What a difference it is to blog for yourself rather than for others. When I look back to when I started Jeffro2pt0.com, one thing that pops out immediately is the satisfaction I felt by writing about the things I was interested in without a deadline. Back then, I could (and did) take hours to write up a comprehensive review or I could spend 15 minutes writing about a news blurb. Getting comments on those articles and being able to move on to the next one is refreshing compared to what I do now. Granted, I didn’t have any blogging related income at the time, I think that being paid to blog is a restriction in and of itself. Although for the longest time, I felt that if someone could just pay me to write on my own blog, on the topics I find interesting with no restrictions, I would be in blogging heaven. That will never happen since understandably, it is a risky investment. Not that I would want that to happen anyways since the purpose of Jeffro2pt0 has changed since then.

I know David Peralty of BrandingDavid.com feels the same way I do and I’m sure many others do as well where we wake up each day feeling like we’re two days behind. A post needs to be written for this site, that site, our own site, and once those are written/published, you start over and do it again. This feeling of always being behind sucks as it takes its toll on the human mind/emotions. After awhile, blogging isn’t fun anymore at least blogging for others. Now, I should make the point that writing for others is not that bad when you are writing about your passion and working with great people but as an individual, when you are spread out amongst 3-5 websites, the quality of writing suffers, it’s not fun anymore, and I feel as if I gain nothing by subjecting myself to that kind of lifestyle on the web.

I made the decision a long time ago to write/work for others instead of myself because I have no interest in the advertising side of things. With WPTavern, that mindset has changed and now I am really looking forward to getting back to writing about my passion along with the things that interest me with the only restrictions being the ones I put on myself. I only hope that this can pay the bills or else I may find myself back at square one.

What about you? Do you ever get that feeling of always being two days behind? Even on days when you “catch up” and do things ahead of time, the feeling of accomplishment appears to be short lived. How do you handle that feeling? Better yet, how do you avoid feeling that way?

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It’s a new year again and there is a lot in store for The NMP Network for the coming year. Already, we have began the new year by updating the theme on our site to a newer version. From the outside, it still looks the same, but under the hood, there are quite a few new changes, all for the better!

Identity Theft Radio will begin again. After being in hiatus for several months now, The NMP network will begin producing new shows, videos and screencasts for Identity Theft Radio. The new shows will be a weekly feature and will go for about 10 minutes. The idea here is to simulcast the shows on video and then send the videos to YouTube for distribution. Also, a lot of what we will be talking about can be dealt with within the 10 minute limit. This will also insure that the audio podcasts will be short enough for people to download and enjoy without having to listen to 45 minutes to an hour of content dealing with more than one subject.

Identity Theft Radio will begin their new shows starting Saturday January 3rd, 2009 at 9:00pm EST.

Speaking of updated sites, NewMediaPro.tv has had a complete makeover recently! We have decided to stay with uStream.tv as our video streaming service for now as they seem to be the most stable out of all of the services currently available. I will be adding a section for the Segment Hosts soon so that they can be streaming on their own channels and still be viewed at NewMediaPro.tv.

Video will play a bigger part on the Podcaster Training Show this new year. However, with a twist! I will not be simulcasting the video and audio, instead, after the audio show is produced, I will take the recording and then re-broadcast it to video, via a live stream, and will show a slideshow, instead of a live camera shot during the broadcast. I’ve been checking out how the radio stations are doing it, and this is the accepted method for an audio style broadcast to video.

The biggest change for the new year so far has been the changing of how I am advertising on my sites. I did not sign up for the BluBrry campaign for GoToMyPC again as I have ran that campaign for more than a year now and they were dropping the payout to the lowest that I have ever seen it. Instead, I am focusing on products that I currently own and so far, I have seen a better return on those ads than I ever did from any affiliate advertising I have ran. If you want to know more about offering your own products on your sites or podcasts, contact me and I will get you the details!

I have been going through some of my domains and have began weeding out some of the unused or little used ones. Also, I have added a couple of new ones that will become active sometime this month, so I’ll keep you posted on that progress as it happens.

With that, I wish everyone a Happy New Year and I am looking forward to a great year this year and hope you are too!

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A few days before Christmas week, I received a cashier’s check for $3,784, and change. It arrived via snail mail.

I scanned it for the four letters, void. It wasn’t to be found.

“This can’t be real.” I said, out-loud.

I read the accompanying papers. There was a break-down of how
the money was to be used.

The money was for a mystery shopper position, which I never applied for. There was an answer for that too. I,
supposedly, acknowledged wanting the position from an affiliate.
The affiliate wasn’t mentioned by name.

A consumer group name was pasted to the top of the letter. It’s location was Wilmington, Delaware. However, the check was drawn on a bank in Texas.

Now, I’m not located in either state.

Thoughts of what I could do with the new position danced in my head.

Still, a voice in the back of my mind doubted. It echoed money scam.

“How can that be?” I questioned.

So, I mentioned it to a few people. They, all, had various answers, but agreed it was a ploy to get my money.

“How?” I asked. “It’s a cashiers check.”

“If it mentions sending money, it’s a money scam.” Someone told me.

I looked closer. The letter listed how the check was to be spent. I was to transfer $3,200 to them, but that didn’t feel right.

“How did I miss that?” I mumbled.

I reasoned, why would such a big check be sent. I haven’t started
working in the position.

The name of the person, Sanya John, stood out. He/she was the
person whose name was on the check. The one who authorized it.

“Take it to the bank.” Others said.

To the bank, I went. I was informed that it was a money scam. The bank kept the check, and the documents that came with it.

Reality set in. If anything looks, feels, too good to be true, it is.

In closing, money scams are targeted at anyone, age or race isn’t a factor. The best course of action when receiving money scams via snail mail or e-mail is to trash them. Or, take the documents to the proper authorities.

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