Fire Away With Questions Round 12

by Jeremy Schoemaker on August 9, 2008 · 96 comments

Its been a while since I took questions so fire away! I will try to answer this weeks questions on video and also have them transcribed (new twist).

I just got back from the Media breakaway event and I have a bunch more pictures and videos I will be posting in the next week including a special behind the scenes video ;) .

Closed pending answers

About the author...

– who has written 2416 posts on ShoeMoney.com.

Hi I am Jeremy Schoemaker and ShoeMoney.com is my blog. 99% of the post here are done by me but you will see others occasionally make guest posts. This blog is fun to write but for my day job I run several online companies.

Images provided by ShutterStock


Mark recommends you read these posts also:

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{ 96 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Jerry August 9, 2008 at 1:31 pm

Shoe,

How would you advise new bloggers on gaining back links? What are some of the techniques you would recommend?

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2 Michael D August 9, 2008 at 1:35 pm

What methods do you engage to keep yourself and your crew focused on achieving goals and not getting burnt out on the dayd to day activities of your sites?

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3 BigPappa August 9, 2008 at 1:36 pm

Can I buy you a beer next time I am in Lincoln?

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4 Jim August 9, 2008 at 1:42 pm

besides craigslist, what job listings boards have you found to PERSONALLY work for you for recruiting employees? Please do not answer with monster.com, hotjobs, etc where the fees are in the hundreds. These cannot be virtual people, like elance etc, but professional (i need teachers) in the US?

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5 Ryan August 9, 2008 at 1:43 pm

Sometimes I find myself in a “mental block” when trying to think “outside the box” to come up with new keywords. What tips can you provide us with, to allow our minds to break free from the block?

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6 corey August 9, 2008 at 1:48 pm

the website that is the most enjoyable for me to run and create content for is in a niche that is not a huge affiliate arena. only a few of the online stores have affiliate programs. have you ever motivated a company to start a program? is it a lot of trouble for a seller to get setup with one of these networks?

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7 Lawrence August 9, 2008 at 1:50 pm

I have a number, it’s in the range of 1-10….make a guess:

I want to check if we see eye-to-eye

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8 Jonathan Villiard August 9, 2008 at 1:54 pm

Mr. Showmaker,

for the very first time, I will meet a big client (a bank) for a SEO proposal. I am very excited and stressed about all this. Would you be so kind as to wish me good luck?

Thanks

Jonathan

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9 Israel August 9, 2008 at 2:08 pm

How often to you workout, and what do you do specifically during those workouts…cardio, lift, etc.

Eating wise, are you a stickler for what you eat or do you eat anything (limited due to the surgery you had)?

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10 mcQ August 9, 2008 at 2:10 pm

Do you think Bruce Ivin’s is the anthrax guy? or he is being used as a scapegoat?

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11 Allen August 9, 2008 at 2:12 pm

If you had very limited time and resources, what would you do to make money in the least amount of time?

So let’s say you wanted to make $50/day and had 8 hours to set it up what would you do?

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12 netmeg August 9, 2008 at 2:25 pm

Pardon me if this has been asked before, but who created your avatar? I’ve admired it for some time.

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13 Joe August 9, 2008 at 2:51 pm

Which fighting discipline do you think is the best to take and why.

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14 Dom August 9, 2008 at 2:55 pm

hey Jeremy,
If you bought a site from someone, would you think it more beneficial to:
a) have a homepage with a high pagerank, and very low/0 for other pages
b) have a homepage with a lower pagerank but other pages with a decent pagerank
and why?

Thanks

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15 Reid August 9, 2008 at 3:19 pm

Shoemoney-

Did you ever have a time in your life where you wanted to give up on your internet ideas, or what gave you the push to become a successful internet entrepreneur?

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16 David G. August 9, 2008 at 3:22 pm

Shoe,
Your recommendations
1. Wordpress or Blooger or Other.
2. The Best Web Hosting Companies.
3. Any Recommendation for Auction Software for web based auction.
4. Did you check out PicLens?

Thanks

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17 wesley August 9, 2008 at 3:34 pm

Name a niche you are wanting to get into.

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18 James August 9, 2008 at 3:44 pm

Do you have a dog? If so whats the dogs name and male or female…..

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19 Glenn S. August 9, 2008 at 3:45 pm

What do you consider the best pay-per-lead affiliate programs?

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20 Justin August 9, 2008 at 4:03 pm

How is Below A Buck doing? Traffic? How many successful bids/ACRU is it doing in per a month?

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21 Nick Throlson August 9, 2008 at 4:05 pm

Hey shoe what is your opinion on Market Leverage where do your see them in 5 years?

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22 Ted August 9, 2008 at 4:26 pm

Shoe say you have a website selling a physical product. What do you think a manufacturer/wholesaler of said product wants to hear in order to give you the best discount (and thus a greater re-sale margin for you)?

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23 Robert August 9, 2008 at 4:30 pm

What did you think of how TAC (top affiliate challenge) came out?

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24 Andrew August 9, 2008 at 4:36 pm

Do you have a college degree? Is it valuable these days for someone who aims to live off the internet or is it a waste of precious time ?

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25 ShoeMoney Suport Line. haha August 9, 2008 at 4:37 pm

Wanting to add a blog to my existing e-commerce site. A. is it better to put a blog on it’s own domain or does it matter. can I put it as a sub domain off my e-commerce site? which is better as we get a lot of traffic to our main domain, but not sure what is best for adding a blog. adding a navigation tab for the blog off the main site, or starting with a new domain that the main site points too.

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26 team ray August 9, 2008 at 5:31 pm

auctions ads how long did it take you to put it together and in what programming language did you use?

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27 Greg August 9, 2008 at 5:40 pm

Shoemoney, you said in a previous post that one of the keys to your success was creating great content — and making it easy to share.

What are the best ways to make it easy to share, and how do you encourage people to share?

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28 elsewhen August 9, 2008 at 6:00 pm

i presume that you are well connected to people who have successful internet businesses. can you disclose the annual profits (not revenues) the top tier are making in different internet business categories… like people who specialize in running adsense sites, affiliate marketers, people selling digital goods, i am not asking you to disclose names, just something like, i know three guys making approx 1.5million/year with adsense or whatever. thanks!

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29 Andrew August 9, 2008 at 6:02 pm

I was reading your post about the robot.txt file and I notice with your robot.txt you have User-Agent: Googlebot listed twice, along with several identical disallows like /page/ , /feed/ and /category/ listed twice, is that how it should be?

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30 TEGS August 9, 2008 at 6:13 pm

Hey Shoe,

I sent you a picture of me and a affiliate check but you never posted it!
I’ll admit it was a little over the top and not like the rest of the images in the gallery but I was kinda disappointed.
Didn’t you think it was inappropriate or did you just not receive it? I bet you get allot of spam.

Either way, love the site!
And thanks for your insights.

Thanks!

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31 George @ Micro Marketing August 9, 2008 at 6:22 pm

If you can start all over again… would you still build a blog or go for the static webpages…

here’s another question… which utility o software you will not be able be without or lose its application… which is the most important to you?

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32 Dan Schawbel August 9, 2008 at 6:49 pm

How do you charge advertisers on your blog? Is it by the number of RSS subscribers you have?

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33 Craig August 9, 2008 at 6:52 pm

If timing was different how do you think you would have done on the TAC, it would have been really interesting to see all 3 gurus battle it out.

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34 Storm August 9, 2008 at 7:05 pm

Aside from great content, and if you had to pick one, what would you choose to concentrate more on in an effort to build traffic.

Similar site backlinks
Core SEO (page descriptions, tags etc)
Social Networking (Digg, Stumble,Twitter)

Cheers, Storm

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35 Coaster August 9, 2008 at 7:33 pm

I am new to this site.
Where should I start reading on your site? It seems to be a bit all over the place to me and I don’t know what to read first!

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36 Keyword Anchor and Do-Follow Blog August 9, 2008 at 8:26 pm

In your opinion, is it still possible to make a lot of money online?
Thanks Shoe!

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37 Mitchell Blatt August 9, 2008 at 8:37 pm

How does it feel to have a Wikipedia page about yourself while John Chow doesn’t?

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38 Dave August 9, 2008 at 8:59 pm

If you had a full-time job (that you don’t hate) and your online income was about 1.5x what your job makes, would you quit or stick with it? On the one hand, I could probably grow it quite a bit since I’m only spending about 8 hours a week on it now. On the other hand, when I don’t rely on the online income as much I outsource more (less work for me), save more, and spend more on fun stuff. Think if you didn’t get fired you would’ve kept your job?

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39 Dave August 9, 2008 at 9:01 pm

GSP or Penn? And are you the webmaster for matt hughes? I read you guys were working with him, then Dellanave said he lost him as a fan, then hughes gives you two a shoutout on his blog.

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40 Bulbboy August 9, 2008 at 9:03 pm

How many pairs of shoes or footwear do you own?

I have about 10.

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41 Melvin August 9, 2008 at 9:10 pm

Jeremy when do you consider nofollowing or dofollwing a link on a blog post? any explanantion?

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42 Paulo Faustino August 9, 2008 at 9:14 pm

Hello Shoe,

I would like to ask you what is your favorite sport of the Olympic Games, and if you think that China could beat the USA in the medals board, this year?

Bye :)

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43 Shanker Bakshi August 9, 2008 at 9:34 pm

Hi Shoe,
In his recent post John told his readers that how you surpass his RSS readers counts in a contest held in October 2007. Is that true, did you really use “that” evil way to cross his RSS mark by creating fake number of 4000 RSS subscribers in a single day. I guess you haven’t told anything about that yet. Would you like to answer it now?

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44 meethere August 9, 2008 at 9:42 pm

why dont you post a monthly income report similar to johnchow :D ?

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45 Melvin August 9, 2008 at 9:53 pm

when you started out putting ads on this site, whats the average price of an adspot?

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46 mr K August 9, 2008 at 10:24 pm

What are the 3 biggest mistakes you’ve made in your online marketing journey?

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47 terminator69 August 9, 2008 at 10:56 pm

What is the coolest thing you have with the shoemoney logo on it? (excluding the swimming pool).

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48 Mitch August 9, 2008 at 11:16 pm

Whenever I try using an image ad (CJ, Common Connect, etc) on the side panel of my Wordpress blog (my server, but their software), that entire side is suddenly at the bottom of the screen on the browser instead of on the right side. What could the issue be?

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49 River Girl August 10, 2008 at 12:14 am

When and where is the next elite retreeat?

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50 Dexter | Tech At Hand Dot Net August 10, 2008 at 12:54 am

With reference with your experience as an Affiliate MArketer, What kind of product would you believe that there are lots of opportunity of earning online.. Ie, Computers, Camera, Service, E-bok etc..

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51 Jeff August 10, 2008 at 1:08 am

Are you a Husker fan? I’ll assume you said yes…. Do you have a sky box or do you sit with the rest of us? I’ll assume you said yes again. Can I hang out in your sky box for the West Virginia game?

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52 Chris Edwards August 10, 2008 at 1:22 am

Can I become a rep of yours someway over here in California (Los Angeles)?

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53 Charlie August 10, 2008 at 1:54 am

Would me buying at a great hibachi grill here in Vegas be a fair trade for some time to discuss a couple projects I have been working on? And when are you going to be in Las Vegas again? (pubcon I assume)

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54 nkog August 10, 2008 at 2:02 am

I’d like to know what was the fastest you ever gotten a page to #1 search position in google? and how much work did it take you to get there. whats the first thing you should do to market a new site.

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55 JC August 10, 2008 at 3:16 am

Shoe, have you ever flipped a house to make money?

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56 Ari August 10, 2008 at 3:53 am

where do you go to fix bugs in your wordpress blog? sometimes I get SQL errors or plugins that I want are acting up and conflicting and I don’t want to remove them, I just want them fixed!!

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57 Allen August 10, 2008 at 6:42 am

If you simultaneously became bankrupt and where then told by the doctor that you can only work for 2 hours per week or you will die, what would you do?

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58 Mike August 10, 2008 at 6:44 am

How do you usually start driving traffic with new projects or affiliates and how much money do you usually take in the hand?

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59 Ganesh August 10, 2008 at 8:21 am

What is the biggest disadvantage of being a teen entrepreneur?

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60 Joe August 10, 2008 at 9:15 am

What are some good verticals that have your attention right now?

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61 Bryn Youngblut August 10, 2008 at 10:22 am

Are you less motivated with your blog lately?

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62 Mark - The Niche Store Builder August 10, 2008 at 10:54 am

If you had a stellar idea for a new website… what are the first 5 things you would do? AND, if you were somewhat new… where would you turn for guidance?

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63 Paul U August 10, 2008 at 12:36 pm

I want to buy a website but I don’t know a thing about it.

What is a BIN?

How does it works?

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64 Johny B August 10, 2008 at 1:29 pm

Adwords question – if some of my keywords become inactive due to google required minimum bid becoming higher than my maximum bid – what should I do with them?
Delete, pause or something else?

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65 Kacper August 10, 2008 at 1:39 pm

What is your biggest online success so far in this year?

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66 JBagley August 10, 2008 at 2:24 pm

Hey Shoe,

Ever been to South Africa? Yes or No, what do you think of it?

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67 samn August 10, 2008 at 2:26 pm

How do you get a “Great” quality score on a single page landing page.

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68 Victor August 10, 2008 at 2:26 pm

Can a blogger starting now possibly have the same kind of success you and John Chow have had, with all the competition today?

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69 Geiger August 10, 2008 at 3:56 pm

What’s it take to get to the top of the Free T-Shirt Friday Queue?

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70 Giles August 10, 2008 at 7:39 pm

- From starting an unknown site to one that pays for itself, how long would it take you (without publicising it on SM)

- What do you spend your money on?

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71 Joe Hall August 10, 2008 at 8:49 pm

Best online business: subscription based service, or for sale product? And i also want to know what your thoughts are on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but if i have to choose, I want to know about the online business first.

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72 Myron McDaniel August 10, 2008 at 9:24 pm

We are launching a new site and need some sponsors. The site is hbcuighlights.com we links open for podcast, blogs, partners section. Would you like sponsor our site with fighters.com or another one your properties?

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73 TEKFIRM August 10, 2008 at 11:07 pm

- Content is king
- Viral
- Service

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74 My Awesome Blog August 11, 2008 at 12:15 am

If you had to start an online business completely from scratch with a maximum $5,000 budget, do you think you could get the business up to $100 a day (I know, the magic number)?

If so, what would you recommend for others to do the same?

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75 JumboCasher.com August 11, 2008 at 12:50 am

what according to you is going to be the next big thing about the internet?

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76 JumboCasher.com August 11, 2008 at 12:51 am

looks like… from the quality of posts comming around!

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77 JumboCasher.com August 11, 2008 at 12:54 am

how would it feel to ask john ths question?

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78 JumboCasher.com August 11, 2008 at 12:55 am

I would think it is more because of the content and the daily blog readership, rather than just the RSS count. BTW the RSS count can be jacked up anyways…

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79 JumboCasher.com August 11, 2008 at 12:56 am

nice question!. I have about 14 and counting…

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80 JumboCasher.com August 11, 2008 at 12:57 am

How would a search engine rate a single landing page against a small say 10 page website?

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81 JumboCasher.com August 11, 2008 at 5:35 am

making a little money is one thing… what about sustaining that income over a long period of time.

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82 JumboCasher.com August 11, 2008 at 5:36 am

Shoe, what are the 3 biggest mistakes that you have made on this blog!

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83 zxj August 11, 2008 at 7:18 am

I want to know more about how to make advertiment. I am a new learner here.

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84 zxj August 11, 2008 at 7:22 am

why can not I see my comment?

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85 Geiger August 11, 2008 at 8:40 am

How does one start their own ringtone site?

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86 browie August 11, 2008 at 8:59 am

if you had the name browie, what would you call your new company when you started to bring in enough revenue?

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87 Geiger August 11, 2008 at 9:54 am

Choose one…
Rock, Paper or Scissors?

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88 SalutaryBlog August 11, 2008 at 9:56 am

Would you recommend stealing videos and branding them as your own?

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89 Martin Muehl August 11, 2008 at 10:29 am

You once mentioned that you track your website traffic with your own analytics tool. Do you track any key metrics other than the usual?

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90 Ricker August 11, 2008 at 10:38 am

I hope I can squeeze TWO easy/shorties in here:

1) What are your best methods you use to get a user to share your site with someone else ?

2) How many active websites (making money) do you own ?

Thanks.

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91 Juuso August 12, 2008 at 12:15 am

I might be little late here, but gotta try anyway:

Name 3 reasons what made your business as successful as it is today.

Please. :)

P.S. Technically that wasn’t a question… but I’d still like to see an answer – even though I’m little late here. If possible, inform us in your newsletter when you are giving answers… Cheers

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92 Agent Magenta August 12, 2008 at 7:16 am

How do you plan to find the time to answer so many questions?

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93 Joe Hall August 12, 2008 at 1:47 pm

Shoemoney, I have been wondering, do you have Alopecia?

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94 Reid August 13, 2008 at 11:30 am

ha I was thinking the same thing… “lots of questions so little time”

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95 Otooo August 23, 2008 at 5:13 am

How much traffic should a 1 month old blog be getting each day?

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96 ways to earn online September 23, 2008 at 6:00 pm

So this is how you ask questions. Cool.

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