Down On Our Luck

Obviously, if you are trying to make money online then you need to keep up on the latest tips, tricks, and trends, but when does it all become just too much? I have been going through a major case of information overload which has really hampered my productivity. There are so many ways to make money online and get your name out on the web that a person could easily spend a year, 365 days at 24/7, reading about them. The problem is, if all of my precious time is spent reading and then I’m not doing; if I’m not doing then I get nowhere. Getting nowhere is frustrating and then a self destructive cycle worsens spirals downwards and goes out of control. Information overload is standing in the way of my success and the buck is stopping here.

This weekend, my RSS inbox will be cleaned up and I’ll need to consider which feeds are valuable and worth my time. Relaxation is important also, so the two feeds that I subscribe to for entertainment will not be going away; everything else is fair game. Once that is done I’m sure reading my feeds will definitely be a productive time for me instead of a daunting task.

Cleaning and organizing my desk is next on the list. Walking up to this mess and thinking I’m going to get anything done is just crazy. All I see if a stack of reminders of unfinished business and things to get done. Not a great way be productive. Someone I know once said, “A clean desk is a sign of a crazy mind”, which I believe is true and knowing myself, the desk will never be spotless. On the other hand, there is definitely a problem with going to far to the other extreme, which is what this is.

Feel free to share your ideas.

As if I don’t already have enough to do, I started a new blog this weekend and came up with an EXCELLENT business idea yesterday.

The blog I started was originally just going to be a directory for my Squidoo Lenses, but I didn’t have the patience to learn how to use Word Press as a Content Management System. It’s on my list of things to do, just not near the top. For now it’s a blog & even though I’m not an expert, I think blogging about my Squidoo experiences will definitely help me get there. Since I’ve made it into a blog, I’ll also be featuring many other Squidoo lenses as well; it won’t be all about me! (How boring)

I will touch on my other business idea as soon as everything is up and running. I love this particular idea because it’s fresh, original, Q loves it, and Q has already offered to help me out on the sales portion. Finally, a business that he can understand and participate in. Stay tuned for more information.

It has been a long time since I’ve written a blog post here at Down On Our Luck because I’ve had to devote my attention to things more profitable than this blog. Here’s my obligatory apology: “I’m Sorry”. I’ve decided that this blog will become a tool as part of my business as opposed to a business all in itself. Trying to stay on a regular posting schedule just won’t work for me. I’ll make sure to post more often, but I can’t tell you when and where. If you found me at one point through Entrecard, then you’ll have noticed that I am not the dropper that I used to be. Once again, I was devoting too much time to dropping and not enough time on the things that make me money to reach my goal.

Since my last post, I’ve decided to really focus on things that make money. I think the fact that I have a steady job has been more of a hindrance than a benefit when it comes to building my online business. There’s always that crutch that I can fall back on right now which isn’t really working for me when it comes to motivation. I haven’t done anything drastic, but I have been focusing on tools and things that bring in money.

Of course, I’ve been working on spreading the word about Big Crumbs. June 2008 has been the best ever when it comes to earning referrals for myself. So far, in June I have referred 12 people with 6 more days to go; my best month ever. My referral income for May was only $11.65, but it’s still $11.65 that I didn’t have to jump through hoops to earn. June is definitely looking up as I’m at $15.62 as of today. I have a long way to go for 1,000,000 direct referrals as I’m only at 91 right now, but if you’d like to help me out, feel free to stop by and sign up. Not only will you be helping me, but yourself as well.

Tomorrow or the next day, I’ll post about some of the new Squidoo lenses I have built over the last month. I’ve been trying some new techniques to bring more offerings to my shopping lenses. It’s taking more time for me, but I think they will pay off in the long run.

Ok, so I’m not rich from Big Crumbs yet, but I steadily get paid $12 - $25 every month. Not bad for writing a couple of blog posts and buying an ad or two on some key websites. Here is the referral breakdown for my April 2008 earnings:

If you have been following these posts, I hope you can see the potential here for some easy, passive, supplemental income for your eBay business or any other online business you may run.

I find it funny that the number one search that brings people to my Cash Back Squidoo Page is “Big Crumbs Scam”. I hope the visitor finds the page helpful enough to convince them that Big Crumbs is not a scam. It does sound too good to be true, but they really do pay and they pay when they say they do.

Watch my blog for details on a contest that I’ll be running for Big Crumbs real soon. It won’t take a ton of work to enter and I hope it will be fun for entrants as well as myself.

On April 2nd, I wrote about updating your eBay affiliate links to the new eBay Partner Network format. I will admit that even though I was aware of the deadline of April 30th to get my links updated, I was not very diligent in getting this project done. I was extremely happy this morning when I logged in to the Partner Network to update 5 more campaign ID’s and saw a post on the blog stating that the deadline has been extended to May 31st to get the affiliate links updated. This is when their contract with CJ ends, so be sure to update your links early to make sure you get paid what you have earned. Any sales from CJ links will not be credited after May 31st, even if the click through occurred before the deadline.

For the most part, I use eBay links on my Squidoo lenses such as the one I built for Nintendo DS Skins. This type of lens is very successful for me when it comes to making money. Before now, I didn’t know which lenses were making the most money for me because I was using one campaign ID for Squidoo, but now that I am having to go through the work of updating my RSS feeds anyways I am setting up a new campaign ID for every lens that I use eBay links on. I know I could receive the same results by adding a custom ID to my searches, but that would create an extra step needed by having to download my results to Microsoft Excel to see where I’ve made the most money.

If you’ve been visiting my site for a while, you know that I am a big supporter of Big Crumbs and it’s one of the very few referral programs that I participate in. Now that it’s the 5th of April, I can be 99% confident that all of the March earnings are up to date and post about my results this month.

It’s not quite as good as February and no where near January, but it’s still extra money in my pocket. I think part of the drop could be due to the economy, but I still wish Big Crumbs would email it’s members a reminder to shop every 2 months. I think this would be unintrusive but yet enough to keep members coming back. This is about the same time-span that Ebates uses for reminding their customers as well.

My direct referrals have jumped by 10 this month so I’m now at 67 and starting to realize that 1,000,000 directs may be pushing the goal, but I’ll keep trying. I’ll be looking at smaller goals along the way as well so here’s to 100 in two months.

Feel free to let me know what you think.