"So where have you been, Ladan?"

You know how Twitter and Facebook have become so popular these days. Twitter is just like a blog where you can post your latest updates, but it is even faster and easier. You can also use Facebook to share your latest news, tips, and interesting resources in a more personal way.

That’s why for the last several months, I have been actively posting new Internet marketing related tips and resources and personal news mostly on Twitter and Facebook - not on this blog anymore.

So if you have enjoyed reading this blog so far, you can find more updates on my Twitter and Facebook pages here:

• Ladan Lashkari on Facebook
• Ladan Lashkari on Twitter

I update these two almost every day, so you can discover lots of cool tips and tricks about Internet marketing and personal development there.

It does NOT mean I won’t post anything new to this blog any longer. I will still keep updating this blog from time to time.

See you around!

The fact is, success in Internet marketing in Iran is a longer journey because of the extra steps we need to take, comparing to people in other countries that are not under the US embargo.

But the good news is, this is all worth it!

Once you successfully start making money online, you can enjoy your dream lifestyle and achieve your financial goals very fast.

You can discover the secrets to making money online in Iran in this helpful ebook: How to Make Money on the Internet in 7 Days

The author of this ebook is a good, trusted friend of mine, Mona Afshar . She has been successfully running an online business for more than 3 years.

I highly recommend you check out this guide to find out an easy step-by-step guide on how to get started and make money online from Iran .

Best of luck!

Ladan

"A one year vacation?" You may be wondering who takes such a long vacation?

Well, a niche marketers with an automated profit-generating business does.

Yes, it was almost one year that I’ve been relaxing, having fun, and spending my time on my favorite hobbies… while the business was generating profits on autopilot every single day.

The only thing I needed to do was to check my emails and keep track of the sales, which took just 30-60 minutes a day .

Isn’t life amazing this way?

So next time someone tells you they think the dream of making money online easily and having sales coming in, while you are relaxing on the beach is a myth… tell them to think again .

Of course it’s a fact that it takes lots of dedication, time, and energy in the beginning to start up your business and get it running. But the beauty of the online business model is that once you set up a proven system, it’s going to breathe on its own and generate results on autopilot.

And that, my friend, is when the REAL fun begins.

"So Why Did I Take This Long Vacation?"

Why did I take one year off while I could work more and increase my income?

Good question. Honestly, even though my business was doing great, I felt like some other areas of my life was missing my attention - my loved ones, my hobbies, growing my personality and becoming a better person, etc.

Also I had been working real hard for the past 3 years before that. So I really needed a break to stop and smell the roses. So I chose to take some time off to recharge my batteries… And I am so glad I did.

But recently I am finally back from this long, relaxing vacation with a supercharged energy to bring triple results.

More than anything, I look forward to helping YOU achieve you your business goals , so you too can have your own highly profitable, automated, cash-generating business… and your dream lifestyle .

See you around.

How would a smart entrepreneur finish up the year?

Here are 4 important secrets that top 1% most successful people use today…

1. Review Your Past Year and Find the Treasures

One whole year…

12 full months…

365 days…

Can you imagine how many valuable lessons and experiences we’ve gained? All the mistakes we made and things we learned. And if you just walk out of 2008 without noticing and remembering them, it is like throwing away your one year’s valuable life.

And then we’ll end up going through 2009 making the same mistakes, unless we learn from the past to use the opportunities in the future.

So let’s take a careful look at your 2008 and find the treasures to use for faster success in the coming new year.

2. Sharpen Your Goals for Your Next Year

The next step is choosing which goals you want to target in 2009. After all without knowing where exactly you’re heading to, you can never get there, can you?

Check out this blog post to find out how…

Now the third secret…

3. Keeping Balance: Are You Giving a Fair Share to Your Life?

"Balance is the key to ultimate success and happiness."

Ask any success mentor and they’ll you this as well.

We can’t be truly and fully successful and happy unless we give a fair share to all areas of our life. This includes…

• Your happiness , spending time on things you love, and having fun
• Your career , achieving your business goals and growing your income
• Your relationships and love life , because life feels empty without our loved ones
• Your health , because you can’t enjoy the rest without it

The secret is, every time you feel unhappy and not satisfied in your life, one or more of these areas are missing.

It means the Balance is not there.

So on the last days of 2008, how about we take a good look at our life and see which of these parts we need to get to more? How do you think you can add more Balance to your life?

Write down your ideas now…

4. Chill Out and Enjoy the Holidays!

So the last but not the least, take some time off from work, stress or worrying over small things, and just have fun!

You certainly deserve it after a full year of hard work.

Happy holidays to you and your family!

Exciting News! I have just started a new blog for you with the focused topic of Success, Motivation, and Self Improvement . –> Let’s Wow!

Would you like to grow your life and win in ALL areas of your life - as well as in your business?

So you can not only be successful in your business, but also in your health, relationships, and the overall feeling of happiness in your life.

Would you like to Wow your life and create a lifestyle that amazes everyone - even YOU ?

Here are just a few examples of what you’re going to find in this new blow for you…

• Get a healthy dose of daily motivational thoughts and ideas
• Interesting ideas and news about how to reach your dreams and goals faster…
• Motivational quotes, poems, and real-life stories to stay motivated all the time for your gaols…
• Discover new free tools and resources that help you succeed faster
• And much more!
  

Simply check out this new blog here to find out more!

So Why Did I Start a New Blog?

When I first started this current blog, LadanLashkari.com, it was supposed to be about Internet marketing and online business, not a personal blog.

But over time, I couldn’t help but to notice that personal posts about motivation and success have been the most popular posts here, not the business-related ones.

So since the topic of success, self improvement, and motivation seems to be the favorite for most of our readers here, and also because I happen to be very passionate about writing in this area, I have started a new blog for you dedicated to this topic.

So LadanLashkari.com will keep its focus on Internet marketing and online business tips…

And the new blog, Let’sWow.com will be all about what you and other readers secretly wanted to see more of. It will also have a more personal, one-on-one voice and feel for you.

So Let’s Wow together!

Have you noticed how your motivation and excitement for work falls down after a few hours, comparing to when you first get to your computer?

Well, it is because of this reason…

We are sometimes unfair to ourselves!

Yes, that’s right. We push ourselves and push ourselves to "get more things done", without giving our mind any reward for it.

It is like when you were a kid, your parents kept pushing you to study and get great scores at school, and when you did your very best and after sleepless nights accomplished that, they just say to you…

"OK, good. So now start right away for your next exam… Also don’t forget to get great scores for it too. Also there is your other exam after that. No, no, no time for rest or playing. Get right back to study!"

Hmmm, how would you feel then?

Honestly wouldn’t you get upset and lose your motivation to keep studying and getting good grades?

Now what if your parents took the total opposite approach and told you…

"Hey wow! That was great! You are so clever. Thanks for studying so hard. So as a reward, we are taking you to a cinema to see your favorite show. Then we’ll also get you that brand new video game that you were so excited about!"

"Oh and by the way, if you get good grades next time, we’re going to give you more fun surprises! :)"

Now this time, how more motivated would you get for studying more next time?

You see how it makes wonders by simply giving yourself a reward after working hard?

So why not apply the same techniques in our business too?

I’ve been personally trying this technique for a few months and the results have been more than amazing.

I simply follow this formula…

3 Hours Work, 1 Hour Fun!

So for every 3 hours I work hard, I then have at least 1 hour or more fun time - like listening to my favorite music, resting on my bed and reading my favorite book, singing, playing around, dancing, going for a fun walk outside, watching a fun movie, and so much more activities.

… And I keep remembering that this is *because* of my great, productive work in the past 3 hours.

The idea here is to give some fun reward regularly to yourself so you recharge your batteries and get back to work with double energy.

I’ve seen some people trying to force themselves to work loooong hours in front on the computer, thinking they are actually being "productive ".

But the truth is after a few hours their mind gets tired and keeps for sneaky "excuses" to get distracted - like opening a chat window with a friend, getting casual thoughts, getting up to get something to eat, or simply working half slower.

But if they had actually spent 1 hour having fun totally away from work and their computer, they would come back with fully charged batteries and be razor-sharp productive.

Why not try it for yourself and see the results? You don’t have anything to lose and a great productivity secret to gain!

Best of luck!

Ladan

P.S. When you try this for yourself, let us know how the results were here in the Comments section. I’d love to hear about YOUR experience about this!

I thought over the idea of sharing it here in public a few times until I decided to finally do it.

Because you see, this tool is so powerful that I thought maybe lots of people would rush to it and use it to create niche websites for AdSense and it makes the markets I am in too crowded.

But then I decided that Thinking Abundance is what is the way to go. Because when we give more, it doesn’t take anything away from us usually. Also it comes back in another form to us in the future.

Anyway, so here you’re going to discover this fantastic tool…

==> Keyword Country

I won’t go into the details all the great benefits it has and how it helps you do specific keyword research because you can find them all on their helpful website.

Just in summary, you can find lots of very high paying keywords for your AdSense sites using it.

I’m talking about keywords that bring $2-3 clicks… instead of usual tiny $0.05 clicks that just "break our hearts" when we see them in our AdSense stats.

After several months of trying the software for my 10+ brand new niche sites, I’m getting more and more amazed…

The clicks are very profitable and the income for the sites keeps growing and growing on autopilot. So I’m easily building simple, easy niche sites that bring in $100-$300 every month totally on autopilot…

And this is the results for the sites just after a few months and the automated income for each still keeps growing every month.

(I’m not sharing these results to brag in any way. But want to help you see how easy and possible it is for YOU .)

So if you like the idea of turning your $0.05 clicks to $2 clicks, then this software is something you don’t want to miss. Trust me.

You can find out more about Keyword Country on their site here.

* This is NOT an affiliate link. Yes, I could include the affiliate link here and make some easy profits, but then some people would think I’m talking so excitedly about it just to make some bucks.

So now you can be sure I don’t get anything if you use this software or now. Just the satisfication of helping you make more money.

Good luck and wish you ever-growing wealth!

Ladan

Here’s one of the most powerful secrets to having a razor-sharp mind that works amazingly…

*Make Lists!*

If I had to pick the secret to being super-productive and getting so much done in a day that average people take a week to do … I’d definitely pick this secret.

What is even more amazing about this secret, is that after doing all these tasks, your mind still feels at peace, while you see other people with one-tenth of what you do, wandering around feeling stressed.

People who know me close will tell you Ladan always carries a notebook in her bag wherever she goes - whether it is a business seminar or vacation in Hawaii. She keeps lists of ideas and thoughts in the notebook and reviews them often.

And that is what I really consider one of insider secrets to being so productive every day, and still feeling in control and in peace.

So here’s the key to ultimate productivity and simplification in your life …

Make a list of everything!

Here are some ideas for you…

• Make a list of your most important tasks to do that day every morning (first thing to do to put your mind at ease)

• Make a list of your business ideas, SEO ideas, article ideas, future ebook ideas, etc.

• Make a list of random ideas or thoughts floating around in your mind during the day. They are taking a hige amount of your mind energy every second.

• When going to a seminar or networking event, make a list of your expectations and Goals. So your mind knows exactly what to focus on, so you’ll reach your expected goals 3 times easier.

• Make a list of things to do, stuff to buy, books to read, and so much more!

You can simply use NotePad (a very simple plain text editor program - free in Windows). Or you can use a pen and a piece of paper to write down your list, if that is what you are most comfortable with.

I personally use NotePad because my typing speed is faster than writing speed. So it saves time and I can keep up with the speed of my thoughts better.

No matter which method you like to use - just use lists! You’ll soon see the huge effect it will have on your happiness… and bank account.

To your energy boosting success!

Ladan

After all, you are building your entire business with ONE important goal in mind: Making a sale.

So when your customer is ready to order, the service you use to accept the order can make or break the sale.

If their payment processing service lacks some important factors or is not easy to use enough, you may lose your valuable sale that you were about to make.

So here are 3 important tips to consider when choosing a credit card processing solution …

Tip #1: How Fast Do They Give You Your Money?

When you make a sale, you have earned a profit which is great. But what is also important is how fast you’ll receive your money.

For example when using a service like PayPal, you will get your money instantly - the moment the customer’s order is processed successfully at PayPal.

So you can spend it, send it to someone else, or withdraw it to your bank account very quickly.

But most other credit card processing companies don’t pay you so fast.

For example ClickBank, which is a popular service, sends out your checks every two weeks.

Some other companies even will pay you less often - like once a month.

So it is good to pay attention to their policy and compare to choose the best service with fastest payouts.

Here’s another powerful insider tip…

Tip #2: What Is Their Per Transaction Fee?

Credit card processing companies usually charge anywhere from 2% to as high as 10% in some of them.

So as you see, 8% difference in fees per sale is a big difference. You can maximize your net profits by finding a merchant service provider that has the lowest fee.

Tip #3: Test Their Customer Support

Here is a smart technique to find out if they really have a good and responsible support system…

Simply contact them and pretend you are a customer who has recently made a purchase but hasn’t received the product yet.

You can use a fake name and email address if you want.

Then see their reaction, how they handle your problem, and how polite and patient they are.

You can also try complaining a lot to them and acting as a "difficult customer" would, to test how they deal with this type of your customers in the future.

Are they polite? Are they patient and tolerate even the most difficult-to-satisfy customers?

This is a very important test to do before going with a certain payment processing company, because you are going to leave your valued customers billing issue in their hands - which a VERY important matter.

So you want to make sure they are capable of it.

To your success!

You can either use your own merchant account , or and easy third-party credit card processing service .

You may have noticed that most small business online use the second option because it is much easier and faster.

Also third-party services are more affordable for online small business owners , because using your own merchant account has some on-going costs - like the gateway software monthly fee, and so on.

So usually companies that receive a large number of orders every month use their own merchant account.

So what about using credit card processing services?

I’ve been personally using them for 3+ years to accept thousands of online sales from customers worldwide… and let me assure you they are so easy that a computer amateur can use them in a snap.

Here are some of the most popular and reliable payment processing services for you :

• PayPal
• ClickBank
• 2CheckOut
• Plimus

PayPal is one of the most common online payment solutions and you can easily start using it for free and instantly.

Just it doesn’t have a built-in shopping cart software to manage your multiple products. So it will work perfectly when you use it with a powerful shopping cart software like 1ShoppingCart.

I tried using them together last year and it became such a powerful sales system that I was so excited about.

But there is one important downside to using PayPal that has made me and thousands of other sellers to move away from it - even though we really do love the ease of use of it.

So what is it?

You can find out more about other Pros and Cons of using PayPal as your payment processor, and compare it with others in this helpful guide.

ClickBank … you sure have heard of it or personally purchased from it many times. It is one of the Net’s most popular marketplaces.

Thousands of people sell products there. They offer decent features to you as a seller. Also you get leverage to 10,000+ affiliates searching their product listing to promote some.

So you have a high chance of gaining some strong marketing partners for free and without any promotional effort on your part.

Just ClickBank has some downsides that is making sellers there switch to other companies.

You can find out more about other Pros and Cons of using ClickBank as your payment processor, and compare it with other solutions in this helpful guide.

2CheckOut … It is one of the most professional and powerful credit card processing services. I have personally tried using it to sell my products and was pleasantly surprised to see how organized and powerful their system was.

You will gain lots of options to customize your sales process. Also you can accept a few various forms of other online payment methods - like PayPal - while selling your product at 2CheckOut.

I know many top Internet marketer friends who have been happily using 2CO for years to make hundreds of thousands of dollars.

You can find out more about other Pros and Cons of using 2CheckOut as your payment processor, and compare it with other solutions in this helpful guide.

Plimus … It is a very powerful payment processing solution that not only allows you to customize your entire sales process to maximize sales…

But also helps you offer various online payment methods that none of the above competitors do.

Methods like online checks, wire transfer, phone orders, fax orders, PayPal , and so on.

I’ve been selling 90% of my 20+ products using Plimus since 3 years ago and have been more than thrilled with their service.

You may not have heard of Plimus until today and may be wondering why, if they are so good.

Well, it is because Plimus is totally free and so they don’t have an affiliate program. So it is less incentive for online marketers to promote it.

I’m letting you know about it here not to gain any commission (as you see it is not an affiliate link). But to help you find the best credit card processing service that is best for your special needs.

But there is one little downside to Plimus though and it’s their relatively higher per transaction fee.

You can find out more about other Pros and Cons of using Plimus as your payment processor, and compare it with other solutions in this helpful guide.

Hope you’ve found the above tips helpful in your path to choose your payment processing solution.

If you also have personal experience or tips about it, feels free to post it in your Comment below.

To your success!

Ladan