I read somewhere that somewhere in the world a new blog is started every second. Do we really have any idea how many blog posts are made every day?

I think there is probably conflicting statistics about blogging anyway. However there is one thing that I really do not understand and that is why do people start blogs and abandon them so quickly?

There certainly is a trend towards social networking today. Twitter for example is micro blogging.

These are short blog posts of 140 characters or less known as tweets. You can’t do a lot with them yet there was so much action when Michael Jackson died it brought the Twitter system down.

Facebook has millions of members and is an extremely active social networking site. It almost becomes the focal point of some people’s lives because they take it too seriously.

Back to the question about blogging however and that is why are blogs started and dropped so quickly? One possible answer is not everyone is on the computer all the time. It does take a little bit of effort to login to your blog and post an article of a couple hundred words.

Some people start a blog with the idea that they are going to turn it into an Internet business. When they find out how much work that is they decide to stop it.

Some people are busy! They may not even be aware that they can get content for their blogs by hiring a blog writer. They also may not be aware of how to keep their blog up to date with various content feeds.

Certainly if you are going to start a blog you need to take the time to keep adding fresh content to it. This is especially true if you’re trying to make money with your blog. Search engines love fresh content and so do your readers.

I know when some people look at how good their competitors blogs are it discourages them. If you want to be noticed you need to take advantage of the many social media tools available now to make a blog very exciting.

Certainly videos add a lot to a blog. Many bloggers are not aware they can go to You Tube and use the videos there on their own blog. They think they need to create their own videos and that seems like an overwhelming task so they don’t even try to do it.

So for whatever reason people start and stop blogs and this has happened right now as I have been writing this article. Hopefully you will stay committed to your blog and get out of it what you started it for.

Hello Ladies and anyone else who reads this. Tonight I bring you something for the ages. Yes, that’s right. I bring you…
THE FIST LAYS THE SMACKDOWN!
It would be in 3-D, but let’s face it. I simply do not have that in my budget. I do, however, have “Rough Translation Technology” for all of us. So, without further adieu, let’s get this party started!
We begin tonight, the first SmackDown after The Bash with CM Punk. He just wants to tell people what happened at The Bash in case you were too cheap to pay for it.
“Hello, I am a man of lies Honor. I didn’t win the match, but I also didn’t mean to kick Jeff Hardy the referee. I’m not the kinda guy to break the rules, but Jeff is a big meanie doody head! I’ll give you a rematch when you apologize for being a big jerk!”
This is when Teddy Long comes out. Teddy explains that “Woah. You’ll fight Jeff again at Night Of Champions. Isn’t that great? Oh, it gets better. You’re going to have to work with him tonight as you face Chris Jericho and Edge in a tag match! How you like dat playa?”
Cue the music for one, very scorned, Jeff Hardy. Jeff exclaims he’s tired of excuses, and wants everyone to know that “Punk is a little cheater!” Punk fires back with, “Woah! No! Don’t hurt me! We have to work together tonight! Oh, Jeff and to all the kids watching, don’t do drugs. Seriously. It’s bad. Also don’t hurt me. I’m a frail champion.”
MATCH #1
RICKY ORTIZ (Uh, who?) VS. FINLAY
Not every match has to have a great deal of meaning. This is clearly a rivalry that spans generations. The Ortiz clan of the upper-east side of Ireland battles against the Finlay clan from Belfast. Ok, one of those places was made up I think… Wait.. did they just hand Ricky Ortiz a microphone? Oh no.
“Hey baby. Don’t worry about your short little friend. You’re here facing the next WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Random Jobber! So cheer up little guy. I’ll go easy on you to break you in.”
Finlay apparently found his family rivalry more important that smiles, so he slaps Ricky and the match gets underway. A Rolling Hills into a dropping butt first body attack gets a two count. Ortiz fires back for a bit before Finlay counters with the Celtic Cross. 1,2,3.
Winner – Finlay
Match Rating 1.7/5
Well, to be honest, this was merely an Introduction to SmackDown from Finlay. It didn’t need to be a high caliber match.
We find Dolph Ziggler backstage doing what I can ONLY hope is psudeo-Yoga poses. (Otherwise, it was really inappropriate.) When he’s approached by Maria, he “Mans Up” a bit, and introduces himself. She asks if he’s preparing for his match, and he can only reply with “Well, of course! Being focused is the only way I win.”
Of course, this is when I had to spit my Dr. Pepper out due to overwhelming laughter. I got another drink and continued.
A little awkward conversation later, and we discovered that, apparently, they “did something fun” the night previous. They agree to go out again, and Dolph’s parting comment is (And this will not be paraphrased.) “I think I might get lucky.”
So, when I returned from the bathroom after throwing up for a few minutes, I regret eating all that food from the past two weeks. Moving on!
MATCH #2
DOLPH ZIGGLER VS. R-TRUTH
Before the match, they recap what happened at The Bash (You can read my other report for that info… Nah, that’s not a shameless self-promotion… It’s helpful! >_>)
The match starts with Ziggler kneeing R-Truth to the stomach and asking him “What’s Up”. R-Truth counters with some fairly impressive acrobatics and finishes it off with a leaping roundhouse kick to Ziggler’s head. A hip toss (Really?) for a pin attempt (Double Really?) gets a 1 count.(Ok, that makes sense.) Ziggler returns the favor with an inverted body slam. Ziggler continues with a series of elbow drops and a moment to straighten his hair. R-Truth comes after him just to get a Guillotine with the top rope as Ziggler jumps down. Ziggler leaps in with a reverse facebuster (Yeah, it hit the back of his head instead.). 1 2 3.
Winner – Dolph Ziggler
Match Rating 2.3/5
I’m personally curious what they plan on doing with Dolph. Why push him now? *shakes her head and sighs*
PSUEDO FIGHT #3
FINLAY VS. BATISTA
The show skips to the past and shows a match between Batista and Finlay back from 2006. Finlay has control of most of the match it submissions and a few stikes. Khali walks down to the ring as Champion (Really? I should do more research) to harass Batista with his mere presence. Finlay attacks, gets countered into a spinning sidewalk slam. Khali steps in to interfere. Batista goes after him, counters Khali’s vice grip submission, and that’s where the clip ends.
Match Rating – 2.6/5
Would have been better had it been current, and they not just cut in and out of it and played clips.
And it’s time for another edition of Cryme Tyme’s Word Up. This week’s word is Wangsta. While they describe it’s meaning, they decide to show us by becoming stalkers tour guides. After checking out girls, making fun of an Asian cowboy, the Wangsta comes to them. It’s a poor white guy who thinks he’s got street cred. Needless to say, he does not. Cryme Time, instead of hitting him with a chair, just cut to the next match.
MATCH #4
REY MYSTERIO VS. KANE
NON TITLE MATCH
Mysterio looks like he’s going to get away unscathed for about ten seconds before Kane fires back with a huge clothesline, flattening our little champion. Mysterio counters a running clothesline with a drop toe hold, knocking Kane to the second rope. 619 attempt countered by a chokeslam attempt that Mysterio drops out of. Kane simply chooses to throw him into the corner instead. Commercial Break.
We come back to see Kane still dominating with a huge boot to Rey’s face. Kane keeps the pressure on Rey, concentrating on his back. A backbreaker-like submission hold, and Rey kicks Kane in the face to get a bit of a breather. Kane charges after Rey, but another drop toe hold slams Kane’s face into the top turnbuckle. Rey fires back and goes for the top rope, only to be countered by a Kane punch in mid air. Kane goes for a chokeslam, countered by a dropkick into the 619. Kane counters the pin attempt with a chokeslam. 1,2,3 for Kane.
Winner – Kane
Match Rating – 2.3/5
The standard David Vs. Goliath match. Kane won though, so… it’s not an exact analog.
Khali comes out to defend Rey armed with a steel chair. (You can find out why by reading my The Bash article. Nope, still not shameless enough) Kane flees through the crowd like a tiny girl would a monster under her bed. Khali does not give chase.
Chris Jericho is happy about Rey getting owned by Kane. He’s going to claim his rematch on Rey NEXT WEEK! Edge enters and talks about how easy it will be to crush two disjointed fools with all their hopes and dreams. So, for those of you watching at home, it goes like this…
Jericho : “We’re awesome!”
Edge : “I know, right! We’re so freaking awesome!”
Jericho : “Seriously Awesome!”
Edge & Jericho : “We’re totally gonna win! Yay us!”
MATCH #5
THE HART DYNASTY (With Natalya) VS. CRYME TYME
JTG starts this match off with a series of hits leading into a facebuster to Kidd from the turnbuckle. Kidd in the ring puts JTG into a couple of surfboard stretches while screaming a lot. (I hear that increases their power… Give it a try. It works!) JTG makes the hot tag and Shad comes in and cleans house. Shad goes for the pin, and Kidd breaks it up. As the ref ushers Kidd out of the ring JTG catches Smith with a top rope guillotine and Shad hits a reverse Russian leg sweep. 1,2,3.
Winner – CRYME TYME
Match Rating – 2.1/5
Another “let’s show off the new SmachDown talent” match. Not too shabby, but not amazing either.
The Raw rebound shows what happened on Raw? Wanna see what happened? Check out our Raw Article up and available for viewing! (Ok, that one was pretty shameless, even if it wasn’t self-promoting.)
MATCH #6
MICHELLE McCOOL AND LAYLA VS. MELINA AND MARIA
Melina and Layla start the match off, with Layla striking Melina to the head. Melina fires back and roughs up Layla for a bit before tagging in Maria. Maria lays out some punishment before one of her kicks is caught. Layla counters with a kick to the other leg, knocking Maria into the splits and makes the tag. Maria tosses McCool out of a leg submission, and gets the hot tag to Melina, who lands a few strikes before McCool gets out of the way and tags in Layla. Melina knocks McCool down, and lands her finisher to get the pinfall on Layla.
Winner – Melina and Maria
Match Rating – 1.8/5
I’ve seen worse women’s matches, but I’m still yet to truly be impressed. I fear I never will be.
Morrison and Teddy long are backstage talking about both Michael Jackson and how Morrison beat CM Punk last week. He wants to get a shot at the title after Night Of Champions. They break into MJ’s lyrics and Morrison twists them into gems like “Thriller! It was a Thriller how I beat Punk!” Nothing is made clear, but the seeds have been sown.
MATCH #7
EDGE AND CHRIS JERICHO VS. JEFF HARDY AND CM PUNK
Edge and Punk start us off, after the announcers regale us about the WGN Superstars match that took place between Edge and Punk where Punk forfeited due to that eye injury. Punk gets a slight advantage and tags in Jeff Hardy. Hardy roughs up Edge some more before tagging Punk back in. Edge knocks Punk over and tags in Jericho. Hardy tags back in and hits a leg drop from the turnbuckle for a two count. Punk and Hardy clean out the ring, and take a moment to stare each other down as we go into a commercial.
Hardy is in the ring against Edge, who has the advantage. Hardy fires back with a few attacks, and goes for the tag, but Punk is holding his eye, unwilling to tag. Hardy goes for the pin and it gets kicked out. Hardy makes a mad dash for the corner, but Punk is at the wrong corner holding his eye. Hardy lands a few hits before pulling a Whisper In The Wind out on Jericho. Jericho tags out before Hardy can get up. Edge stops Hardy’s tag, and receives a Twist Of Fate for his troubles. Hardy slaps Punk to tag him in. Punk goes for the GTS, but it’s countered by Edge. Jericho tags in and lays out some pain. Both men collided with dual clotheslines knocking each down. As Punk makes his way to get a tag, Hardy flaunts a new eye injury and flails to the ground in fake pain, leaving Punk in the ring alone. He tries a GTS, but Edge tags in Jericho. Edge lands a spear and gets the 1,2,3.
Winner – Edge and Chris Jericho
Match Rating – 2.8/5
Not a shabby fight, but the Jeff Hardy eye injury flailing was CLASSIC. I seriously laughed almost as hard as when Dolph said he wins with focus.

Clothing from days gone by

It may not be news to anyone that fashion from a previous era finds favor with a new generation periodically. Some say that the fashion cycle is every seven years, but a younger generation always seems to find something hip in the fashion from twenty or thirty years ago. While parents are rarely considered ‘hip,’ somehow the clothes they used to wear are hip on their own.

A recent article in the New York Times spoke about the dilemma faced by owners of vintage clothing stores, trying to predict which era would be the next trendy decade. Apparently, the ‘80’s are looking like the generation of choice this fashion season. The article goes on to say that this was the era of flamboyance and a time when people liked to ‘indulge in excess.’ This was when Michael Jackson came out with the Thriller music video.

Baby and Toddler Clothes find favor with the past

No one should be surprised with the popularity of trendy, previous-era clothing then, that kids clothing and even baby clothing finds its inspiration in era’s –gone-by. As parents age and lose the ability to don trendy clothing from thirty years ago, they can take solace in the fact that their babies, toddlers and preschoolers can still be hip.

Kids and babies can be dressed up in any retro clothing and they get immediate attention because adults find happiness in the combination of a cute kid and memories of good times in their past. Adults are bound by the annual ‘era-decision;’ young kids and babies can wear it all.

Nineties chic

Some sources see the grunge look of the nineties as making a reappearance. The just-rolled-out-of-bed look should not be much of a stretch for toddlers and preschoolers. At the very least, the Thriller look or the grunge look would make for some unique Baby and toddler gifts.

In addition to the nineties, there are some hints at fashion inspired by the sixties, with boat necked dresses and puffy-necked dresses for little girls. Muted autumn colors and retro prints round out the look. Another eighties-inspired fashion look that is reappearing is earmuffs. The fuzzy variety will be a big hit with little girls this fashion season.

What’s old is new again

One of the current fashion trends is to take vintage looking clothes and layer them. The shirts can include different patterns and tees with graphics can be included. A good example of a tee-shirt with a graphic is one featuring a rock motif. This is timeless fashion and continues to be a trendy item this season. The rock look extends to the shoes also.

The bow and lace princess look is still popular with little girls. This is a look that survives from one fashion season to the next. Pink and white and pastels are the favorite colors. Also, the same plaid that was popular a few decades back is very in this year too.

Hats are a practical fashion accessory for toddlers and a fleece or wool hat will be right in style this winter season. Warm hats make sense and have survived many fashion decades.

There is a very powerful shift that is taking place in the direct marketing world.  A shift that will have a powerful and profound effect on your home based franchise, but only if you apply it correctly AND only if you actually take the action to apply it.

I think that you would agree that whether you are marketing your home based franchise on line or off; your potential customers are carrying with them the “Three S Epidemic.”  They are either scared, they are scarred or they are skeptical.  Maybe they are all three.  The bottom line is that the average consumer is becoming more and more resistant to the sales message.

Let’s go back in history a bit to illustrate this point.  I remember in the 80’s, and yes I am dating myself a bit, that when a store was having a 25% discount…that was a huge deal and at times we stood in line to get the bargains. 

Slowly, as the 25% off appeal wore off, it went up to 30%, 50% and now it is not uncommon to see a 70% discount, and if you use their store credit card you save an additional 15%.   But as the promotions get juicer and better for the consumer, we are also turning the cheek because we are thinking the next big reduction is coming around next week.

Take a look at another industry… the automobile industry.  These guys are certainly hurting these days, aren’t they?  I don’t know about you, but there are constant parties with free food, the promise of free TV’s, weekend getaways, cash for clunkers and of course a terrific rock bottom deal if you purchase a car that day at the dealerships where I live. 

In fact, my dad who plays the saxophone professionally is asked several times a year by one local dealership to come in and play so they can hopefully draw in the crowds to their showroom.  It’s interesting, I asked him after his latest gig how the turnout was.  What he told me was with each event; the crowds are getting less and less…The offers are just not big enough anymore to get the masses out to look, much less buy.

So what IS working these days in marketing for your home based franchise?  It’s what I have been doing for years in sales and marketing and it’s called Soft Marketing. 

Soft Marketing is when you don’t even realize you are being marketed and sold to.  To illustrate this point, consider Coca-Cola or almost any brand of popular soft drink.  Where are the Michael Jackson’s and the flashy dances of yesteryear that promoted and sold these products?  You don’t seem them because that is not the soft wave of marketing.  For a while Coke’s marketing share was being slowly eaten away by Pepsi and other popular soft drinks.  They realized that they needed to change their way of advertising.  Coke has made the transition brilliantly and now they soft market by having their products displayed during highly viewed television shows such as American Idol.  The judges have their cups showing the Coca-Cola label and that is the advertisement.  Icons are recommending the product without one spoken word…soft sell.  Think about the movies that we watch with name brand products being used by popular movie stars…soft sell.

One of my favorite commercials these days are the E-Trade commercials.  That baby is brilliant.  Yes, E-Trade is mentioned, but aren’t you more interested about the kid testing out his vocal pipes? 

 What about many Internet and home based franchise marketers today?  They are offering value to their prospective customers.  Free training, free on-line seminars, free education courses and eBooks.  All of this is not necessarily for their altruistic way of life…it is in hopes that once the customer/potential customer starts to like and trust them…that they will actually go on to purchase their product or service and you are then their customer…you now have been sold something probably without really realizing it.  Let’s look at this soft marketing concept for your home based franchise in a bit more detail.

1.  You are becoming the expert at what you do.  Trust and credibility are two of the most important ways to succeed in any business. I cannot stress the importance of becoming the expert and the leader that people are looking for today.

One of the areas of soft marketing that I always suggest to my clients and team members is article writing.  You are providing people value in your area of expertise.  You are NOT writing about your product or service.  You write an article in hopes of helping and educating potential customers.  They start to trust you and follow you as a leader and eventually they take a further look at what your home based franchise and your offer actually is.

I did this all of the time in medical sales.  I created newsletters pertinent to my specialty and once a month these newsletters would go out to my customers and potential customers.  There might be tips on running a medical office.  There might be a study that I came across that they might not have had the time to see.  I have even put studies in my newsletters that were actually published by my surgeons and prospective customers.  You get the point.  I was creating additional value, building the trust and credibility…something that very few sales people do.

2.  Give away free reports, eBooks and courses on the topic of your product or service.  The philosophy is to educate your customer first and market to them second.  To see this soft marketing approach in action…go to my website at and then go to my Recommended Resources.  There you will find at least 4 powerful examples of soft marketing by Perry Marshall, Mike Dillard and Ali Brown.  All resources that I use, but also resources that have free courses attached to each and every one of them.  They are providing you with value and education first and then the marketing afterwards

An example that I have recently read about is a well known realtor that offers a free report called “10 Ways To Get Top Dollar For Your Home.”  It reveals tips on what is valuable and what is not when getting your home ready for sale.  With this report, he is now the expert in the potential seller’s mind.  Who do you think that seller will go to when they are ready to sell their home?  What is an interesting twist to the story is that this realtor has been using the same report for over ten years.  It has been estimated that this report has generated about 1.6 MILLION in profits.  Are you ready to write your free report now?

3.  Partner with a related, but non-competing business.  Here is an example that my family used when we owned several restaurants that might get you thinking about how you can incorporate this great soft marketing technique to either your on-line home based franchise or off-line business.

A progressive beauty salon has partnered with our neighboring restaurant.  The salon, upon check out, would present a gift certificate to our restaurant for either a free drink or a free appetizer to their customer.  Now the beauty (no pun really intended!) of this marketing technique is two-fold…  The customer thought the salon was giving this gift certificate for free.  The salon is getting the benefit of the customer feeling gratitude and added value and that customer will more than likely be a repeat customer time and time again, creating not only more traffic for the salon, but more traffic for our restaurant.   The reality of this marketing technique is that the salon did not purchase that gift certificate…it was paid for by our restaurant.  What our restaurant was banking on that by coming in for a free drink or appetizer, this customer will also bring at least one additional paying customer with them.  We were also banking on that they will not only have a drink or appetizer, but they will go on to have a full meal, and finally we were banking on repeat business.  I can tell you first hand; this soft marketing technique has been profitable for my family since its inception

If you have a home based franchise, the same technique can easily be incorporated into your business plan.  All that is needed is a bit of imagination and finding a similar but non-competing company who might be willing to step outside of the box a bit in marketing.

Put these marketing techniques into your business plan.  More importantly take action on them.  The results will show you that as home based franchise owner you can ride, thrive and be incredibly profitable during this Perfect Storm in what others are considering as nasty violent Nor’easter. 

Let’s get started…

There are many advantages to using social network sites, one of them is to build a list. This is one of the best Internet Marketing tips out there. Using Networking Sites to build loyal followers who want to look at what you have to give them. What I call “ecommerce free”

1) EASE OF USE – Free, fast, fun and a great way to keep in touch prospect. You can easily sign up for free allowing you to upload a profile picture and start customizing your page; even upload your recent holiday snaps.

2) NETWORKING – Perfect for building links, launching your viral advertising or getting bloggers to your products whilst building relationships that will last. Its always about networks! Linking Mr Smith to Mr Blogs and then back to you, a busy network of interlinked relationships.

3) WORLD-WIDE – The chance to be connected to anyone in any country and at the click of a button makes it a powerful tool. Just imagine being on holiday abroad whilst your list of networked relationships become driven traffic to whatever link, website or product you want. (definitely ecommerce free!)

4) BLOGGING – The minute a blog or post is uploaded then it will spread ASAP, remember when Michael Jackson passed away? I was awoken by my smart phone buzzing away at me because I had so many friends updating their profiles online! information spreading like wild fire all around the globe.

5) LINKS – You can always post or “tweet” a link to any site or article you want. A silly video on Youtube or a satirical comment on a forum, links are always a great way to get people to view what you want and as a marketer great to get “back links” to your article for higher Google ranks.

In order to understand Social Media Marketing we need a definition for “Social Media” and “Social Networking”. To it put simply, Social Media is user generated content on the Internet. You may have come across the term web2.0 during the recent months. Social Media and Social Networking are web2.0. In the early days (well, actually only a few years ago) websites were quite static and passive. There was not much interaction going on as they were mostly corporate brochures converted to online use. The only way to participate was to send an emails or forms to the owners or webmaster of the website and hope they’d get back to you. That was called web1.0.Today Social Media refers to a particular collection of websites whose content is primarily written and published by their users and not owners or employees of the site. For example most videos you see on YouTube are uploaded or published by regular people like you and me; not by YouTube employees or staff. Nearly all articles published on Wikipedia are written or edited by people who are not connected to Wikipedia in any way. Instead of normal corporate websites which are created by the companies, the contents on Social Media websites are created by their users and readers; you and me.Social Media is people exchanging personal comments and views using various online platforms such as blogs and micro blogs, chat rooms, social networks and bookmarks, bulletin boards, photo and video sharing sites and virtual worlds.Here are just a few of these Social Media platforms:

According to Wikipedia “Social Media Marketing” also known as “Social Influence Marketing” is the act of using social influencers, social media platforms and online communities for marketing, publication relations and customer service. To put it in more simple terms, Social Media Marketing (SMM) or Social Media Advertising (SMA) is a special area of marketing that uses Internet’s social platforms in order to deliver commercial messages to potential consumers.Social Media Marketing is a collection of methods and operations for generating commercial publicity through social media websites and online communities. Social Media Advertising is planning and executing advertising campaigns on those platforms. Social Media Marketing and Social Media Advertising have become the hottest topics in current global commercial environment. The reasoning behind this action is simple: The advertisers have to go where their clients hang out. And today their client’s hang out on web2.0 Social Media websites.

That was the easy part.The hard part is to execute and manage the form of advertising or communication on these social platforms. If you go in with the usual ‘full on, in your face’ advertising message you would normallyd use on traditional media, such as magazines, radio and TV, you’re almost certain to be out cast quickly. Direct commercial messages are often considered as spam and you will find yourself black listed in no time.Here are some interesting and some what disturbing facts about Social Media as a marketing and advertising vehicle:

If you are in marketing or advertising there is no way you can avoid Social Media Advertising anymore. It is simply a must for modern time companies to participate in. If you are an entrepreneur or a business owner you need to put together a Social Media Marketing Plan for your business. In your Social Media Plan you must include a collection of web2.0 components, mostly websites and blogs that are closely related to your business.

In these past 30 years in the Travel Industry, I have done just about everything there is to do. I have been a Travel Agent for many Celebrities like Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Kool and The Gang etc. I have built Travel Agencies, I have owned and managed them. I have trained countless Travel agents, Independent Travel Agents etc. I am not trying to impress you but rather to make you aware that I have an in-depth knowledge of how a Travel Agency operates and makes money.

You have to understand that a Travel Agent is an agent of the Airline. Therefore, the agency is governed by the rules and regulation of the Airlines (IATA). They set the rules on the fares and the restrictions. Having said that, they also give some agencies, that produce revenues for them, a special privilege. They might give them special fares (cheaper), maybe with less restrictions. They might give them special waivers to waive the penalties for cancellation or change fees. They might give them free airline tickets and hotel accommodations etc.

There are many such perks. The agencies use these to make money. For example, You bought a non-refundable ticket for $2000.00 to Europe and had to cancel for some reason. You have lost that $2000.00. However, what the agency does is that they use that waiver that the airline has given them, and tell you that they can save you about $500.00 if you want to book another date. You, of course, are thankful to them and rebook, paying another $1500.00. What the agency does is that they actually pocket this money ($1500.00) because they have used the waiver and they do not owe the airline any cancellation penalty!

This is just one of countless secrets that you should know. I will show you how you can save money on airfares, hotels, how you can get free upgrades etc. I recently came upon an incredible article, quite by accident, and I was absolutely amazed at the revelations. Having been in the industry for 30 years, I can tell you that this article is incredible! It will show you how to Fly First class without paying for it and countless other ‘Perks’ that the Travel Agent gets, you simply must read this. I thoroughly recommend it. You will learn and enjoy every minute of it. I have provided a link for you.

Do Not Travel without reading this! Here is my invitation to you – http://www.squidoo.com/travelagentresources.