Oddly enough, I’ve started building small niche sites, of the type that worked way back in 2003. And guess what?

They still work.

After all the years of the fancy super-secret ninja blueprint money printers, the basics still work just fine.

It’s early days yet (earnings are just a few hundred per month) but I’ve got the proof of concept established. My biggest current roadblock is finding enough niches that pass my strict guidelines. It’s tough to build a biz when your job occupies 55 hours a week, but slowly and surely it’s building up from nothing.

Take care,
-Mike

nice to hear from you after all this time. I’m getting better all the time, though my knocked out immune system leaves me open to lots of colds, flu, chest infections, etc, and I end up in hospital being pumped full of antibiotics.

However, having said that, I’m going to get back to working again soon, though in a limited way. Seeing the only way I can keep going at the moment is to sleep a lot, I’ve got limited hours I can work. So, on the whole, I’m going to be staying away from niche marketing, and concentrate passing on my knowledge about this industry, content creation, running a home business, mindset, getting off your arse and doing something, etc. So going to start slowly by putting newsletters out again, followed by a book I’ve been thinking about for ages, and a number of other projects. It all really depends on what my body will allow me to do.

As for what parts of my business have thrived while I’ve been ill, the answer is not much When I was in hospital for weeks about 2 years ago when I first got ill, and then unable to even look at a computer for a month or so, I lost many of my most profitable domains when the auto renewal didn’t work because my credit card expired. I’ll detail it in my first newsletter for 2012 whenever that might be. Just weeks away perhaps? I’m not sure.

As for you, sorry to hear that your business collapsed in 2009. Must have been hard going back to working in a job. I wondered where you had vanished to. Hope that money is starting to roll in again from whatever online stuff you’re doing now.

phil

Welcome back! I remember reading about your illness, and hoping that you were ultimately able to come back, even if only to an extent. It’s so good to see you here.

I miss the old days when things were simpler, and the promises, while still overly grand, weren’t out and out lies. I built too much of my business for short-term gains, and everything collapsed in 2009, after doing this full-time for over 5 years.

I took a full time job and stepped completely away from IM for 2 years. I’ve just started back in over the past few months, and so much has changed. But the time away gave me a fresh perspective, and combined with all the experience gained over the years (much of it in the Affiliate Talk Forum!) I can separate more clearly than ever the wheat from the chaff.

If and when you are ever able, I’d sure love to hear about what parts of your business had thrived during your illness (as I’m assuming you weren’t able to touch any of it for well over a year) and what parts fell off without you being able to provide any maintenance.

Be well, think positive, and I hope time allows us to see more and more of you going forward.

-Mike
(One of your old forum moderators)

It sounds as if you have a good medical team around you – and that’s always a great comfort when you’re challenging their knowledge with something unusual.

Best wishes
Margaret

just thought I’d let you know I managed to watch the video without a hitch – as you say, it’s just like two old friends chatting. Brought back many memories. Thanks for that!

Maurice

many thanks for getting the video uploaded – much appreciated!

Yes I attended the very first get-together with Joe and Rob Puddy in the hotel on the motorway not far from Joe’s home in Wakefield. Unfortunately one of the very few times I was unable to attend (due to spending a few months here in sunny Spain) was when you were visiting the UK, and of course I missed meeting you.

We continued holding the meetings for some time in Wakefield but, due to pressure from other members, the meetings were moved over to the Rochdale area (I remember Joe not being happy about it!) where they continued until after Joe died.

When a further move nearer to Manchester was suggested last summer(although not sure whether it happened) I decided to leave as I live in a small market town called Yarm in the North-East and the travelling was becoming too much.

I seemed to lose a lot of interest in the group after Joe died – we had a lot in common as we were of similar backgrounds and ages. Joe called a spade ‘a spade’ and I respected him for that. As you say “He was a really lovely (and knowledgeable) bloke. So sad that he died.”

Anyway Phil thanks once again for taking the time to sort the video out. I hope your health continues to improve and I look forward to ‘seeing you in print’ sometime soon.

Best Wishes
Maurice

PS – I’m currently here in Spain for another few months and internet speeds can be slow here also – I’m hoping this doesn’t slow down the video too much but, I’m sure it will be worth it!

I’ve finally found the energy to sort the problem out, though it meant reuploading the file which took many hours on my incredibly slow wireless connection.

Was the mastermind group you went to the one in Lancashire (Rochdale?) or the one in Wakefield?

If it was the Wakefield one we might have met because I went to one of them when I was on a visit to the UK, and in fact I shot this video at Joe’s house straight after the group meeting.

He was a really lovely (and knowledgeable) bloke. So sad that he died.

phil

as one of the very first newsletters I signed up to after catching the IM bug (2000?) and buying your Mini Sites Profits (I think that was the title) product, yours is one of a very small list of IM newsletters I remain subscribed to.

However I’m ashamed to say that I didn’t realize that you were having health issues and It wasn’t until your last newsletter that I realised why you hadn’t been so prolific with your writings – I hope you are now on the road to recovery and all is well.

Whatever it was, today something spurred me to try and find your blog/website and I was a little taken aback when I saw the picture of Joe Robson.

Joe and I were both long-term members of a small master-mind group here in the UK during which time I got to know him quite well. His untimely passing left a void in our small group so, as you can imagine this brought many fond memories back of Joe.

I would particularly like to see the video you refer to in your post once you have the technical issue resolved. Maybe you would let me know when it’s sorted – in the mean time I hope things continue to improve for you and look forward once again to you getting back up to speed.

Best Wishes
Maurice

glad you came across me again Lots of people around the world are praying for me, but according to doctors a full recovery is not possible. It’s just something I’ve got to learn to live with and it will never completely go away. There might be a year or two or even longer, of remission, then wham. It can hit hard again. So I’ve just got to learn to live with it.

The thing that bothers me most about it is the travel ban. well ban isn’t strictly true, because no one could stop me. I’m just strongly advised not to because of the dangers of catching something on the long plane trip from Australian to the USA or Europe.

phil