You might be a talented author, with a message as big and powerful as Mount Everest.

And you might have the best salesletter this side of the Mississippi – (or the Thames, or the Seine, or the Nile, or the Ganges, or the Yangtze).

But you don’t know what this business has in store for you until you get out there and start selling.

There’s always some unique experience lurking around the corner, waiting to either kick you butt, or put a few extra coins in your pocket.

Here are three little things that I discovered this year while selling my ebooks online.

They seem really insignificant. But in the day-to-day hustle, they can make a huge difference.

1) Gmail sometimes puts refund requests in the Spam box. (And oh what a pain the arse this is!)

I like using Gmail as a catchall e-mail address. It just makes life a lot easier. Especially when I’m traveling, and my Internet time is limited.

However, within the past few months, 3 of my refund requests ended up there. And I only caught 1. So the other 2 customers got kinda pissed at me because they thought I was ignoring them.

Now I watch that Spam box like a hawk. And I’m setting up a different system for handling customer issues for my next ebook.

2) Even if you don’t plan on using affiliates to promote your ebook, set up an affiliate management system anyway.

I’ve never been one to pursue affiliates because I like to know that I can promote my own stuff. It makes me feel very comfortable knowing that I can make it on my own.

But I did have a lot of affiliate assistance with Desperate Buyers Only.

And that was an equally awesome experience. Just one of my affiliates sold 250+ copies of DBO.

So I’ve decided that even though I do like to get my own hands dirty, I will always leave the door open to affiliate assistance.

(BTW, PayDotCom has been a great affiliate management system for me.)

3) Simplicity sells. We are barraged with a steady stream of information, commercials, and marketing messages. It never stops.

So there will always be a market for people like me who like to sell smaller, laser focused reports.

The more I sell, the more I know this to be true. Small is powerful – Hooray!

Live and learn and grow rich,

Alexis Dawes

Judging from all the public and private feedback I received after posting My Brain is a Non-Stop Workaholic I’ve realized that I’m not the only writer on earth who has a problem with idea overload.

There seems to be a silently suffering group of us.

I say ’suffering’ because even though it’s fantastic to be an idea person, this ability can also slow you down.

When your brain is constantly bubbling new business ideas, you have an extremely hard time focusing on the task at hand.

This idea looks hot… and this one will DEFINITELY pull in a quick million… and THIS one will have customers beating down my door… oh but wait, I should try this one because…

Your brain is constantly calculating the project and profit possibilities.

And if you give in to that constant inner dialogue, you’ll find yourself starting 50 different projects – and completing none.

Can I get an “Amen”?

I’ve coined a special name for these types of people. New Project Addicts.

Hi, my name is Alexis and I’m a New Project Addict.

Oh yes. Me. A New Project Addict to the 10th degree.

I love starting new projects. It’s a rush. I always feel like, “Whooo, I’m getting closer to that million dollar year!” But it was this rush that held me in a little tiny box for many years.

I just couldn’t focus all of my energy on the bullseye long enough to hit the damn thing. It was like knowing the winning lottery numbers, and not having the strength to go to the store and play them.

It was only in the past couple of years that I finally figured out a plan that worked for me.

I’ve been using that plan religiously. Religiously! And the difference is like night and day.

My income quickly reached the six figure range ($100K+). I still have time to spend with my family. And I’m no longer working until 2-3am every night.

I’m still generating ideas galore. I still get the same insane headrush whenever I start a new project.

But I’m processing my ideas much differently. And that’s how I’m able to keep my New Project Addiction under control.

Anyway, I promised that I would publish a free report for those of you who suffer with the same syndrome that I do. And I did.

First go check out my latest blog at New Project Addict.

Then pick up a copy of The Focus Plan.

(Just so you’ll know, you may freely redistribute The Focus Plan to your customers, subscribers, and site visitors.)

Focus your mind and grow rich,

Alexis Dawes

Two big things going on for me.

1) As many of my summertime readers remember, I dislocated my kneecap in June.

(That damn thing FINALLY healed well enough a few weeks ago so that I’m now walking without a brace.)

2) Within the next couple of months I’m going to be buying a shih tzu.

(Mothering instincts kicking into overdrive again – but the baby factory is closed on this side of town. So a dog it is.)

Okay so what do these two events have to do with one another?

They’re both life changing situations. Experiences that could be “ebook-ized” and sold.

Allow me to elaborate.

When I dislocated my kneecap, I had the hardest time finding really good information on the healing process. I mean there were a couple of good sites with exercises and stuff. But the landscape was bleak for the questions I had outside of exercises.

And trust me when I say I searched… and searched… and searched.

I mean I have like 20 books on the topic of research, so I know how to get my hands dirty when it comes to searching online. And still nada.

This is a beaming example of a niche just screaming to be exploited.

Hey, people who have dislocated their kneecaps are sitting on their arses ALL DAY LONG. Couple that with the fact that the Internet has made us a self-medicating society.

Talk about a captive audience!

I would have definitely paid for an ebook from someone who could explain why my knee felt like jello, how I would heal, what would happen while I was healing, how to walk up/down the stairs without having a heart attack, how to open a heavy door, etc.

But there was nothing. So I’m writing one.

It won’t make me rich. But it will survive a long, long time. And it absolutely matches topic profile from DBO.

Moving on to shih tzu’s. Another major life altering deal.

And my biggest concern (since I’ve never owned a dog, and he will be an inside dog) is potty training him.

I went and subscribed to an ahem ’supposed’ shih tzu membership site, because the salesletter led me to believe that they had some revolutionary information on potty training shih tzu’s.

The information they gave was generic for all dogs. Once you log in to the site, it’s obvious that they promote to all types of dog owners, not just shih tzu owners.

I feel cheated on one hand.

But enterprising on the next.

As a prospective shih tzu owner I want an e-book that is geared towards shih tzu owners ONLY. I want it to come from someone who owns a shih tzu or two or three.

Quite frankly I don’t care if advice for poodles or chinese cresteds also applies to shih tzu’s. I want to read it as it applies to me – the shih tzu owner.

So guess what?

When I get Maximillian I’m going to document all of our experiences. When he’s all potty trained, and he can sit, and play catch, I’ll have an e-book to sell.

I’m going to interview the breeder where I’m buying Maximillian from, and include that information as well. Perhaps even include some tips from other shih tzu owners (please e-mail me if you have one).

You see how brilliantly this concept works?

It’s a winner because it easily builds from your personal experience. You’re not searching for desperate buyer topics. You’re living them and writing about them.

So for all of my DBO readers who swear they’ve got nothing going on in their lives to write about – think again. Think again.

Write about your life events and grow rich,

Alexis Dawes