppy, and as such, will do sloppy work if you are hired.

    As basic a task as proof reading is, there is no other way to say that it is also very difficult to proof read a document you have been working on so closely, so it may be a good idea to– use spell check – although this tool does not catch grammaticl errors. So ask your friends and family members for help, or meet with a career counselor; Dbut do your best to present the most polished and well-written resume you possibly can to your potential employers.

    Digital & Electronic Products – Unbeatable in Quality and Price!

  • The Inclusion of References on a Resume


    The references catchall phrase

    When the subject pertains to references on your resume, you would not be surprised to know that the most frequently used phrase is that old reliable standard: “References available upon request.” But whether or not this catchall phrase will continue be the acceptable stand-in for an actual list of references on your resume remains to be seen. In fact there is an ongoing debate among professionals about the inclusion of references on a resume, while some individuals still strongly encourage job applicants to include the aforementioned phrase at the bottom of their resumes.

    In a way the catchall phrase lets potential employers know that, if asked, the job applicant can name at least a couple of people who think s/he is a great asset to any company. However, the opposing side will argue the validity of this line as it doesn’t provide any information with a call to action; and therefore suggests that potential employers and other job search professionals should operate under the assumption that every professional with a resume will be able to provide references from his previous employers.

    Yet another group of professionals will urge you, the job applicant, to not only include the “references available upon request” phrase in your resume references section, but to list anywhere from three to five references, along with their titles, contact numbers and a description of your relationship to them, along with a notation that “more references will be provided if needed.” So, how do you know who to listen to?

    A prudent use of references

    In answer to the above question, a good rule of thumb will be to mention references regardless of any other phrase or statement being employed, as it is considered proper resume etiquette to include a section for references at the bottom of your resume. This lets your potential employer know that you not only have professional references, but you understand that checking references is an important part of your interview process. Additionally, you will want to have an employer request references from you so that you can let your references know they can expect to be contacted.

    Finally Revealed: Great Resumes, Cover Letters and Interviews!

    Listing someone as a reference on your resume without letting that person know, even if s/he has previously provided a reference for you, is not a good practice; because since you don’t want any job you of your reference list to be caught by surprise when they are contacted, it is important that you let each of them know about the job you’re applying for, and any special circumstances – if any – under which you’ve made application so that they know which qualifications they should highlight when they are contacted.

    If you are posting your resume on job search web sites such as monster.com, or you’re working with a head hunter to find the best opportunities for you, it is best that you simply use the line, “References available upon request” at the end of your well-written resume; and as indicated above, you will want to let your references know ahead of time if they will be contacted by a potential employer or other entity associated with your application.

    Resume blast vs targeted position

    Listing references on your resume and making it available to multiple employers for review may result in calls to your references by employers you may not have even been in touch with directly. Obviously, you’ll want to avoid this kind of annoyance to people you are using as references, since you don’t want to abuse your relationship with them. If you intend to “blast” your resume to multiple employers, head hunters and other such parties, it may be prudent not to include a full listing of references on your resume.

    However, if you’re sending the resume to a specific employer after you have been in touch with the hiring manager or someone at the company that will refer you for the job you are interested in, it is suggested that you include references on the resume. This allows your potential employer to have all the information necessary to consider you as a serious candidate for the job. The reference list should include the reference’s name, his/her title and the company s/he’s working for, the person’s relationship to you and a day-time telephone number.

    In fact, the best practice might be to let your references know about a particular job opportunity before you submit the resume, while letting them know that you are passing along their contact information to the potential employer, or better yet, request their permission to do so. And if you have already submitted a resume without references, but expect to meet with the employer for an interview, bring a printed copy of the well-written resume you prepared and make sure it includes a list of references.

    One stop shop to a good job

    Following a good interview, employers typically check references as a best practice, so you will want to provide the hiring manager with a one-stop-shop (so to speak) of your qualifications and your references, therefore you should always bring a printed copy of your cover letter, your resume and references with you to an interview. Vigilance is sure to make a great impression and bring you one step closer to getting that sought after job you really want. Learn more about resumes, cover letters and interviews!

    Digital & Electronic Products – Unbeatable in Quality and Price!