Once I hit rock bottom in the mess I found a winning lottery ticket worth $2 (I know) and $1.20 which immediately into the change jar that Q has started.

I still have a Kleenex box full of personal receipts to file away somewhere, but I think I’ll just put these downstairs by the business receipts in case something is in there that shouldn’t be; I don’t want to be caught off-guard. Once this is done I should be ready to dust and get down to business with an uncluttered desk. Then I’ll be ready to get running with my next project of the weekend; going through the feeds which I subscribe to.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I was just doing a little research for my Andrew Johnston Squidoo Lens when I came across this article from My Park Magazine. They are making odds on who will win Britain’s Got Talent, if Amanda Holden will cry when Andrew sings during the final, and if he will have a number one single this year. Does society need to put odds on everything? When will it stop?

Do I think the government needs to step in on something like this, NO? I don’t believe in government regulation. I think the bookies should take a look inside and really take a look at what they are putting odds on. Will it happen? I know the answer is no. There is a reason that these people are bookies and not book store owners. They don’t care who gets hurt when they are trying to make a living for themselves.

I hope Andrew Johnston doesn’t realize that there are odds out there on him; imagine the kids at school then if he doesn’t win. I can hear it already “My mom can’t afford to buy me new shoes anymore because she put our life savings on you to make Amanda Holden cry and you didn’t” and then a big fat pow in the face.

If the people that bet on this type of thing would just stop, the bookies would possibly stop wasting their time with odds on this type of thing, until then, I guess I have my blog to rant on.

Am I off base here?

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.