I wrote the first Internet Income Course lesson in 2000, fourteen years prior to the time of writing this final lesson. When I wrote that first lesson, I lived in a different house in a different town and it was a much different world. At that time, the now pervasive World Wide Web was still in its formative stages and SFI was an exciting new participant in the bold new experiment.
What I consider to be the 'popular web' had been born in 1994. In 1992, Lynx, a text only browser, was released and I was using it. But, the web did not become attractive for public use until it added pictures in 1994. Shortly after, when sound was added, the public really began to take notice. Between then and now, all of our lives have been dramatically changed by the technology that evolved.
Personal computers have only been around since shortly before 1980. Having worked as a computer programmer in the mid 1970's, I had an extreme interest in personal computers when they became affordable to the general public. I began to network using my first personal computer not long after acquiring it, through Compuserve and by accessing certain library networks and then eventually the Internet itself. I am still amused to remember all of the harsh and disdainful things that were said to me in the mid 1990's when I first became an Internet evangelist. I was told repeatedly that the Internet was just a fad and it would not amount to anything. It would soon be gone and forgotten. So I was told.
Making the case for the usefulness and potential of the Internet was a large factor in much of what I said and wrote for almost two decades. You can see that factor in play in many of the lessons of this course. To borrow from an old and somewhat cruel sounding expression, that horse now is dead, though. I no longer need to beat him. No one now dares to challenge the potential of the Internet in all facets of our lives. (Yet, the old guys who used to mock me, now claim that I "made a lucky guess" and continue to be disdainful toward me...for such is their character.)
Because things have changed so dramatically over these years, it is time to retire the original Internet Income Course and turn our efforts to something new and more exciting. As I have hopefully demonstrated in the last section of this original course, many timeless principles were highlighted in this course and the course contains much lasting information, hopefully for years to come. I have requested that SFI archive the course in a manner so that it may continue to be referenced by affiliates until the new course has covered most of the same issues. But, the original course is now ninety lessons long and it often references examples that have long been obsolete. Time restraints in this busy world do not allow many readers the luxury of plowing through ninety lessons, much less the luxury of sorting out what is obsolete and what is still timely from those ninety lessons. It is time to start over fresh.
THE REVISED INTERNET INCOME COURSE
It is indeed time for a new course. And, I'm going to do a few things differently this time.
While I will still pound forcefully with my same heavy hammer on the same big picture, lasting principles; I plan to add a section to many of the lessons in the new course that allows for free discussion of what is happening at the time of the writing. My plan is to separate the lasting principles from the current events discussion so that one reading the lessons long after they are written may easily see what to read and what to skip over. In that way, I can avoid creating a heavy textbook experience, while still covering the important axioms of Internet Marketing in a thoughtful and informative fashion. I can also, hopefully, make the lessons more timely and exciting in this fashion.
The rate of change occurring in Internet Marketing is accelerating progressively. What previously took two years to change now changes in two months...or, in some cases, two weeks. Even some long-lasting observations turn out not to be permanent after all, but slowly erode as the character of the Internet changes. It is a fast ride that we must jump on...and hang on. We will not always have the luxury of standing back to leisurely view the big picture. In the majority of lessons, we will stand back and take a thoughtful look for a time, but then we will take a deep breath and jump on the ride, holding on for dear life. Like a bull rider in the rodeo, our goal will be to hang on until the buzzer sounds. In our case, the buzzer will represent at least a modicum of success in Internet Marketing. Soon, hopefully, we will be riding with confidence, skill, and grace--resulting in abundant success.
To those readers who have been with me for all ninety lessons, I want to thank you for your loyalty. We will take a moment of silent reflection for the last 14 years of shared experience.
For those long-time readers and also the newer...and even the brand new...affiliates, I look forward to sharing the new Revised Internet Income Course with you.
WHAT'S COMING NEXT
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