Tu 1/5 – W 1/6, Th 1/7 – Su 1/10
CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW
110,000 expected, 2500 exhibitors, 800 speakers, 250 conference sessions incl Digital Hollywood, Connections, and Digital Media Wire, it’s the largest digital media event of the year!
Las Vegas Convention Center, Hilton, Venetian, spanning the Las Vegas Strip
www.cesweb.org

Tu 1/5
12-4, V Titian 2202, LVCC S229 – press room open
1:30, V Murano 3301-3 – ASUS press event
2-3, V Bellini 2105 – CEA US Trends
3-4, V Bellini 2105 – CEA Global Trends
4-7, V Ballroom – CES Unveiled: Best Buy, Hannspree, Lenovo, Powermat…
7-10, Sands Expo shuttle – StartUp Debut – VCs, press, eats, drinks,startupdebut@gmail.com

W 1/6
7:30-9, V Titian 2202, LVCC S229 -press room open
8-8:45, V Casanova 501 – LG press event
9-9:45, V Marco Polo 706 – Monster press event, V Sands 201 Netgear press event
10-10:45, V Casanova 504 – Toshiba press event
11-11:45, V Sands 206 Pioneer press event
12-12:45, V Sands 102 – Sharp press event
1-1:45, V Bellini 2105 – Casio press event
2-2:45, V Marco Polo 801 – Samsung press event
3-3:45, V Marco Polo 705 – JVC press event
3-3:45, V Bellini 2101 – Panasonic press event
*****
8-10:30, LVCC N262 P2P Breakfast, N260 Paramount, BitTorrent, N262 Snacks
11:30-12:30, LVCC N261 NVP Saatchi,N253 SpikeTV BBDO MTV,N258 A&E, TwitVid
12:30, LVCC N262 Lunch
1-2, LVCC N253 Lego, IMVU, Gaia, WW Biggies, N258 IODA, Napster
1:30-2:15, LVCC N260 Melike Amjarv, WB, BMI, SAG
2:30-3:30, LVCC N258 Discovery, Paramount, N253 ngmoco, N261 NBCU, MTV
3:30-4:15, LVCC N256 Qualcomm, Ericsson
4-5, LVCC N253 Viximo WB,N258 Fandango, Flixster, Freeverse,N261 TiVo
5-7:30, LVCC N262 P2P Cocktails
4:15-5:30, LVCC Central Hall 14200 – Sony press event
6:30-7:30, Hilton Center – Keynote – Steve Ballmer, Microsoft

Th 1/7
8-5, LVCC S229, V Titian 2202 -press room open
8:30, Hilton Theater – Keynote, Alan Mulally, Ford
10-6, Exhibit Hours
10-12, Hilton Shimmer Cabaret – Jen-Hsung Huang, NVIDIA press event
10-11, LVCC S227 DISH press event, S224 4G Verizon, Samsung, Clearwire
10-12, LVCC N250* Autonet, Pandora
10:30, LVCC N264* CEA Outlook, , N255* Kodak, Scoble
10:30-11:30, LVCC N256 AVOD, TiVo, Panasonic, N259 DISH, Merv Griffin, Starz
11-12, LVCC N253* ABC, LeapFrog, Vtech, Build-A-Bear, Lunch
11:20-12:10, LVCC N260* 3D – WB, Disney, CinemaNOW, Dolby
12-1, LVCC N254 Autonet, N259 Hearst, Rovi, N262* WaPo, N256 Roku, Z, Intel
12-1, LVCC S224 EA, RIM, ATT, TI, Sony
12:20-1:10+, LVCC N260* 3D RealD, LG, Panasonic, Sony, N253* MyYearbook
1:30-2:15+, LVCC N250* CBS counting viewers, N262* CBS, Pampelmoose
1:30-2:30, LVCC N259 Lionsgate, YouTube, FB, Fox, Disc, N261 Fremantle
2-3, LVCC N253* Cartoon Network, PBS, Nokia
2:30-3:20, LVCC N260* Y!, NBCU, Vizio, WB, DIVX
3-4, LVCC N259 Interactive – Sony, Sharp, Y!, N256 LG, Samsung, Sharp, Panasonic
3-4, LVCC S224 Netbooks – Lenovo, Laptop Mag, Intel, Microsoft, AMD
3-5, LVCC N253* Toy Demos, KAPi Awards – Sesame Workshop
3:45-4:30, LVCC N250 Monetizing Content – Tubefilter, FOD, NBCU, CJP
4:30-5:30, LVCC N250* CESup Search – TiVo, CBS, CTAM
4:30-5:30, Hilton Theater – Keynote, Paul Otelini, Intel
5-6, LVCC S227 – Sanyo press event
6-7, LVCC N237* CESup Reception
7-9, LVCC MGM shuttle* Tour of CBS Television City
6-10, Wynn Lafite Ballroom – Showstoppers (invite only)
6:30, Mandalay Bay – Tech & Engineering Emmy’s, events@emmyonline.tv

F 1/8
TBD AllThingsD short program
8-5, LVCC S229, V Titian 2202 -press room open
8:30-9, LVCC N250* Ben Silverman, Electus
9-10:15, LVCC N250*Illeana Douglas, Thomas Schlamme,ShoeMoney,NBCU
9-11, LVCC N262* MommyTech-GMA, Tina Sharkey, BabyCenter, N260 HBO
9, Hilton Theater, Keynote – Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Nokia
9-6, Exhibit Hours
10:30-11:30, LVCC N250* Scripps, NBCU, N253* EnergyTech
11, Hilton Theater, Keynote – Dr Paul E Jacobs, Qualcomm
11:30-12:30, LVCC N250* Ken Howard, SAG, Sony, LG, Nielsen
12-1, LVCC N262* Lunch – MySpace, N255* FCC Chair, N261 Bravo, N259 FLO TV
12-1, LVCC S225 Powermat, S224 Handango, ATT, Intel, Samsung
1-2, LVCC N262* Mommy Memorykeepers – Eye-Fi, N255* CinemaNow
1:30-2:30+, LVCC N262*OnStar,Fox,N261 Z, Arts&Labs,N259 Metacafe,Redbox,JWT
1:30-2:30, LVCC S224 Untethering TV – Qualcomm, Broadcom, Sony
3-4, LVCC S224 ION, FLO TV, MobiTV, NatGeo, LG, S225 Samsung
3-4, LVCC N260 GPS Garmin, TomTom, N261 Lionsgate, MSNBC, N259 Blip.tv
3:30-4:15-5, LVCC N262* Marketing to Digital Moms/Gala Product Showcase – Kodak
4, Hilton Theater – Keynote – Zhou Houjian, Hisense
4:30, LVCC South Hall EHX CE PRO reception
6-7, LVCC North Hall – Kenwood press event
*****
3, V Casanova 501 – Shuttle press event, wearenotalienbware.com
3-7:30, V Ballrooms 3001-3101, Digital Media Insider
3:15, CES scoop – CEA, Parks, Intepret, Wired.com, Ogilvy 360
4, Distribution – Oxygen, MyDamnChannel, CMSG, redbox, withoutabox
5, Monetization – NVP, Vindica, IBM
5:45, Keynote
6:15 – 7:30, Awards for 25 Executives to Watch in Digital Entertainment

• David Anderman, General Counsel, Lucasfilm
• Rob Barnett, Founder & CEO, My Damn Channel
• Rio Caraeff, President & CEO, VEVO
• Kevin Conroy, President, Univision Interactive Media
• Allen DeBevoise, Chairman & CEO, Machinima Inc.
• Denzyl Feigelson, CEO, AWAL (Artists Without a Label)
• Ashley Fenwick-Naditch, Producer, Sesame Workshop
• Kristin Frank, General Manager, MTV.com and VH1.com
• Ed Leonard, CTO, DreamWorks
• Zahavah Levine, Chief Counsel, YouTube
• Mitch Lowe, CEO, redbox
• Robb McDaniels, Founder, President & CEO, INgrooves
• Tero Ojanpera, EVP, Services, Nokia
• Jean-Briac Perrette, President, Content Distribution Strategy, NBCU
• Mark Pincus, CEO & Founder, Zynga
• John Pleasants, CEO, Playdom
• Nanea Reeves, SVP, EA Online Group
• Rohit Bhargava, SVP, Digital Strategy & Marketing, Ogilvy 360
  (Author, Personality Not Included)
• Avner Ronen, CEO, Boxee
• Richard Rosenblatt, Co-Founder, Chairman & CEO, Demand Media
• Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer, Facebook
• David Straus, Co-Founder & CEO, Withoutabox (IMDB/Amazon)
• Robert Tercek, President, Digital Media, OWN
• Phil Wiser, Co-Founder, Chairman & President, Sezmi
• Philip Yun, CEO, NHN USA

Sa 1/9
8-5, LVCC S229, V Titian 2202 -press room open
9-6, Exhibit Hours
10:30-11:30, LVCC S224 Revision3, N261 Big Fuel, N255* Last Gadget Standing
11, LVCC South Hall Lobby 3 CNET Stage – Best of CES
12-1, LVCC N260 Napster
1:30-2:30, LVCC N258 Warren Packard, DFJ, Kuk Yi, Best Buy, S224 Sprint, Comcast
2:15-5:30, LVCC N253* Silvers Summit Gadgets – Fox
3-4, LVCC N260 Netbooks – Harris Interactive

Su 1/10
8-3, LVCC S229, V Titian 2202 -press room open
9-4, Exhibit Hours

*FREE
**Shuttles:  http://cesweb.org/docs/2010_CES_Shuttle_Map_for_CESweb.pdf
***Maps: www.cesweb.org/exhibits/facilities/default.asp,  http://www.cesweb.org/docs/2010_CES_Show_Locations_Map.pdf
*** Parties:  http://www.thomas-pr.com/01/ces2010.html

If you want to success on Internet Marketing… You can register here. After you register you will receive an e-mail from ShoeMoney’s. Over 12 weeks you will receive a lot of information – some of the guide will teach you more about the industry in general, step by step how to build a site, drive traffic, or optimize your site for higher search engine rankings.

Shoemoney

So, you must check your e-mail for a week if you want to be a success marketer. Here the list that you will get if you registered:
Week 1 – The Beginner’s Guide To Internet Marketing
Week 2 – Affiliate Marketing 101: Everything You Need To Know To Start Promoting Products
Week 3 - Market Research: How To Crush Your Competitors And Discover Hot Niches
Week 4 – Pay Per Click: How To Earn Cash With Each Click
Week 5 – SEO: How To Rank Higher And Increase Traffic
Week 6 – Site Creation: How To Build A Site With Zero Programming Knowledge
Week 7 – Content Creation: How To Create Articles That Attract Users And Increase Sales
Week 8 – Marketing: How To Use Social Media To Spread Your Brand
Week 9 – Make That Cash: 10 Ways To Monetize Your Site And Increase Profitability
Week 10 – Testing & Tracking: How To Optimize Your Site & Make Sense Of The Figures
Week 11 – Building Your Team: How To Network With Others And Find Long Term Partners
Week 12 – Launch Day: How To Kick Start Your Business And Manage Your Projects

This guide is for everyone… Newbie or expert.. So, if you want to be success… Register now at http://www.shoemoneyx.com/

Do you know Jeremy Schoemaker or famously known as Jeremy “Shoemoney”. He is one of the guru in the internet marketing industries. Since last week, he introduce an online course called “Xtereme Guide To Internet Marketing Success“.

This course will take 12 weeks to completed. Each week we will receive e-mail from him to link us with the note that he prepared. All notes are in PDF files. This course is not only for newbies but also suitable for experience internet marketers. If you not new to certain lesson, for sure you will find some information or idea that you can use to improve marketing tools and make you business more profitable.

This is the preview of what’s to come over the 12 week

Week 1 – The Beginner’s Guide To Internet Marketing

Week 2 – Affiliate Marketing 101: Everything You Need To Know To Start Promoting Products

Week 3 – Market Research: How To Crush Your Competitors And Discover Hot Niches

Week 4 – Pay Per Click: How To Earn Cash With Each Click

Week 5 – SEO: How To Rank Higher And Increase Traffic

Week 6 – Site Creation: How To Build A Site With Zero Programming Knowledge

Week 7 – Content Creation: How To Create Articles That Attract Users And Increase Sales

Week 8 – Marketing: How To Use Social Media To Spread Your Brand

Week 9 – Make That Cash: 10 Ways To Monetize Your Site And Increase Profitability

Week 10 – Testing & Tracking: How To Optimize Your Site & Make Sense Of The Figures

Week 11 – Building Your Team: How To Network With Others And Find Long Term Partners

Week 12 – Launch Day: How To Kick Start Your Business And Manage Your Projects

The best part of this course is it’s come for FREE. He even offer some cool prize to be won every week.This is a 2nd week, so don’t waste your time anymore. Join this course for free. You have nothing to lose here.

You can join here:

http://www.shoemoneyx.com

Will Martin-Gill of the eBay Partner Network writes:

affiliate marketing — or paying online publishers to drive quality traffic to a company’s Web site based on the purchases and revenue they help generate — has quietly grown into a $6 billion+ industry. Jupiter Research expects affiliate marketing to grow another 13% year-over-year through 2012.

There is an overwhelming amount of niche markets and techniques used by Affiliate Marketers (AM). I’ve given myself a week (or two) to make sense of the mass of loudly broadcast information on AM. There are credible sources who provide AF information and tools, but it takes time to read through, process and filter out the deceptive claims of “make easy money in minutes”.

The “affiliate” part is simple: earn a commission for sending a buying customer to a destination site. Affiliates want to increase their earnings by increasing traffic to their own site and pre-selling products before sending users to the destination affiliate site. For example, posting a product review will get targeted traffic to your website and make people want to buy the product.

“Marketing” is where AM gets complicated. John Reese simply says that your assets are an email/member list and content. Marketing is the methods you choose to promote your content to your user list.

Here’s a simple checklist to understand any AF’s business model:

Retailmenot.com

1. Target audience: shoppers ready to checkout
2. Website Content: People powered coupon codes, revenue share when people post on the site
3. Source of traffic: Natural Search Engine Optimization (SEO), pay people to post on blogs
4. Monetization source: retailers, Google Ads

CNET reviews:

1. Target audience: Tech shoppers
2. Website Content: reviews of tech products
3. Source of traffic: Natural Search Engine Optimization (SEO), inbound links
4. Monetization source: retailers, Ads

popsugar.com

1. Target audience: Star watchers
2. Website content: dishing on the stars
3. Source of traffic: Natural SEO, inbound links
4. Monetization: retailers, ads

As you can see, there are many practices, techniques and strategies. The simplest strategy is to promote eBay or Amazon items on a blog. The most attention grabbing AFs use hype and popularity to draw large numbers of followers who they then monetize. Then there are the quiet AFs like Kaboodle.com and MSN.com.

Now to review the Affiliate Marketing tools that I reluctantly decided to sign up for, but pledge to use without resistance. There is too much information for 1 or 2 posts, so here’s an overview.

Overview:

1. Opportunity.com ($40 per month):
   John Reese’s new site has a series of instructional videos that start at the beginner level. As I mentioned before, he starts with the most important assets for an affiliate marketer: 1. an email/member list and 2. content.

   This site is oriented to the non-technical, so it would be a good fit for eBay sellers. In fact, John says technical work takes time away from money making activities. Hmm…there is truth to that. I’m guilty of spending too much time creating features and not enough energy on marketing. But I think you need a technical solution and technical capability in order to scale your results.

   Impression: Good introduction. $40 a month is too much. But then I paid $75K for my MBA from Northwestern University. { Shrug }

2. Shoemoney tools ($9.95 1st month, $100 per month after 1st month):
   Shoemoney provides tools for an active Affiliate Marketer to use. It’s more advanced than Opportunity.com.

   The first thing I saw under the SEO tools tab is the domain marketplace. It shows a list of unregistered domains for sale, the number of inbound links, and where the links come from (.gov, .mil, .edu). The prices are around $10-30 each but you can’t see the entire domain that you are purchasing. They show hidden domains like this: xxxshop-xxx.net. There’s no guarantee that the links actually drive traffic to the URLs for sale.

   My impression: I’m not sure if the tools are more useful than free tools yet. I have to dive in further. It would be better if they added written help text in addition to the video tutorials, but they have good support personnel.

3. Tim Buchalka (FREE so far)
   Tim promotes his videos and tools on Twitter. The thing I like about Tim is that he doesn’t use a lot of hard-sell hype. He is simply persistent and uses positive language.
4. SEObook.com
   This is the most cerebral of the bunch. They mostly focus on techniques to drive traffic to your site using natural search engine optimization (SEO). I follow all of their SEO advice on my site.

Next post: Domain strategies.

A couple of us attended Shoemoney’s Elite Retreat in San Francisco and we were not disappointed. Along with a varied mix of bright attendees which included Super Affiliates, SEOs, SEMs, Bloggers, Social Media players, Ecommerce and Affiliate Networks themselves was an all-star list of speakers who did not disappoint. The highlight of the show itself was probably Gary Vanyerchuk’s in your face and inspiring talk. Gary preached a lot about doing what you love and his message hit home for a lot of the attendees. The last day of the trip included a memorable lunch and visit to Facebook’s Palo Alto headquarters arranged by DK from Purpose Inc. On top of all this, there were two great dinners and a cocktail party on the first night of the event.

Like last year’s event the speakers were all top-notch and were willing and open to share great information.

Neil Patel spoke about Social Media and some tricks he uses. Like last year he provided some info we’ve already put to good use. Kris Jones of Pepperjam gave an informative talk about making money with search arbitrage – check out his book “Search Engine Optimization”. Andy Liu spoke about how to value businesses, raising money and how to take advantage of the current market. Chris Winfield led a great session on how to get publicity and really opened a lot of eyes to something most of us are not doing a good enough job with. Stephan Spencer was this year’s SEO speaker and he provided great information. Last but not least, Jeremy “Shoemoney” Schoemaker gave a very frank discussion on how to optimize landing pages and shared some great ideas with the audience.

If you are considering attending this show next year, we highly recommend it.

I just read about Shoemoney’s April Fools Joke. He always comes up with some great gags to play online and he always gets so many people. I thought I was the queen of April Fools I must win my crown back. I will have to think of a great online prank to play next year. (watch out)

My family stays on guard all day the first day of April, each year. I can always get them with the best pranks ever. I will share a few of my favs with you.

#1 One year I called my mom, with panic in my voice and told her that I was driving home that evening and it was dark and raining and I could not see anything. That I had hit a man by the side of road and I needed her to come help me hide the body. This woman who I thought would try to talk me into calling the police, surprised me with her answer. She told me to call my brother, that he was stronger and would know of better places to hide a body. OMG! Once I told her it was April Fools, she then said I was going to suggest calling the police too,… yeah right.

#2 I had just started dating my husband who was really religious and my family knew this. They thought he was a little “over religious”, so I decided to play with this one a little bit. I called my brother and told him that my husband was outside with a fire and an ax and said that because of all the sin in the world he was going to have to sacrifice my poor little dog, who I had since he was a puppy, which was about 6 years. My brother flipped out, he said don’t go near him hold on I am coming over there and bringing my gun, tell him that I will shot him if he does not leave the dog alone and he told me again, don’t go outside. I hung up and gave him a few mins, then called him back to tell him “April Fools”. He was so mad at me.

#3  When my son was  12 and was coming into puberty, he was counting every little hair he would find  “down below”, he was so excited that he was on his way to being  a man. So on April Fools night I got one of my small hair wiglets and placed it in the top of his underwear. When he woke up the next morning and looked down, he was in shock, thinking that he had been touched by the “man fairy” overnight and  could not  believe that this happened. The excitement was short lived when he soon realized it was fake.

Well that’s my top 3. What are some of the best pranks you have ever pulled off on April Fool’s Day?

There has been a lot of discussion on the blogs concerning paid content, endorsements and sponsorships. Forrester Research started the argument with a report on sponsored posts. Chris Brogan spooled up the discussion with the suggestion that being straight forward about intentions has worked for people like John Chow and Shoemoney. Chris had a lively group of comments from those on both sides of the fence. Marshall Kirkpatrick of Readwriteweb came out strongly against the practice suggesting that “paying bloggers to write about your company is a dangerous and unsavory path for new media”. Valeria Maltoni’s conversation added thoughts on blog sustainability, transparency and development as we witness an evolving marketing system.

I see social media as a large post office box full of party invitations. This box is stuffed with varying invitations in appealing envelopes. You open them at your option and by reading the words on the card you make a personal choice. No one is looking over your shoulder so you can toss them or keep them. Most of the invitations that you receive are pretty straight forward and transparent. When the Tupperware party invitation is opened, you are aware that if you go, somebody at the party will be selling something. You can choose to attend the party, share in the fun and conversation and purchase product, or you can decline the invitation. The invitation to the White Elephant Gift Exchange states clearly that you must bring a $25 gift to the party. You can measure the advantages of the social banter, personal engagement and gift sharing against other investments of your time. These invitations, along with past party experiences provide you with the transparency to understand the intentions of the host.

The other underlying factor in choosing party attendance is the value you place upon the host of the party. If you have attended their parties in the past and found them duds, you probably would toss the invitation. On the other hand, some party hosts have a reputation of sponsoring a social explosion and you would be a fool to miss the date. The great hosts make a Tupperware or a White Elephant or even a knitting party worth the effort. Trustworthy hosts have earned their reputation by demonstrating that they bring added value to the party experience. They prove through their actions that they can sustain the value of the party even if there is selling involved. They send invitations that are clear in their intent.

If they choose to have a banner over the punch bowl that states, “Punch sponsored by Hawaiian Tropic”, you are free to ask the host why. An honest host would state that the company provided the punch free for you in exchange for displaying the sign. A well-trusted host could suggest that Hawaiian Tropic is their personal favorite and you would not be offended. A clever host would plan a party game that involved the punch in the conversation and in the activity. In the end, you had a great time with friends and family, associated with an experienced and practical host and didn’t mind that the party was partially subsidized by the punch distributor.

As I explore the blog invitations that are presented to me by the social web, I like the fact that I can freely measure the value of the host. I appreciate hosts who provide open communication so that I can ask why the “punch banner” is there on the page. I know that I can look at the conversation to determine if I can trust the site to be full of great conversation. I am grateful for the experiences presented to me, so an honest attempt to pay the bills makes perfect sense to me.

]]> http://famousadvantage.wordpress.com/2009/02/26/nicole-richie-baby-news/ Thu, 26 Feb 2009 06:20:47 +0000 famousadvantage http://famousadvantage.wordpress.com/2009/02/26/nicole-richie-baby-news/

Nicole Richie Baby News

In a message on the Web site of Good Charlotte, the band he fronts, Madden, 29, wrote, “I am so happy to tell everyone that Harlow is going to be a big sister! God has truly blessed my family. Hope [you're] all feeling as good as i am right now.” Madden’s message is titled “Better than winning an OSCAR!”

Could baby, “HARLOW ” expect a brother or sister?

Jeremy (ShoeMoney) Schoemaker recently ran an auction on eBay for a company to have him wear their t-shirt for the three days of Affiliate Summit West 2009.

The bidding was up to about $2,500 with 24 hours to go, but increased to $5,200 at the end.

The winner was TrainSignal, a global leader in professional computer training.

In a selfless fashion, TrainSignal decided to bump up their donation amount to $10,000.00!

The funds from the auction are being donated to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, the official charity of Affiliate Summit West 2009.

Thanks a lot, ShoeMoney and TrainSignal! You are my heroes!

I am sure that you have heard that others are making money online , well this is 100% true, a lot of people are actually making hundreds and even thousands of dollars monthly while working from their homes. Yet, for all of those who think that this can be easily done I am sorry to say that this is nothing but UNTRUE. So, if you are looking for some easy money, this is not the right way to go.

ShoeMoney Popular cheque

So how do people make money online? There are a number of ways:

• They sell their own products/services online. They get paid through a payment gateway.
• They receive commissions for leading users/visitors to complete an action on another website (Buy an item, register for a service,download a product or fill an email)
• Others click/view ads for an advertising network which acts an intermediary between publishers and advertisers.
• They sell an ad-space on their website.
• (Others that I may not have remembered)

I am sure that everything sounds a bit ambigious for you, soon I will be posting more about each of the mentioned methods and how to START.

1. Write content for people and not for search engines. -Jeremy from Shoemoney

2. Do something different (wild and wacky) that people wouldn’t do to create good content -Steve Pavlina

3. Pick a topic, stick with it and own the topic -Andy Wibbels.

Review

The topic of this blog would be the daily record of events of Gab. Who would read that? Another problem is I don’t blog daily. Therefore I must find a topic, stick with it and own it. Here are some ideas:

- Pen Spinning (There already is a blog on pen spinning )

- Bboying

But people don’t read blogs on bboying and pen spinning, sadly.

It is not easy for most entrepreneurs and businessmen to talk about their own failures. When they do, they tend to be indulgent or lenient about their past experiences and are inclined to shift some of the “blame” on environment, tendencies, people or just plain luck (lack of it). Only few speak candidly and admit their errors openly with intention of contributing to the accumulated business wisdom and in hope of providing useful information for those aspiring and resourceful entrepreneurs who are at the beginning of their paths. The first step to overcome a failure starts by admitting that we are not perfect.

Jeremy Schoemaker, the founder of ShoeMoney Media Group, is one of the entrepreneurs who had many ideas, which could potentially lead to business successes but instead turned out to be business failures.

Anyway I came up (in about 10 minutes) my top 10 worst ideas to make money that totally were a waste of time and effort (and money in some cases).

Below are some of his top 10 worst money making ideas he came up with.

10 – FireFox Forum (firefoxforum.com) – I purchased this site on digitalpoint ($800) after getting some inside information that FireFox was going to team up with Google on a per download affiliate program. Well all that happened and I think I made about 50$ the first year. FLOP

7 – Omaha-Used-Cars.com – Now here we go! This is easy. Just make a used car site and charge dealers a .25cent per car listing fee right ? ehhh none interested… FLOP

6 – SMS Text Dating textdating.com/texting.com – I was soooooooo sure this one was going to be it! The concept is simple basically you subscribe to this dating website. Make a profile then you could send a message to the person from the website to there mobile phone without having to know there phone number. I had this totally done and nobody every signed up… FLOP

5 – St. Marry’s Bar & Grill – Ok this has nothing to do with the internet. After the Hooters closed down in Lincoln I tried to re-open it then when that did not work out I thought about making a restaurant called St. Marrys where it was like a church and the waitresses dressed like catholic school girls and like the nuns would be the managers and spank the waitresses if they were bad?!? Yes I know bad idea and I never really pursued it…. I like in one of the most conservative catholic communities in the country so no way it would fly… and yes i know im going straight to hell.

3 – Ads Or Not
Simple concept. There is 5 ads on a webpage only one of them is NOT REALLY A AD! Each time you successfully spot the fake ad you get some money built up into your account. – I had issues finding advertisers who were down for this =P FLOP

1 – ShoeMoney Petroleum Company -
(I cant believe im actually telling these in public)

Ok Follow me here -
I want to purchase a Gas Station and Give away Free Gas
The catch is like the gas would come out really slow and also you would be limited as to how much you could get per week. (Like max 50 gallons a week).
How do I make money ? EASY – I would setup paintball guns around the gas station with webcams that would let people from the internet take shots at the people filling up there cars with gas. You could charge per shot or a xxxx amounts of shots per month for a set fee. PROBLEM – I talked to a city council member about this and he told me there was a “no flying ordinance” or something rule within city limits however I could maybe do it in the country…

As you see the breadth and width of ideas is not lacking in originality and ambition. Some of the ideas above would surely seem killer to me and many other entrepreneurs. However, not all, even brilliant and innovative, ideas become equally successful and growing businesses. In face of the ongoing financial crisis and shrinking funds, quite a few investors and VCs go as far as clearly outline what an idea needs to have to obtain a backing. For those who cannot reach VC/investor pockets or are simply willing to build their business without initial VC/investor funding, there is also a way. Whichever way you choose, make sure to check out the startup rules of Loic Le Meur, the founder of Seesmic, and those of Sequoia Capital, a leading VC firm, and do not be afraid to fail. Embrace your failure, learn from it, and remember the words of one of the most profound thinkers of 19th century, Friedrich Nietzsche, who mused, “What does not kill you makes you stronger.”

Good luck.

I especially want to thank DK for being such a good sport about this. It was great to hanging out there on the beach. I had a chance to meet and talk with Jeremy, Neil, Zach, Andy and especially Al Carlton, among others.

Poor DK. With everything going on, I’m sure that he didn’t need to an unexpected visitor crashing the event. He was a great host and made me feel welcomed and let me mingle and talk to everyone.

Eventually, though, he had to kick me out. This was a big ticket event, and we didn’t want to step on anybody’s toes.

My only regret – I didn’t get a chance to play Werewolf with all you guys!

Competing against John Chow..

Guess who is the winner ?

Congrats Tyler Cruz for winning!