This is a collection of my internet marketing friends over the years from 2004 to present. These friendships are all part of my online business story and I’m thankful for each person I share here. This page will get updated every Thursday with new people to tell you about.
What is internet marketing?
Internet marketing encompasses the strategic utilization of online platforms and tools to promote products, services, or brands to a targeted audience. It involves a multifaceted approach, including content creation, search engine optimization (SEO), social media marketing, email campaigns and various forms of online advertising.
The goal of internet marketing is to engage with potential customers, drive traffic to websites or online stores, and ultimately, generate leads and conversions. By leveraging the vast reach and interactive nature of the internet, businesses can establish their presence, build relationships with their audience and achieve measurable results in terms of brand awareness, customer acquisition and revenue growth.
I hope you have fun getting to know them as it gives you a window into our little online world.
Back around 2003 I was standing in my kitchen one day and took a break from washing dishes. Sitting there on the counter was a local newspaper so I picked it up on my break.
I started reading a story about Alice Seba and how she was working online from home while staying home with her young children. I had 5 retail stores at the time and wanted freedom from feeling stuck in the malls. Little did I know the wonderful friendship we would grow together.
We had a membership site together called, “Auction Strategists” with Lynette Chandler in 2005 to share eBay strategies as I was an eBay machine lol.
Alice also had a group called, “Mom Masterminds” (oh how I miss those days) where she brought together other like minded women who wanted to work from home. The friendships that came out of that changed my life. So many of us came up together, helping one another build out our content sites, services and more. It was a special moment in time.
Alice gave me hope that I could have a full time income online and I wayyyy surpassed that. The moment my online business surpassed sales of my least performing retail store, I knew I was onto something big.
Today Alice helps people with their content marketing.
I met Armand Morin around 2004 at an internet marketing event in Vancouver, BC.
Over the past 25 years, he has built his Internet Marketing empire to the point that he is one of the most well-known Internet Marketers in the world today, teaching everyone from newbies to experts.
He leads the exact techniques and strategies he uses daily in his business. His thousands of students have also produced millions of dollars in online revenue.
Armand is an incredible person and it was a pleasure to meet him, it will be so awesome to meet up with again.
Armand is teaching over at ArmandMorin.com
Stu is a fellow Canadian who I met in Vancouver, BC in 2004 at an internet marketing event by Ray Edwards in Vancouver, BC. It was also the same spot I met up with Armand Morin and Alice Seba.
Stu is one of the happiest people that I know and it exudes into his online work. We once did a text interview together, I will need to dig that up to see where it is. 🙂
This picture feels like a lifetime ago however I don’t think Stu has aged much at all (lol).
Stu helps people launch, grow and scale a highly successful membership business and is also Co-Founder of Village Impact with his wife Amy McLaren.
I had to take my time on this week’s “Throwback Thursday IM Edition” (IM = Internet Marketing) because this week is *extra* special.
Mom Masterminds was a mentoring community of women who all had the goal to make money online to stay home with their kids.
Alice Seba, Kelly McCausey and Lynette Chandler all lead this amazing group of women back around 2004 by sharing what was already working for them.
As I reflect on my time spent with the women inside Mom Masterminds, I know this is the group who ignited my fire for internet marketing.
We all came up together in this internet marketing space before there were blogs, podcasts and social media. Back in those days we were pouring into each other’s lives, commenting on our friends blogs and working on our article marketing.
Wild.
We created content sites, membership sites, service sites and much more. I wish I had pictures with everyone but because of the nature of online friendships we are spread out around the world.
I remember our websites about parenting teenagers, scrapbooking, online business and more. I loved hearing about their daily lives and we all worked together to solve each others issues that kept us stuck moving forward in the “world wide web”.
Thanks to Lynette for teaching us all the technical back end of our websites and helping us all transition over to WordPress blogs and answering all of our questions about Amember lol.
Nicole Dean, Melissa Ingold, Nell Talercio, Christina Lemmey, Regina Baker, Patty Bonsera, Alyssa Avant, Chrissy Heron, Imie Belanger, Melody Thacker, Angela Wills, Marya Miller, Tishia Lee, Sharon McMillan, Diana Walker, Melody Thacker, Angela Wills, Arika Lewis, Lynn Terry, Tawnya Sutherland, Carol Owens, Kim Smith, Tracy Roberts, Susanne Myers, Glennette Goodbread, Stephanie Watson-Barry, Christine Holroyd, Mary Lutz, Stacie Mahoe, Laurie Ayers and so many more of us.
These women are true friends, we were once geeky Moms learning html and scripts with kids at home and now many of us are geeky Grandma’s… most all of us still doing this internet marketing thing.
Oh how I miss those days.
Rest in peace to Aurelia Twitty and Niki Jackson, you are both dearly missed.
Kelly, Alice, Lynette, thank you.
Making friends with Diana Walker, Alice Seba and Melody Thacker has been such a joy in my life. It’s amazing how deep connections can grow through shared interests and heartfelt chats, even if you’re miles apart.
We all met through the old phpbb forums to exchange perspectives and feel a real sense of support for one another.
The best part?
When you finally meet up in person, it’s like reuniting with a long-lost friend.
Those meetups are filled with laughter, warmth,and a special understanding that makes the transition from virtual to real-world friendship so incredibly rewarding.
I remember this day like yesterday, it’s the first time I met Diana Walker and Melody Thacker in person. I was working in one of my stores and skipped out to meet these ladies for lunch. I was so happy to finally meet people who were on the same online business path as myself.
I know if I lived anywhere near them, we’d definitely be meeting up on a regular basis… I love staying connected with them daily on Facebook.
I remember this night relaxing in the lounge, enjoying a red wine and talking internet marketing strategy with Diana Walker and Sylvie Fortin.
This beautiful fighter Sylvie Fortin to my right will always be remembered for her amazing strength and serious drive to live life on her own terms.
Sylvie owned “Workaholics 4 Hire” where she connected business owners and freelancers to work together. Rest in peace Sylvie, Lots of love and prayers to Sylvie Fortin’s family, friends and husband Michel Fortin.
And now for the hot babe to my right in her bold red blouse… Ms. Diana Walker.
Have you ever used Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar? Years ago Diana worked for and studied under Dr. Paul Bragg who also brought health food stores to North America and ultimately introduced wellness to the world.
Diana is a smart cookie who took the internet marketing strategies she learned and implemented them to share her love of health and wellness with Sunrider.
I love how each one of us did something a little different from blogs, to services, affiliate marketing, membership sites and more.
It’s so fun to go through these old photos.
I met blog entrepreneur Yaro Starak around 2006-ish when he was teaching about blogging within his membership.I’m not sure how we initially met however in the the nature of online business, I found his blog “Entrepreneurs Journey”and we’ve been connected ever since.
From what I remember, Yaro was selling Magic: The Gathering (TCG) online and during that time, I was selling the
expansions inside my stores as well as holding tournaments. So it intrigued me that he was in the online world of it all.
I ended up purchasing his blog Small Business Branding which had multiple authors in place, most of which submitted a weekly blog post. I loved that site but ended up selling it so I could focus on my family life.
Yaro has recently moved back to Vancouver BC and we are looking forward to getting together soon in White Rock which is one of his favourite spots.Alice and Tawnya will join us too. We all need to set it up.
Left to right: Ed Roach, Imie Belanger, Sharon McMillan, myself, Angela Wills and Sarah Zeldman.
We planned a meet up in Toronto and it was the first time I met all some other Mom Masterminds members for the first time in person plus Ed Roach who was a weekly writer on my site Small Business Branding. I’ll share more about Ed next week.
We had a wonderful lunch together that day and some great conversations “all things internet marketing”.
It was so fun connecting finally in person. I’m having a hard time remembering what year this was but I’m guessing it was around 2006.
Great memories in Toronto including having breakfast with Angela in which I gave her spicy ketchup without realizing it. The look of both of our faces was hilarious when we didn’t know what was going on lol. Whoopsies!
How fun was it to meet Rachel Marie Martin and Dan R Morris in person for their Blogging Concentrated Workshop. We explored the ins and outs of Rachel’s wildly successful Finding Joy blog.
Left to right: Ricky Shetty, Diana Walker, Alice Seba, Tawnya Sutherland, Dan Morris, myself, Rachel Martin.
I can’t tell you how much it fills my soul to “geek out” with such brilliant people.
So many good memories.