i pity you …*-)

Please stop bleeding all over the place / affiliate marketing, as it might get too slippery then …lol

To be serious again:

I mostly agree with you. Nobody should fall into a buying frenzy just because …

Perhaps it’s our nature as hunters and collectors that leeds us towards this?

Anyway, this is not about human nature …

I’d like to give a different angle to some of the questions you put.

Imho, if you only focus on the here and now, you might jump to short.

It all depends on your situation of course.

What you have to do to avoid “bleeding money” is to set up a sort of business plan.

Develop goals for your business, a strategy and an action plan.

Layout your roadmap:
Where do you want to go with your biz, what do you want to achieve personally?

Then ask what do you have to do to get there?
Are there any tools that can help you to get there?
Are there free tools that do the same?

Like for instance help you to work more efficiently? Automate your system? Track your advertising? Get you some traffic? Build your list?

Is there a special offer for any tool you might need on the way? Like for instance a free trial or a discount?

Take into account fx exchange rates too.

Like for instance: i’m from Germany. Our currency is Euro, which is quiet strong against the US-Dollar right now.

So even if i buy some tools i might not need or implement fully right now i save money on the purchase.

An entrepreneur sees investing as a pay in to get future payouts …

So perhaps you should put it this way:

Will this tool / ebook / membership etc. help me to reach my goals (save time, automate my system etc.)?

Is there a chance for (future) pay outs from the investment?

What will be the benefit if i buy it NOW?

Then check your budget and decide reasonable.

Perhaps to buy it now, perhaps to buy it later, or perhaps to don’t buy it at all …

With the right mindset you know there’s no such thing as a free lunch.

You have to put something in - time, efforts, work .. and even some money too, to get something out of it …

As long as you have a roadmap, you can set up some signposts on the road ahead while you take step by step towards your goal or destination.

Without falling over your own feet and the risk to hurt yourself or “bleed money” …

Regards,

Michael

I have a virtual server, but it would be cheaper if I eliminated the sites I am no longer interested in and just paid for individual hosting for those.

I do have a nice number of subscribers in my Aweber account and have some of my lists loaded with a years worth of messages. So I am getting some value from that, but probably not the $20 a month I pay for Aweber.

I am a member of Wealthy Affiliate and they have some great tools. I visit weekly. It only took me 2 months to get 2 other people signed up, so my monthly cost went to $2 quickly. Now I have more, so I make a profit just being a member.

Like you said, it is trial and error. Set aside some money to spend that you don’t mind loosing and just read and try.

Michael

WA looked pretty interesting to me, although I think I’ve got my hands full at the moment

P.S. Congrats on the $200 at WTW, wanna trade for my WP-Auctions prize? LOL

The perfect expression for this sort of situation. If you’re going to buy something to help you make money, at least give it the time it needs to actually work!

And yes, focus on smaller goals and project first, instead of jumping all over the place. Great analogy!

Anyone who has more time than money can always just set a “zero-dollar budget” to begin with. It’s a lot of research and work, (boy, that’s an understatement) but with time and effort, most of the tools needed to start making just a little bit of money are available for free.

I started with the zero-dollar rule and as I got a few sales, I CAREFULLY looked at ways to invest in useful tools.

Second, I totally agree with you; and the worst part is that it is very hard to trust most IM reviews, since everyone just wants a commission, and will lie through their teeth to get it. Especially with those kinds of big ticket items.