About
Hi! Are you here for pleasure or business?
My name is Rosalind Gardner and I’ve driven, flown, railed, cruised, bussed, walked, hiked and occasionally even run to places in North and South America, Asia, Africa and Europe — many times with my friend, Ed, who occasionally contributes to this blog.
I share my delight in this Beautiful Planet as well as my tips to help you plan your trips, get the best travel deals, and find terrific travel gear.
It helps to have immigrant parents who left their entire families behind in Europe. For me, that scenario entailed lots of travelling from an early age.
Although I don’t recall the trip, I was 18 months old in 1961 when my Mom and I went to Holland to introduce me to the family… and I’ve been on the go ever since.
For the longest time, I actually considered adopting “Wanderlust” as a middle name, because my family hadn’t given me one. They figured that with the surname of Ogrodowczyk, my name was long enough already. Ogrodowczyk is Polish for ‘gardener’. I adopted the shortened English version in 2000.
I retired at the ripe old age of 40 after spending 20 years in Canada’s aviation industry… the last 10 as an air traffic controller. (Gee, go figure that I became an air traffic controller!)
After leaving the workaday world, I re-invented myself as an author, speaker and consultant in the Internet marketing industry. I learned about affiliate marketing, wrote a book, blog about how to make money online, speak at conferences and write a column for Revenue magazine. Not only does it keep me in travel funds, it keeps me traveling. It’s all very, very good!
In the meantime, you might like to check out:
My Business Journey
Contrary to popular misconception, I wasn’t born an Internet or affiliate marketing ‘guru’. (I actually quite detest that term.)
Just like you (perhaps), I wanted to quit my job so I started looking for ways to replace my income and doing business online seemed like the best option. Other than desire, I had no skills other than surfing the web and sending & receiving personal email. Online business training was practically non-existent, so I did what you are doing — I learned step-by-step and day-by-day my business grew.
Here is a brief account of my Internet marketing journey from affiliate marketer, to author, publisher, speaker and Internet business consultant.
| June 1996 | Launched first website, a flower seed exchange. |
| January 1998 | While working full-time as an air traffic controller, started promoting online dating service memberships as an affiliate marketer through Sage-Hearts.com (now 101Date.com) (see screenshot below… and no, it didn’t look that good when it was first built. It was actually really, really ugly.)
Despite my lack of design skills however, and with no training, by the end of month 10, I was banking $5,000 US per month. |
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| April 2000 | By the end of 1999, I was netting $10,000 US per month, so I quit air traffic control to become a full-time Internet marketer in early 2000. |
| June 2001 | Took a month off to tour South America and bought my first Mercedes. It’s IMPORTANT to have goals. |
| December 2002 | Net earnings for the year totalled $436,797!! |
| April 2003 | Online business success story profiled in Internet Marketing Center’s Secrets to Their Success (STTS) which was later re-published in Small Business Opportunities magazine. |
| June 2003 | To get a handle on the information requests generated by the STTS interview and to teach others what I’d learned about affiliate marketing, I published “The Super Affiliate Handbook: How I Made $436,797 in One Year Selling Other People’s Stuff Online“. |
| July 2003 | Started a Telephone Consulting service for affiliates. Since then, the service has expanded to help affiliate program managers and online merchants grow their businesses. |
| October 2003 | My very first radio interview was with Marty Nemko on KALW, 91.7 FM, a National Public Radio affiliate in San Francisco. The story was covered in the San Francisco Chronicle’s “Work with Marty Nemko” column in November. Since then I’ve participated in 100′s of radio interviews, teleseminar and podcasts. |
| January 2004 | Success story published in the premier issue of Revenue Magazine (Article – 5 Who Thrive), the only glossy magazine related to affiliate marketing. |
| March 2004 | Overcame a huge fear of public speaking to speak at JV Summit. See below for a list of other conferences at which I’ve spoken. |
| April 2004 | Launched NetProfitsToday.com, a companion site and newsletter to the Super Affiliate Handbook, to keep SAH readers informed of industry changes. |
| June 2004 | I moved back to British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley to enjoy its fabulous scenery, weather and laid-back lifestyle. So much for laid back! I got busier than I’d ever been before! |
| October 2004 | Co-produced the audio course Affiliate Business Blueprint with Jim Edwards. |
| June 2005 | Accepted invitation to write the Affiliate’s Corner column for Revenue Magazine. |
| October 2006 | Co-produced the 6-week multi-media BlogClassroom course with Anik Singal of Affiliate Classroom. |
| July 2007 | McGraw-Hill published ‘Make a Fortune Promoting Other People’s Stuff Online‘, a book they requested I write on the subject of affiliate marketing. |
| January 2009 |  Profiled in FeedFront Magazine’s “Women of Affiliate Marketing” issue. FeedFront is the official magazine of the Affiliate Summit conference for affiliate marketers.
According the ‘Length of time in affiliate marketing’ section, I apparently AM the oldest female affiliate marketer on the planet. |
| March 2010 | Launched Affiliate Blogger PRO, the multi-media version of the Super Affiliate Handbook. |
| Now | Continue to maintain a number of affiliate sites and blogs including 101Date.com, Net Profits Today (an educational site for online marketers) and Roamsters.com, my personal travel blog.
Over the years, developed business interest in the following areas:
Continue to speak and moderate panels at many Internet and affiliate marketing conferences including:
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Although I limit my engagements to one or two presentations per year, if you are interested in having me speak at your event, please contact my assistant through our Support Desk.
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Doing business online has been (and still is) a blast. I’ve enjoyed much good fortune and had the pleasure of working with experts and luminaries throughout the industry.
Best of all, my business allows me the free time to frequently indulge my almost insatiable wanderlust.
Got wanderlust too? How about a deep-seated want to quit your job and start living your life to its fullest?
I can help you put your game plan together. Peruse the training and consulting services listed here, or visit my webmaster training blog at NetProfitsToday.
I’m always happy to help!
Cheers,
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