OK, so I do a lot of Pay Per Posts (over 200 to date). I like the extra dough. I've paid for braces, a lawyer and a bunch of other stuff with the money I've made from these paid posts.
The money's good, but I WANT MORE!! I want to go to Texas and attend the SXSW Conferences and Festivals. I want to hang out with Shoemoney, the blogger's guru and Ted Murphy of IZEA (the Pay Per Post folks) and be on the internet show RockStartup. Why do I want these things? Because it would be FUN!
Well, I may have found a way to do this. I can be a Shoeperstar and win Shoemoney's contest! I'll get plane fare to Austin, Texas, three nights hotel accommodation, and one thousand dollars spending cash if I win! Plus I get to be on the RockStartup show!
Why should I win? Because I make the best hot dogs and I actually use all the advice on blogs like Shoemoney to earn money blogging without writing about how to earn money blogging! And I do it without a single picture of cats to boot. I really am a blogging Shoeperstar!
Shoemoney is having a contest that I hope to win that will give me all this cool stuff. You can enter it HERE. But don't bother, I've got it wrapped up!
Hotdogman, Shoeperstar
This is Boston, NOT LA!!!
One of my college roommates was a hardcore punk. Does anyone remember hardcore punks? He was a good kid, I think he enjoyed shocking people more than anything else. I used to get a kick out of the hardcore clubs I'd sample occaisionally with him "back in the day." The whole scene was basically high energy. I kinda liked it.
I remember he had a record by some band from Boston that had a song with the lyrics:
"This is BOSTON, NOT LA!
This is BOSTON, F__ LA!"
I loved that one, especially since the Celtics had a HUGE rivalry with the Lakers-this was the Bird/ Parrish/ McHale days.
We hated LA then.
LA aint bad though, albeit a bit on the superficial side. My brother has a buddy who is a Hollywood Producer. We goof on him all the time when he's around-"Hey Hollywood, too cool for this party or what." I was merciless with this guy at my brother's wedding a few years ago. I have visited LA a few times and have "done the scene" back in the day. In the eighties there was no way I was Going Home Alone after an evening of Hollywood parties and night clubbing.
The LA scene was NOT like my roomie's hardcore punk scene, but it was equally entertaining!
My philosophy has always been: the party doesn't begin until I say so!
Livin' in the Two
Will you live in the two? The top two percent of income earners that is. Well, will you? If you want to find out about how self improvement can help you be one of those top two percent of income, then go to Live In the Two dot com and take their test. I did.
I found out what I already know because I am a highly enlightened Hotdogman. I am disciplined, I have a passion for my work, I don't fear risk, I am an eternal optimist (I like to think of myself as a pragmatic optimist), and I have good interpersonal skills. I already knew this about myself, but it's nice to reaffirm things for yourself sometimes. Having these traits doesn't guarantee you'll be amongst the top two percent of income earners, but if you think this way it is more likely you will be.
I guess folks who focus on self improvement will always be striving to be better at what they do. Most people who are good at what they do are well paid and the more well paid you are, the more likely you'll be a big earner, perhaps you'll even "live in the two!"
I have applied these principles to my hot dog truck, as I have in my former sales career. While the hot dog truck isn't as lucrative as some of my past endeavors, I am passionate about my dogs and I make the best damn dogs in my area. That has earned me a steady regular clientele and has in turn increased my business (and my income)!
Why not take the test for yourself and see if you have what it takes to "live in the two."
Salle de Bain
The title means "bathroom" in French. Our bathrooms are in serious need of a makeover. They're both decorated in an early 1970's distressed style. The upstairs bath has brown and cream tile with a gold trimmed, white laminate vanity. The downstairs one features more cream tile and a vanity made from leftover cabinets and counter tops from the (formerly) ugly kitchen. The bathrooms may be this year's "winter project."
We'll need new bathroom fixtures in both rooms. Not to mention new tile and new vanities. We've started shopping (online of course) for tile,and bathroom fixtures are the next on the list.
Post it Notes Online
In my never ending quest to never have to step into a retail store again, I can now buy office supplies online. So when I need business envelopes or printer cartridges, instead of schlepping off to a "big box" office supplies store where the staff is apathetic and ignorant, I can point and click.
When you buy a lot of things online, instead of dealing with retail morons who wouldn't know how to change a twenty, you get to know the local FedEx and UPS guys very well. These guys (and gals) are usually a lot more pleasant and easier to deal with. Discount online office supplies are the way to go.
Settle Up
When you overspend or get caught in financial difficulty due to job loss, debts can pile up pretty fast. Debt Settlement Experts can be very helpful. DebtSettlement.com is a site filled with articles by Debt Settlement Experts which can help you get a handle mounting debt and steer you towards people who can help you get out of debt.
Good Luck!
Flying Ambulances
You hate to see a helicopter on the highway after a bad accident. It usually means some one's being transported to the hospital and they're hurt pretty bad. It's such an ominous site, it makes you be thankful you're only stuck in traffic watching. People also need helicopter ambulances when they are being rushed off somewhere for surgery.
Aerocare air ambulance service is one of the companies that provides helicopter ambulance service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year all over the world. They are one of the best at what they do, but I hope I never need them!
SEO is the Way to Go
I have managed to make this site a Google page rank 4 in a very short amount of time. Webmastering is a hobby for me, but I'm starting to think of it as a viable occupation, at least a part time one. I have learned a lot about SEO in the past 6 months and have this site "above the fold" on the first Google and Yahoo search pages for phrases I want to be keyed to.
One way to get good search engine placement is through text links for phrases you want to be searched for. Google "hot dog truck" and you'll find this site. Link popularity for certain phrases helps build your search rank and makes it more likely you'll be found when people search the phrases you've built text links for. Link popularity is also a big factor in whether or not you are found high in the search engine placement.
I utilized everything I could with search engine optimization to get my page ranked higher. If I had the budget (which I don't) I'd definitely use a search engine optimization company. Using a search engine optimization company might also be a good way to go for people who don't have the time to do their own SEO.
SubmitaWebsite.com is a search engine optimization company
that can help you build massive amounts of text links so your search engine placement is higher.
I plan on selling some things online in the future and doing good SEO for my sites will be priority number ONE. If the income justifies outsourcing to a search engine optimization company, I'll gladly spend the dough!
Ski Utah
Utah has awesome skiing. Before I became a decrepit old bastard, I used to tear up the slopes in the winter. I've skied all over New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. I've also been to Vail and Utah.
Utah has the BEST skiing! Alta, Big and Little Cottonwood Canyon, Snowmass, Deer Valley, Park City; I skied them all back in the day. You can stay there for a week and ski a different mountain every day! The snow is deep, plentiful and FINE and the terrain is magnificent. All you need to do is grab some Park City lodging, bring a bunch of dough for lift tickets and GO! I can't imagine a better place for a winter ski vacation. Good digs are important when skiing and I always liked to be able to roll out of bed and hit the slopes. Lift side lodging in Park City is the way to go.
Ski Utah this winter!
Win a Vacation!
I am a sucker for contests and this is a good one! WeNeedaVacation.com, the folks who bring you your Nantucket vacation rentals, are having a CONTEST!
They want photos that "capture the spirit of vacation" and the winner will get $1000 for their next vacation booked through the site!
To find out more about the contest, click HERE.
Answer Me!
As a Hot Dog Truck operator, I don't have much need for a telephone answering service.
Back in the days of selling stuff, a telephone answering service helped give me the appearance of being a bigger company than I was. There are answering services, like 1-800 We Answer Answering Service, that answer the phone for you, provide you with a mailing address, do telemarketing and more. It's like having your own office and sales support staff at your disposal. They'll even design and install your business phone system for you!
So if you want to give your business a professional edge and not subject people who call you to "voice mail hell," get a telephone answering service.
They're not just for Doctors you know!
Referral Rehab Services
It seems as if there are a lot of places you can turn to if you need drug rehab services. The choices and sorting through them all could probably drive you to drink!
If you or someone you love needs drug rehab, 4rehabilitation.com is a good starting point. They'll help you find the right drug rehab program for whatever kind of addiction may be affecting you, your family member or friend. They break down drug rehab centers by which addictions they specialize in, age population and cost. The site is a good way to educate yourself on the ins and outs of drug rehab as well.
Check out 4rehabilitation.com today.
Teens on Drugs
Kids on drugs are just sad. They're often either confused or unloved and they turn to drugs as an escape. Most parents don't have the skills to cope with a teen on drugs.
Back in the day, a little weed was as rough as it got for most teens I knew. Nowadays kids get hooked on hard prescription drugs and all sorts of nasty stuff. A little weed seems tame!
So if a parent is struggling with a teen who needs drug rehab, where do they turn?
If they have the dough, Teen Rehab ECHO MALIBU is one place they can turn. They treat the WHOLE CHILD-not just the drug issue- in a caring and nurturing environment that empowers the teen into thinking for and helping them self.
I hope I never need to send my kids to Teen Rehab ECHO MALIBU.
Don't Pass on the Remote
Some people can't bear to be away from their PC's for too long. If you need remote access to your home or work PC from remote corners of the globe, you have a multitude of solutions available to you.
This is a good thing if you do a lot of traveling. You can gain remote access to all your data over any internet connection.
I used a remote access solution when I travelled to Australia a few years ago. I was still originating mortgages and I was easily able to keep track of my loans and communicate with my office and customers.
Try RemotePC for a good remote access solution for the next time you're "out of the office" for a length of time. Their prices are so good, you might decide you don't want to live without it!
Can you get me there?
I live in the burbs of Boston. I know where anything is inside of route 495. I know how to get to most places in the state and in New England in general. I feel pretty comfortable getting in the car and finding my way.
Even travelling state to state is pretty easy. Find the major interstate and GO!
But you need travel directions once you get off the interstate to get where you are going. Depending on what city you are in, you might also want detailed subway maps or live traffic updates.
There is a new travel map site that gives you all this and more! If you're looking for free driving directions, road maps, city maps and traffic updates, then check out PublicRoutes.Com.
For instance: if you were travelling to Seattle and needed a Seattle map, you could get it in a couple of clicks!
