Well, the best advice in life I ever got is in my sig, but the best advice specific to IM'ing that I ever got was back in the 1990's when a retired business owner I met at a SBA-SCORE meeting told me he wished he were young enough to be back in the game and take advantage of the Internet, because he said (I'm paraphrasing this a bit) "Web marketing is direct response marketing in its rawest possible form. Online, you and not the mailman, can hand deliver your offer and instantly see how the recipient responds. It's a gold mine for feedback to fortune."
Over the past 10+ years, I've never failed to make at-least some profits from any project where I remembered and applied that concept. It's only been when I get caught up in the silly stuff (to me, that's the time wasting stuff like worrying about SERPs, chasing shiny new techs, etc.) that I lost opportunities, time and money.
It's all about keeping it simple. Put an irresistable offer in front of people and make it clear and easy for them to accept. Learn from their reactions, and fine-tune from what you learn.
