Handle and mount color may vary from sample pictured.

Okay, so you want a cheap way to promote your blog offline? Well, here I present to you a rubber stamp that can be custom-made with your blog URL. Get yourself an ink pad (I’ve got those too), and stamp away! Stamp your outgoing mail, stamp your notes, stamp your restaurant bill, whatever.

You’ll get about 1/2″ by up to 3″ handle-mount stamp, which should cover most URLs, for just $5.00, including shipping. United States orders only, please. Add $4.00 if you want an ink pad, in your choice of colors: Black, Red, Blue, Purple, Green, Orange, Brown or Hot Pink. Thirty-day money-back guarantee. Ohio residents will be charged appropriate sales tax.

Offer expires midnight EST tonight, so leave a comment or eMail me if you want one! Tell me what URL you want on it and I’ll send you a proof and checkout link.

Don’t miss out!

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You’ll notice I’m gone. Refresh the header if you don’t believe me.

I’m gone. That’s right gone. If you ever want to see me again, you’ll have to pay up.

You see, today is the last day of the month, and I’m trying to earn just a little bit more to push my earnings over to the next level. I’m just short of a nice numerical figure.

So, I’m holding myself hostage is what may be the lamest way ever to try to earn a little bit of extra money quickly online.

It is currently just a little after 5:00 p.m. EST. You have until the clock strikes midnight to pay ransom if you ever want to see me again.

Send $1.00 via PayPal and, if I get enough dough before midnight, I’ll be back. If not, you risk never ever seeing me again.

Oh, but you will get some value for your money. Everyone who sends a buck will be included in a special viral story! And, I’ll give you a link on my forthcoming new blog as well. Story (with a link) and a link on a second blog, plus you get to see me again. Maybe. The first two are a guarantee; the third depends upon how much dough comes in. That’s not a bad deal for $1.00.

Act now! The clock is ticking!

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John Chow Hit Hard by Recession

I had to do another entry in Michael Kwan’s Photoshop contest, which is running on Beyond the Rhetoric until the end of July, which is today. I was moved to action after seeing the “Dot Com Segway” video, where I noticed something familiar…

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No doubt, this question has plagued people for decades. Well, maybe one decade. Anyway, what did adults do for fun way back when? Well, they played games that today would seem rather lame. Then again, that might explain why older generations were able to do math without calculators.

Here’s an example adult game from Games for All Occasions published in 1909:

BUZZ

This is a very old game, but is always a very great favorite. The more the players, the greater the fun. The way to play it is as follows. The players sit in a circle and begin to count in turn, but when the number 7 or any number in which the figure 7 or any multiple of 7 is reached, they say “Buzz,” instead of whatever the number may be. As, for instance, supposing the players have counted up to 12, the next player will say “13,” the next “Buzz,” because 14 is a multiple of 7 (twice 7)–the next player would then say “15,” the next “16,” and the next would of course say “Buzz” because the figure 7 occurs in the number 17. If one of the players forgets to say “Buzz” at the proper time, he is out. The game then starts over again with the remaining players, and so it continues until there is but one person remaining. If great care is taken the numbers can be counted up to 70, which, according to the rules before mentioned, would of course be called Buzz. The numbers would then be carried on as Buzz 1, Buzz 2, &c., up to 79, but it is very seldom that this stage is reached.

Wow! Nothing like coming home after a hard day’s work and settling in for a great game of Buzz, eh?

No doubt, at some point, and I’m thinking right after Prohibition ended (heck, this may have been the catalyst for ending Prohibition), this probably is what mutated into the drinking game “Bizz Buzz.” I’m thinking that a few rounds of “Buzz” would be sufficient to drive the most alcohol-abstinent of people to drink.

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Here is a blog post I wrote back on December 8, 2004 for my previous blog. It was never published as I thought it too personal for the older blog. It’s been hiding away these past few years on my Newton eMate 300. Here it is today for your reading pleasure!

Of all the messages scrawled in my old school yearbooks, I can remember only one without opening the book. In the eighth grade, K.W. wrote in my yearbook, “You’re a nice guy, Dan. Don’t ever change.”

Change is inevitable, and not always for the better. In high school, I learned not to hold the door open for other students, because once you held the door open for someone, others would keep walking through with never so much as a “thank you.” You’d be stuck holding the door until the crowd thinned out–not good if you want to make it to class on time.

If you’re continually late to class, you’ll get a detention. On the other hand, being rude does not have the same consequence. But the reasonable course of action is not always the best one. It can take years to unlearn the bad things you learned in high school. Some people never do.

Change is inevitable, the question is whether we allow ourselves to change for the better or allow the world to change us for the worse. By making the reasonable choice, I allowed the world to change me for the worse.

In 1908, George Bernard Shaw wrote, “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

If we want to become better people, if we want to make the world a better place, sometimes we just need to be unreasonable.

After all, long after you’ve forgotten what document was signed at Runymede in 1215 or the phone number of the largest client at your first job, you’ll still remember the kind words of a neighbor, a co-worker or a classmate.

P.S. In case you’re wondering, it was the Magna Carta.

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Sometimes, I just take pictures of fluffy white clouds.

For more photos, visit Wordless Wednesday.

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No doubt by now many of you are familiar with PPC (Pay Per Click) and PPA (Pay Per Action, typically a sale). Programs such as Google AdSense will pay you when a valid user clicks an ad. Other programs, most commonly affiliate programs, will pay you only if someone makes a purchase. Then, you’ll get a percentage or sometimes just a flat fee.

You might be less familiar with PPL (Pay Per Lead) as it is perhaps the least common of the money-making programs that are available out there. Basically, some companies will pay you a referral fee for sending them a qualified prospect. The prospect doesn’t have to make a purchase for you to get paid.

Why would companies do this?

They will do it because lead generation can be time-consuming and expensive. They can send out mailings to reach prospects. They can make phone calls. Or, they can promote their website. There is, of course, a cost associated with those things.

Let’s say, for example, that they determine that the cost of obtaining a qualified lead is $3 per lead. They might be willing to pay you $2.50 to refer a qualified lead to them. It saves them money, and you get some extra money in your pocket.

Or, maybe they’ll be willing to give you the whole $3. After all, no matter how well they promote themselves, in all likelihood there will be gaps and, if you fill in those gaps with leads, they may be willing to pay you $3 per lead, same as their costs.

Of course, it really doesn’t matter how they determine how much to pay you; the bottom line is that they are willing to pay you!

You do need to send them qualified leads (and you’ll only get paid for qualified leads), and they will confirm those leads usually by asking prospects to fill out a short questionnaire. Now, why would someone go from your website, answer a bunch of questions by a third party, so that you get a couple bucks?

Free stuff. Free, and useful information that they can use.

It could be a special report or “white paper.” This will be a free report that a company will give to a qualified lead in the hopes of eventually converting them into a customer.

It may also be a free magazine subscription. There are tons of different business and trade magazines that are available completely free to qualified subscribers. These magazines make their money from advertising revenue, and they can usually command some good rates for ads because they are targeting a very specific audience. They aren’t going to give away a free magazine subscription to anyone that wants one; they are going to give those subscriptions to people that meet specific qualifications. And, those are the qualifications their advertisers are looking for.

So, how can you get in on this? The answer is RevResponse.com.

RevResponse.com gives you the opportunity to offer free content to your readers. And, they’ll pay you when a qualified prospect takes that offer!

You can have your own little portal like this or they have tools where you can create ad modules and other types of ads you can place on your website or blog. Something like this:

The easiest part is that you don’t have to push them to buy anything or “pre-sell” them on an eBook or any other type of merchandise. You only need to make them aware of the free information that may be available to them if they qualify. That’s good for those of you that maybe aren’t persuasive salespeople!

And, with the customization options available, you can customize the ad modules to show only free offers in those industries in which your readers work. For example, if your blog covers healthcare and most of your readers are in the healthcare industry, you can just show them offers in that field. Naturally, that will also increase your likelihood of making money! Your healthcare readers probably aren’t going to be interested in, or qualify for, content appealing to the construction industry, so no sense showing them those offers!

It also improves your website or blog, as it enhances the impression of your blog or website being an authority in your niche. They’ll know that if a new free magazine or a white paper of interest becomes available, they’ll be able to find it through you!

You really have nothing to lose, and potential income to gain, so, if you have readers that would be interested in the types of magazines and white papers available from RevResponse.com, it would certainly be to your benefit to check it out!

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Here’s a chance for you to win absolutely nothing but the respect and adoration of your fellow bloggers, if even that! It’s going to be absolutely fabulous!

As I mentioned last month, I made over $16 in June by blogging. And, by “over $16″ I mean $16.71. That’s gross, by the way. Not gross as in disgusting, though it is disgustingly low, but gross as in gross, you know? If we do actual profit, well, dealing with negative numbers is rather depressing, so we’ll just stick with numbers that are positive for now.

With July almost at an end, I’ll be doing a short report around the end of the week with my July gross earnings from blogging. So, how did I do in July? Did I do better or worse? Or about the same? Also, remember that Michael Kwan reviewed my blog at the beginning of the month and I have been making changes since then. Has that reaped any financial benefit yet?

So, take your guesses, and we’ll see who came closest come August. And, if your guess is right to the penny, wow, won’t that be amazing! You still won’t win anything, but I will be so in awe that that’s got to be worth something to you.

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As you may recall, Nina, a.k.a. SF Girl, tagged me with the “Seven Weird Things About Me” meme, which she caught from Mel. Here’s #1 and #2.

Weird Thing About Me #3

I can sew. I don’t think too many men sew these days, and it seems a dwindling number of women do as well. My maternal grandmother has two daughters, two granddaughters and one grandson, which would be me for those of you who are really bad at math. Guess which one knows how to sew?

Well, there you go. Stay tuned for Weird Thing About Me #4 who knows when?

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There you go. Did that title get your attention?

By the way, you do realize that Thursday’s post is still open for answers and link love, right?

Semi-Comfortable Chair

I finally have a semi-comfortable chair. I’ve mentioned this problem previously, that of having an uncomfortable chair, and I’ve finally done something about it.

Many moons ago, I bought some foam to fix an older chair whose foam had hardened and turned to powder. I also had a smaller chair to which I wanted to add a new seat. I was going to use the remnants of the foam that were left over to adding padding to the chair I use at home when working on the computer.

A couple weeks ago, I decided to cut out the foam for the smaller chair. And, I did. I’ve been meaning to do something about the other chair too, but the foam is at home and the chair is at the office, and never the twain do meet. So, today I decided that sitting more comfortably was more a priority than fixing the old chair that hasn’t been in use anyway. I figured if I didn’t have enough foam left, I could always buy some at a later time. I proceeded to cut the foam for my current chair. After the fact, I realized that had I cut it a little differently, I could have made it twice the thickness. But, single-ply seems to be okay. I need to make a proper cushion of some sort for it; for now, I just have it placed under the existing cushion. And, that will bring me to Weird Thing About Me #3, for which you will have to wait until tomorrow.

At any rate, I now have a semi-comfortable chair, though I am beginning to think 2-ply would have been better.

Weird Ways People are Finding This Blog

“cybernetic transposition” - Already on page 5 of Google for this term that I mentioned in a blog post on Friday.

“weird ebay sellers” - Currently on page 1 in Google for this term. Maybe one day Jay Leno will spot me and I’ll be on TV.

“alien civilization ‘look like’” - Currently on page 1 of Google for this too. Apparently, when NASA is researching what alien civilizations might look like, they come here. Should I be worried?

“Search pictures of men in his underwear” - Page 1 of Google for this too, currently.

“pictures of men in their underwear” - Page 1 of Google for this too. I’m sensing a trend here. If I knew whether these were men or women doing the searches, maybe I could better target the audience of people seeking pictures of men in their underwear. I’m sure it doesn’t compare to the numbers of people looking for naked women or pictures of Victoria’s Secret models in their underwear.

“to set up e-commerce site, LLC or corp” - Finally, something normal! Too bad I’m not in the top 30 pages of Google for this. Someone must have been really desperate for this information!

“photos of attractive moms in underwear” - And now we’re back to page 1. What is up with people these days?

“things to achieve before 25” - Well, that’s just depressing. Page 1 though.

“photographs of men in their underwear” - Page 1 again. Some people sure are persistent.

“pictures of men in whitie tighties” - Page 1 again. Am I missing out on a market here?

“Babeness definition” - Wow. Page 1 and, currently, #1. And, no, I haven’t forgotten about your link love…

“strange things on ebay auction 2008” - Page 1 again. Hi Mr. Leno!

“kids in underware free fotos” - This is just so wrong. And learn to spell, perv! Page 1, by the way.

“underwear to make a guy look female” - Page 1, #1. Maybe it’s part of a “How to Get Beat Up in Bars” course.

“making money with public domain” - Hey, I hit page 1 in blog searches for this one. Finally, something useful!

“chick stuff is creepy” - Page 2. What kind of search is this anyway?

“strange ebay auctions” - Page 1. You see, this is why Jay Leno is so successful. Does he give up after one search? Of course not. Now, David Letterman, he’d surely quit after two searches, but Jay puts in the extra effort and goes for three.

“swirly circle header” - Apparently, I was on page 6, but don’t know where I am now, as it’s not page 6! Oh I moved up to page 4. That’s nice.

Oh, and you do of course realize that I really have no idea if Jay Leno is doing those eBay searches. Just made for good conversation, you know?

Busy Work

You know, traffic is low on the weekends. I suppose that makes it okay to post boring posts. No one will read them anyway. They’ll just look for Monday’s new post. Maybe I should move Success Saturday to a weekday.

Anyway, this weekend, besides making a semi-comfortable chair, I have…

• Started a mailing list for The Thrifty Entrepreneur dot Com. You can sign up in yesterday’s “Start Yourself a Mailing List!” post.
• Launched a new one page site: Find Wholesale Products Now dot Com. Might add more content later on. Not sure. I’ll see how it goes with it as is.
• Added a new post to The Thrifty Entrepreneur dot Com: “Saving Money Down the Road with the Right Business Name.”
• Started a Squidoo lens: “Running a Business on a Shoestring Budget.”

The Power of Dreams?

What is it with dreams and their capacity to unearth feelings you didn’t even think you had anymore? I’m not talking about dreams as in goals, but dreams as in those flights of fancy that happen whilst you are sleeping in deep REM sleep. No need to discuss the dream–no one will care anyway–but I had it early last week and it got me reflecting on years gone by throughout the week.

You know, I was supposed to be running for President this year? Seriously. That was the plan back in high school. I was supposed to have been rich by the end of the last century and this would be the year I’d be running for President. Frankly, I think I would have been able to beat Obama.

Anyway, I’ve come up with some ideas for how to publish my stories, like “Darnella.” Well, actually old ideas, but I don’t think they would have worked as well before as they might now. But, no idea when I’ll have a chance to give that a go, as I have other priorities that need to be taken care of first.

Well, that’s about all for now. Back to work…

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