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I’ve Been Interviewed

Today, Michael Dunlop posted an interview of your’s truly on his brand new site, Income Diary. You can read the full interview here:

David Risley Interview – Tech Bloggers Earning 6 Figures A Year

The interview came out pretty well, if I do say so myself. Hope you enjoy it.

Income Diary isn’t officially launched yet (believe it or not) and it looks to already be off to a roaring start. Mike is doing a great job with the site. The theme is really nice, too.

Here is a little chunk from the interview (mainly because I’m passionate about this point plus it helps make this post a little longer ):

Don’t Watch The News.

All this talk of recession doom and gloom does nothing but self-fulfill. You can’t expected to have the mindset of success while having people constantly barrage you with how bad things are. Well, all that doomy talk is put out by people who don’t have much money. They aren’t who you want to be. And let me tell you something, money isn’t disappearing. The money hasn’t gone anywhere! People still have money to spend. They’re just hanging on to it out of uncertainty, but they’ll still spend money on things they need and want. So, there will be people who come out the other end of this recession rich, and others who are not. The difference is that some people will take action and others will sit and leave it to chance and hope.

Especially in these current times, you need to DISAGREE with all the bad news. Flip it the proverbial bird and move on with your life. Success is still there to be had. Trust me on that one. And to all the people who make a living by telling me how bad everything is, screw ‘em.

Once again, enjoy. And if you have a comment, you can post it over there.

Blogging Income Report: February 2009

I have made a little habit out of posting monthly income reports to this blog. The one for February was delayed because my accounting was WAY behind. I won’t get into why that is the case, but I spent several hours today getting it caught up.

This year started out with a bang. I brought in $21,129.30 in January. Much of that was due to the January membership drive on PCMech that I ran while I was on a cruise. The full story behind that is in my free report which you can get by signing up to the mailing list on the right.

Alright, so how did things pan out in February?

Total gross income for February comes in at $11,797.12.

A rough breakdown of that for the month is:

• Advertising: $4,598.93
• Affiliate Commissions: $484.09
• Consulting: $1,070.00
• Membership Fees: $5,640.23

All in all, it was a pretty standard month. I didn’t really push any affiliate offers that hard. I had no membership drives. Consulting was a little higher than normal, but all in all, February was a month of nothing out of the ordinary whatsoever.

So far, March is shaping up well. As of today (the 12th), I’ve already generated a bit over $17K this month. So, I look forward to seeing what March will end up looking like.

I will be launching a new product (probably within a week) which will build up a new income stream. After that, I am going to town on a brand new membership program dedicated to bloggers like you. Without getting into too much detail yet, I intend to fill a big, GAPING hole that is keeping bloggers from making good money. I’m gonna be getting into some ninja stuff for you guys.

So, stay tuned. I’m stoked about it and I can’t wait to start seeing it come to fruition.

Rockstar Platinum LIVE, Las Vegas, March 09

Hopefully I’m not too late posting this. Even if I am, this is a great opportunity that I wanted to post publicly about.

It is called Rockstar Platinum LIVE. It is an internet marketing event being put on by Simon Leung, Lee Collins and Robin Collins. It is happening in Las Vegas, March 27-29.

You might be thinking “rockstar”? You get images of leather pants and really loud music. But, this isn’t that kind of event. What I mean by "rockstar lifestyle" is the ability to do what you want, whenever you want, with whoever you want without worrying about money, or time, or a BOSS!

Isn’t that what we all want? I know that’s what I talk about here on this blog all the time. I just happen to use blogging as my medium for doing that.

I was talking with a good friend of mine last night who is helping organize this event. The speaker line-up is looking pretty amazing, including names like:

• Matt Bacak
• Tom Beal
• Alan Bechtold
• Paul Colligan
• David Fagan
• Mike Filsaime
• Ross Goldberg
• Dave Lakhani
• Deb Micek
• Mike Morgan
• Kevin Nations
• Jeff Schwerdt
• Anik Singal
• Erik Stafford
• Scott Stratten

These are “top dogs” in the world of internet business. And this is a world I highly suggest learning more about if you want to make good money on the Internet.

I have been very open about the fact that THE best thing I started doing for my business in 2008 was to begin traveling to conferences and networking with solid people. I attended some blogging conferences, but I also attended some internet marketing events. I can attest that you get some KILLER value from these things….

So much so, that I am PERSONALLY attending Rockstar Platinum Live in Las Vegas in March. I’m traveling out there from sunny Florida because I KNOW it’ll be worth my time.

I’d like to meet some of my readers out there. If you decide to attend, I’d like to hook up with you. We can chat about your blog and your business. Keep in mind, too, that you’ll be getting some SOLID information from the speakers at the event, but what little I can add to that with you in person, I will.

I’m pretty sure they’re capping this thing at 250 seats, so don’t waste too much time. And you might be surprised how little the ticket price is. Seriously. Check it out.

I hope to see you there. It’s Vegas, baby.

February Mastermind Meetup for Tampa Bay

Last night, we held my third meetup of the Tampa Bay Mastermind group. This is a group I organized on Meetup.com to serve as a social gathering for people engaged in internet business in the Tampa Bay area. We had a good turnout last night and a lot of great conversation. Some of the guys from my smaller, more private mastermind group came as well.

Here is a list of the people who came out.

• JR Griggs. Local conservative blogger at Jrs2cents.com. @JRGriggs on Twitter.
• Ryan Wade. Serial marketer, but he’ll tell you he’s into porn and gambling. @ryanwade on Twitter.
• Kyle Graham. Programmer geek and marketer in the same body. Check him out on KyleGraham.tv.  @kylegraham on Twitter.
• James DeLong. Currently a JV Manager for some big guys. @jamesdelong on Twitter.
• Julia Gorzka. Local social media consultant. @JuliaGorzka on Twitter.
• Tony Teegarden. Personal development guru and former death metal guy (ironic, I know ). @ateegarden on Twitter.
• Shelby Nousain. Connect on LinkedIn.
• Chris Blackerby – a serial web entrepreneur, it seems. Too many sites to list, but he’s got his name as a dot-com.
• Rick Hawkins – A former school teacher, he is now looking to build an online business.
• Gary Burge – a pharmacist looking to go online.
• Barry Nicholson – a local copywriter.

* NOTE: If I missed anybody, just contact me and let me know.

I didn’t have a real camera with me this time, so I just used my Iphone and sent some pictures to my TwitPic gallery. Here they are:

So, great meetup. Here’s what Julia said on Meetup.com about the evening:

Great conversation. After spending the evening with this group my head is swimming with ideas, inspiration and questions. Thanks to all for being so generous sharing about your business, approach, set-backs, learning, recommendations, etc!

That’s awesome.

So, the next meetup will be in March. I will schedule it some time in the next week or two.

If you weren’t able to make it last night, I hope you can come to a future meetup. I’ve been holding the meetup on a Tuesday evening, but feel free to post a comment and let me know if another night would work out better.

And if you’re reading this and aren’t in the Tampa Bay area, I encourage you to either join or organize a meetup in your own area on Meetup.com. I was having a conversation with James last night, in fact, about just how important networking has been for us and our businesses. So, don’t miss out on it. If there isn’t a meetup in your area, take the lead and organize one.

EDIT 11:57PM: Tony just posted a video over on his blog of Chris showing some of his marketing materials that he has used to learn how the game works. Good stuff. Check it out at TonyTeegarden.com.

EDIT 12:43PM: Just edited to include the link to Kyle’s new site. And already, he’s making me look bad with his video quality. Damn!

How Are You Responding To The Economy?

The economy sucks. I personally don’t think it is as bad as some make it seem, but the fact they talk it down so much makes it suck in reality. Unfortunate, but true. But, what are YOU doing about it?

Click Here To Continue Reading »

Tampa Bay Mastermind Meetup – January 2009

Last night, I held the second mastermind meetup for the Tampa Bay area. This is a group that I organized for Tampa Bay internet entrepreneurs (you can join in here if you’re in the area).

I think we had about 13 people show up. Not bad, considering it is only the second meeting. Also, due to the holidays and my vacation last week, there was a long delay between the first and second meetings. My intention is to keep it on a regular schedule from now on.

Among the attendees were Robert Garcia (Wealth by Chocolate), Ken Donaldson from MarryUFirst.com, Paul Gilchrist (an SEO expert), Alex Wingeier from CLR Choice, and Tony Vaughn who is an ecommerce advisor. Barry Nicholson, a local copywriter, was also there for the second time. There were some other people there, too, but I didn’t get their business card (Guys, if you read this, feel free to send me your info).

As always, it was great to talk with other people in the business, and all from different approaches. Obviously, my niche is primarily blogging. But, it is great to talk with people in other avenues of internet business. It is also interesting to see how all these different approaches parallel one another.

I am a member of a smaller, more private mastermind group as well. This larger meetup is likely going to grow in size (and that’s the point) and I’m hoping members will use the group to form smaller masterminds in their local corners of the Tampa Bay area.

I can say with total certainty that getting involved in networking and mastermind groups in 2008 was one of the most successful actions I have made for my business. I recommend it to everyone. And keep in mind, if there isn’t an existing such group in your area, you can always organize one! That’s what I did. Meetup is your friend.

I look forward to the next meetup in February.

Can I Ask a Little Favor?

My sincere hope is that, in the short amount of time that I have been routinely posting content to this blog, you have found what I’m doing here to be helpful. I sure do spend a lot of time making sure that it is!

This blog’s traffic has jumped up VERY quickly in a short amount of time. I’m tickled about that. I started PCMech many moons ago, back when there was much less competition out there. Today, PCMech has a lot of inertia behind it. When I started David Risley dot com, I knew that this was going to be a test of my chops. Click Here To Continue Reading »

Where Does Your Money Go?

This last weekend, I saw a post by Tyler Cruz where he talked about where his money goes. Like myself, Tyler makes his money online and his blog is an important component to that. Tyler also posts monthly income reports. I have done the same, and I reported that I made over $14K last month as a pro blogger.

For people who are trying to get to this point, you may get visions of big D (that’s me) lounging around in piles of cash. Well, let’s put that to rest. That ISN’T the case!

The old adage is “It takes money to make money” and it is indeed 100% true. And on top of that, I’ve got a family. So, if I make $12K – $15K per month, where does the money go? Click Here To Continue Reading »

What Am I Thankful For this Thanksgiving?

Today is Thanksgiving in the United States. People everywhere have the day off and we’re spending it with family and friends. Aside from eating turkey and then passing out in a food coma, the day is about being thankful for what we have.

So, I wanted to take a moment and publicly express what I am thankful for in my own life today:

1. I am thankful to be alive. Obviously.
2. I am thankful to be graced with the most beautiful little being, my daughter Elyana. Sure, she brings chaos and randomity to the lives of myself and Malika, but she is a joy. So cute. And such a gifted little being. I see in her eyes a joy and, in many ways, a wisdom about life that too many of us have forgotten as we’ve gotten older. Elyana gets it and it is my mission to ensure she can continue to have that spirit, to succeed and to pursue happiness as she sees fit. Yes, I love my little girl.
3. I am thankful for my bride, Malika. She and I come from polar opposite backgrounds, she being from Russia and a poor family and myself being from sunny Tampa with a large family. Like any husband and wife, we but heads sometimes. Malika, however, is the yin to my yang. As I’ve said before, if we could combine the two of us into a single person, we’d be the perfect person.
4. I am thankful for my parents. My parents are no longer married, but both are doing just fine and they did such a wonderful job raising my brother and I. Neither Bryan (my brother) nor I would have had the foundation to do what we do now were it not for them. It is a debt that can never be repaid, even though my father jokes that we’re repaying it now by raising my daughter and letting them just enjoy the cute parts.
5. I am thankful for my stuff. Yes, I’m lucky to be able to live in a nice house, with two cars in the garage, nice furniture. Every day, I sit down to a truly killer computer system, my Mac Pro. When I take off, I’m driving a car with GPS, leather seats, and all the amenities. I get to sit out on my back porch every so often and enjoy a nice cigar. You know, this ain’t bad! Sure, I work for it, but I’d be a total idiot not to be thankful for what I have.
6. I am thankful for the Internet and the geeks who created it. I mean, seriously, I have the best job in the world. I get to sit here, surf the Internet, help people all around the world, and actually make a living doing it. How awesome is that! And none of it would be possible were it not for the most wonderful invention ever to grace mankind – the Internet. The fact that I can sit there and generate money in this non-physical cloud called the Internet is truly something. No wonder so many people don’t understand how I make a living.
7. I am thankful to all of my customers and my readers. I put out a lot of content on the Internet, but it takes real people to come to my site and read what I have to say. So, thank YOU! You’ve given me the credibility that I have and it is YOU who pays my bills by visiting my sites and buying my products and services.

So, happy Thanksgiving. Don’t eat too much. If the global blogging rate dips tomorrow, you’ll know it is because the bloggers of the world are still emerging from our collective food comas.

Tampa Online Entrepreneurs – MeetUp With Me

In the spirit of being helpful and making new connections, I have decided to set up a new group on Meetup. I call it the Tampa Internet Business Mastermind.

If you’re in the Tampa Bay area, run an Internet business, and have made at least $1.00 on the Internet, then join the group and meet with me and everybody else in person for our first meeting in early December.

Some might be wondering what this word “mastermind” is. Here is a description I snagged from somewhere and threw onto the group’s About page:

It’s a recognized fact that when you have several people brainstorming and working on a project you get more breakthroughs and unique perspectives than you would if just one person were working on it. A mastermind group is simply a group of people bonded together to work on a common objective. This objective can be as simple as to share knowledge on what is or isn’t working to grow members’ businesses.

I am already a member of a smaller, private mastermind group in Tampa. It has been a really helpful experience being part of that smaller group, and I’ve been able to make friendships with a great bunch of success-minded guys.

The Meetup group has the capacity to grow to be pretty large. Mastermind groups are most helpful when they’re smaller and more private. So, my intention is to have this Meetup grow as large as it can and be a common meeting for all who are interested. Then, members can use the larger group to perhaps form smaller, more private mastermind groups around the Bay area.

As for my non-Tampa readers, I’m sorry that this is so localized. Since it is an in-person thing, it has to be. However, I encourage you to look in your local area and find a similar group. If there isn’t one, do as I have and set one up yourself.

Meetup does cost you a little bit of money when you want to organize your own group. On a month-to-month basis, it is $19/month. However, I used a coupon code and paid for 6 months and am paying $9.50/month. More than worth the small amount of money for the networking opportunities. There are other options as well, however Meetup is the best I’ve seen.