My DSL has been down since yesterday afternoon. We’ve got some crazy rain and thunder/rain storms here. So, if you’ve sent me email since then and haven’t heard back, you know why.

I’ll get back to you (if necessary) as soon as I get my connection back!! Arhhhhhh!!!

I appreciate your patience! Thank you!

Let me explain what’s been happening… I’ll try to make it short and to the point.

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The Problem
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In the last 6 months, I’ve allowed both positive and negative online communications I’ve received to greatly affect me. I understand this is business, but the services are provided by me, a real person. And I found myself unable to separate the business vs. non-business communication.

I grew incredibly sensitive to abusive customers, and emails threatening me or my family usually brought my entire day to a halt. Reading personal threats and dealing with difficult people drained me to the point where I dreaded going online some days, even just to check for new messages. Because I did not want to bother other online business owners by confiding in them about what to do with these types of people, I started to believe I was the only one attracting bad customers and I even began to doubt myself and what I had to offer my clients.

Trying to deal with this took much time and attention away from clients who have always been cooperative and pleasant to work with. And worst of all, it quickly reached the point where it even disturbed me offline. I became paranoid, always suspicious, and insecure… to say I was unhappy & exhausted is an understatement.

So, in early January, my doctor sent me home with a prescription for Zoloft. I fought long and hard with myself about taking this medication (it’s been prescribed to me once before), and finally decided that in order to feel like “myself” again… to be able to get things done… this is what I needed to do.

During the first week of February, I started taking the lowest dosage to get my system used to the medication. However, it completely knocked me out for almost the entire day. I continued to increase my dosage per doctor’s instructions, but found it almost impossible to keep my eyes open, and was unable to function at all. Sure, I was no longer frightened, but that’s because I was sleeping most of the time.

I requested an alternative solution and got the “okay” in the beginning of March. I’ve been “awake” for about 3 weeks, and have been scrambling to play catch up with all of my responsibilities.

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The Remedy
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In order to move forward with my personal and business life, I had to decide to overcome this detour. Otherwise, I’ll remain stagnant, further damaging my relationships with my family, friends, clients and readers. Because I’m no longer taking the medication, it was suggested that I find a “support group” – people who are in a similar field as I am, and confide in them whenever I’m faced with “difficult” clients.

I’ve been very fortunate to come into contact with a handful of people who I feel I can trust and confide in… and during the past 3 weeks, I’ve already been faced with 2 of the most miserable people I’ve ever encountered online (one who sent me abusive email 3 times a day), and turning to my “support group” for advice has proved to be very helpful.

I would never wish this awful experience on anyone, but it’s quite comforting to know I’m not the only one having to deal with difficult and abusive people… and that other marketers have “survived” it and are able to continue with a happy life and successful business. I don’t feel the uncontrollable “fear” I would normally start feeling, and I am quickly learning to take every possible measure to let this type of people “go” and immediately block them from ever contacting me again.

Don’t dwell. Let it go. Keep moving forward.

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The Resolution
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I fully understand and accept that I cannot make my personal challenges into other people’s problems, and I promise to do my very best to keep my business practices as professional as possible.

Once again, I sincerely apologize for the lack of activity from my end, and for worrying, angering, or disappointing anyone because of my personal issues.

I may not dance in the spotlight like many other Internet “celebrities”, but I am one of the best out there. I’m just more comfortable planting myself behind the scenes, but don’t let that fool you. I give you my word that I will continue to teach you how to get the MOST out of your marketing efforts, and I will always look out for your best interest.

Sorry haven’t gotten a chance to personally reply to your kind “where the he** are you?!!” e-mails, but I’m here… busy as a toilet-flush-handle at a baked beans festival (are there such things?) : )

Anyway, enjoy the rest of your week, and I shall return soon – I promise!!

Girlfriend was starting to feel a little left out. You know how it goes…

I’ve added three of my feeds to the sidebar on the right. I’ll be monitoring how many visitors will be following those links.

The “Marketing Tools & Information Hub” has been emptied out, and I’m re-populating the directory from scratch.

You’re more than welcome to add your site, blog, ezine, or whatever else marketing related! Just browse to the category that best fits your stuff, and click on the “Add Your Site to this category” link.

If you’ve posted a comment within the last 2 weeks and find it’s been deleted, the reason is because you didn’t adhere to the Rules for Posting Comments… most probably #3, 4, or 6.

If you’ve sent me an e-mail, I will get back to you shortly (if necessary). I’ve got a few thousand messages (mostly junk from those nice people who think I should lengthen and enlarge a body-part I don’t have…) to download, and will sort through them during the next few days.

Now… what do I want to write about…

I was looking through my list of domain names I own, and realized I have a site I’ve completely FORGOTTEN about. I have no idea why I started it, probably something I did to vent some frustration.

Making A Gazillion Dollars On The Net the EASY Way!

1. As a reader of my diary, you are given the privilege (not the “right”) to post comments in response to my entries. Once you submit your comments and they are published on websites I’m paying for, all comments become my property.

2. You are welcome to disagree with the views expressed here, but I will not tolerate any form of disrespect towards me or anyone else. If you do not respect that, you will be banned without warning.
3. Offensive language is not allowed here.
4. No advertising allowed. If you post a comment advertising your products, affiliate programs, or anything at all, it will be deleted immediately, and you will be banned without warning. You are, however, encouraged to include your URL when completing the comments form.
5. If you post for the purpose of spamming my blog/posting your links, I will delete your post and you will be banned.
6. Do not post under different names posing as different people. Be aware that although others cannot, *I* am able to view your IP exposing the fact. If you violate this, you will be banned.
7. I will not allow anonymous postings. You read about me on these pages, and if you can’t even reveal your name and e-mail address, do not post.
8. If you send me abusive messages via e-mail, blog comment, etc., I reserve the right to abuse you right back.