TylerCruz.com: An Internet Entrepreneur's JourneyThe journal of a web entrepreneur on his journey to wealth.

What I’ve Been Doing The Past Month

Sorry for the lack of posting.

And sorry if the title of this blog post led you to believe that I had some juicy secret to reveal, because I don’t. In fact, I’ve been doing nothing extraordinary at all. I’ve simply been working as usual.

So why the lack of posts then? Well, my priority has been to focus on my campaigns and e-mail, and by the time I tend to those things I don’t feel like writing a blog post. If you go back a few years, my priority was 100% on my blog, and so I’d have great post frequency and content, but then my other projects were neglected as a result. I have a really hard time balancing things, as you can see.

Anyhow, I thought I’d provide a breakdown as to what I’ve been doing the past month since it’s been while since I last posted.

Server & Tracking Issues

I started experiencing severe server and tracking issues in late October. My server loads kept skyrocketing and I was having trouble viewing reports in CPVLab.

I spent a lot of time and effort trying to resolve this and communicating back and forth with CPVLab support and my hosting provider, but the problems still continue. I’m still investigating into this, but I believe the signs simply point to my server not being able to handle the amount of traffic I have been sending to it this month – arguably the most traffic I’ve ever run.

… Which leads me to…

Mobile Campaigns

I’ve really been focusing on mobile lately. Apart from a couple of small attempts here and there in the past, I’ve basically only run mobile for around 6 weeks now, so I’m still a n00b and have a ton to learn.

However, things have been going well. You’ll find out just how well when I post my November income report, but I’m very happy with the results so far.

I had been pushing a fair bit of volume through my mobile campaigns though, which, when coupled with my existing web traffic, may have stressed my server enough to the issues mentioned above.

I paused my mobile campaigns a few days ago while I “regroup”, but hope to continue again soon.

E-Mail / Other Projects

Of course, I’m constantly dealing with e-mail and my other online projects.

I always have stuff going on the side, but have made a real effort to reduce side distractions. I’ve already sold off a good portion of my network of websites, and hope to sell the rest soon enough.

I’m also in the midst of researching, testing, and reviewing a bunch of cool services, tools, and websites which is always very time consuming.

Tiling & Home Projects

A big chunk of my time lately has been spent on various home improvement projects.

One year ago, when I still lived in my condo, I had absolutely zero handyman skills. The most I could do was change a light bulb.

Now, after a year of owning a house, I’ve already learned so much. I’m no Mike Holmes – I’m still mostly useless – but I’m far more confident in tackling new projects now and have already done a fair bit around the house such as drywall repairs, light fixture replacements, fixing the doorbell, fixing the gas fireplace, fixing the kitchen faucet, skunk removal and termite removal, etc. In addition,  if you are a pest/mosquito control and lawn care company looking to maximize profits, you might want to consider using FieldRoutes, a pest control software designed to be an end-to-end solution to help you grow your business.

Again, all simple things so far, but seriously, all I could do 1 year ago was change a light bulb.

Anyhow, my latest project has been adding a kitchen backsplash. While relatively easy in theory, I’ve been having a hell of a time despite studying and researching how to do it properly for a very long time online beforehand. After that, I’m also looking into replacing my countertops, which I’ve seen on sites like www.granitetransformations.com/location/granite-transformations-of-redding/.

It’s going a hell of a lot smoother now that I am 90% done setting the tile and bought a wet saw with a proper glass-cutting diamond blade, but I’ve already made countless mistakes . In fact, the worse part is at the very beginning – you can see the progression of skill as you look from left to right, as the very beginning is pretty horrible and where I am now is pretty good.

Anyhow, while professionals can do a kitchen backsplash in like 2 days, it’s been taking me forever since it’s my first tiling job and I also don’t want to spend all day working on it, so I’ve been allocating a bit of time each day to work on it. I hope to be done within 3-4 days by now, all grouted and caulked.

Okay, so why did I bother with doing this myself instead of hiring Home Depot to do it for $500 labour costs? I’ve definitely wasted FAR more than that in tools and my own labour hours.

The main reason is so that I’d know what is exactly involved: the skill required, time investment, tile and tool costs, etc. for when I purchase my rental properties. Apart from learning a new skill, I am now in a much better position for when/if I decide to outsource the labour in the future.

Real Estate

I’ve been continuing to chug along with my real estate.

I had been waiting for my Corporate Notice of Assessments from the Canadian Revenue Agency for a while in order to give to my mortgage broker, and finally received them last week.

I am now on the verge of getting an official preapproval, but there has been another setback. Basically, I’ve learned that virtually all lenders here require a personal guarantee for corporate real estate investments. This is something I am not willing to do… at least not unless the terms are extremely tame.

I am 99.9% certain that my business would not default on the loan, but I am very adamant about separating business from personal.

So, I basically have 4 options:

• Purchase a property with $200,000 in cash, which really limits my investment opportunities and will give me a low-end rental
• Find a private lender willing to lend without a personal guarantee
• Find a bank willing to lend without a personal guarantee, despite my broker telling me that this is not possible
• Agree to the personal guarantee but don’t allow them to take my house or bank account

Health Issues

For those who care, the past few days I’ve been having some health issues. 2-3 days ago, I woke up with a plugged ear which continued off and on since. While annoying, it wasn’t too disruptive. It’s also a great thing that online pharmacies, like the Canadian Pharmacy, have the necessary medications.

But then last night I started feeling really light-headed and dizzy, and this morning I woke up with a ringing in my right ear and still feel a little bit light-headed and dizzy. The ringing is still present as I write this.

I’m not sure what it’s from; when I use my wet saw I use ear protection (and eye protection and a mask), so I really hope it’s just temporary and will go away on its own soon.

Not feeling well really takes a toll on productivity!

Anyhow, there’s an overall update for you guys.

I think I’ll publish another affiliate marketing income report as my next post so that I can start to get a bit caught up with those again.