The Confessions of Miss Melinda

My Personal & Professional Goals for 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Mindi) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 02:38:00 +0000

2009 is finally upon us! I'm so excited to get the new year started and have made so many goals for myself. I've never before written down the goals that I have for the year. In fact, I've never made yearly goals before so I'm looking forward to this. I'm hoping having my goals posted here on my blog will help to motivate me even more to meet and exceed these goals I have set.

Write 222 new eHow articles. Why 222? 2's are my favorite number and 200 just didn't sound like enough. Haha
Continue getting my niche sites online for all of the domains I have purchased in the last 6 months. I must thank Amy and her Niche Blogger program. I have learned, and continue to learn so much from the information she provides.
Lose the last 10 pounds of my pregnancy weight - it's being incredibly stubborn. I've decided to do the Hydroxycut Challenge this year.
Plan my July wedding without being a Bridezilla! I'm doing great thus far. :)

As I think of more things that I want to accomplish, I will continue to add them right here on this post.

Post #100, Exciting Adsense News & Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Mindi) — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 16:38:00 +0000

First of all....Happy New Year everyone! I'm so glad this year is an odd number, I hate even numbers. I'm weird like that. Plus, I'm getting married this summer and I have so many plans and goals in place for the upcoming year, I can't wait to get started on everything. Wedding projects are keeping me really busy so I'm hoping to have a good balance of that and my work-at-home projects, plus running after my 4 kids! Wish me luck.

Also, this is my 100th blog post for The Confessions of Miss Melinda! I honestly never thought I would make it to 100 but here I am! Since I'm learning all I can about what I can do from home to make money, I promise to have even more posts this year.

Another bit 'o news is that I just checked my Google Adsense account and I made $5.35 yesterday! My highest day prior to that was under $1.00. I'm hoping to reach their minimum payout within the coming weeks. That would be a dream come true. LOL!

I hope you all have a great 2009!

The Niche Blogger Program - Free 3 Day Trial

noreply@blogger.com (Mindi) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 02:57:00 +0000

I can't believe Christmas is only 1 week away. This year has just FLOWN by way too fast. I have all my shopping done and I only have a few gifts left that need wrapping. Man does it feel good to be about done with all that!

Other than getting ready for the holidays, I've been busy at eHow (up to 151 articles!) and creating new niche blogs thanks to the 3 day trial I received for The Niche Blogger program. Amy is freakin' awesome. I have learned so much after having only gone through my first day of the free trial. Since yesterday, I have created 2 brand new niche blogs and I transferred my fitness blog over to the Wordpress platform from Blogger and I couldn't be more thrilled! I love blogger too, but I feel more comfortable knowing that I have paid hosting.

Anyway, if you're interested, I have a link here for you to try out Amy's FREE 3 day trial of her Niche Blogger program. She goes through setting up a niche blog step-by-step and it's incredibly easy to follow and you get a peek at the forums where you can read the success stories of her paid members. :)

eHow Earnings Update!

noreply@blogger.com (Mindi) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 20:23:00 +0000

Welcome to December! A new month means an eHow earnings update! First I just have to say that I can't believe Christmas is just 21 days away already. Time is going by way too fast!

I added a total of 43 articles in the month of November and my earnings ended up being $125.51! You can see my October earnings here.

I went from making $0.80 my first month to 125.51 for this last month! My earnings have been skyrocketing ever since I started contributing articles after reading Maria's eBook. So again, I have Maria O'brien to thank for writing, "How to Earn Passive Income at eHow.com: Residual Income for Web Content Writers". If you are interested in making money on eHow, this book will give you the steps you need to take to be a successful writer. Just because you throw up an article, does not mean you will make any money off of it. You can read her ebook in about 15 minutes and you'll be amazed at how easy it is to maximize your earnings on eHow. You just have to know HOW to do it and Maria lays out every step for you!

Happy Thanksgiving!

noreply@blogger.com (Mindi) — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 00:31:00 +0000

I just wanted to wish everybody a Happy Thanksgiving!

May you all fill your tummies with wonderful food and sit around with family watching some football! I know that's what I'm gonna do! =]

Bukisa!

noreply@blogger.com (Mindi) — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 22:45:00 +0000

I have recently been made aware of another website where you can submit content and make money! :) It's Bukisa. Don't you like the sound of that? It makes me think of the movie "The Lion King" when one of the hyenas kept saying "Mufasa!".

I really love the layout of their site. It's crisp, clean, bright and easy to navigate. I have only added 1 piece of content so far, but I'm already making a few cents with it so the website seems pretty promising. I've talked to other WAHMS who have started adding content as well and are noticing their earnings go up and up and up.

Bukisa also has a referral program, so you not only earn money on your articles, but you can earn money from the articles of people that you refer! If you are interested in joining, feel free to sign up under me. :)

Sick of Being Sick!

noreply@blogger.com (Mindi) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:22:00 +0000

Well, the title says it all. I think I've been sick for a little over 4 weeks now. Maybe even longer. I think I'm finally starting to feel better though. I have had zero energy for the longest time and it's so hard to get things done. I haven't even been able to energize myself enough to work on my DIY wedding projects until this past weekend.

How has everyone else been doing with their wah jobs?

I have been regularly adding articles to eHow and I've been trying to do ChaCha too, but it's been painfully slow as of late. Is anyone else having this experience? It seems people are either getting queries B2B or 1 every 3-5 minutes. Whatever is causing that...I'm hoping it gets fixed soon. I love ChaCha!

eHow Earnings: October 2008 =) =) =)

noreply@blogger.com (Mindi) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 19:49:00 +0000

Just another eHow earnings update and motivational blog post for all of you eHow-ers out there! :)

For the month of September, my total eHow earnings were $29.09, which was the highest payout for me since I started writing for eHow in late June of this year. My previous eHow earnings blog post can be found here.

But...after adding a few more articles during the past 30 days, my eHow earnings for October jumped up to $86.03!

See proof:

I think I'll be using the earnings I make from these couple of months to purchase Christmas gifts! I had no idea my earnings would jump up that much. So what now? I must keep on writing "How to's" for eHow!

Quality Eyeglasses for less than $9!

noreply@blogger.com (Mindi) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:06:00 +0000

Being able to see is pretty important. I'm sure I don't have to tell you that but I must state the obvious sometimes because in times like these, having enough money to purchase a quality pair of eyeglasses may not be so easy, especially if you take a trip to your local eyeglass specialist. With Zenni Optical, you could probably afford to buy yourself a spare pair of glasses too!

My kids are still very young and their vision is still perfect. I'm so jealous. But I do know that if there comes a time where one or more of my children need eyeglasses, I would buy them at Zenni for sure. They are receiving rave reviews from the pricing of their glasses to their customer service.

Plus if you're a fan of shopping online, like myself, they charge a flat rate of $4.95 for shipping, no matter how many pairs of eyeglasses you buy. Being that gas prices have been skyrocketing, a lot of merchants have been raising their shipping prices as well, which is understandable but sucks at the same time. With all of the online shopping I do, I think $4.95 is a great deal for shipping!

If you still aren't convinced, read this newspaper article!

My Weekly Goals: Week of 10.27.09

noreply@blogger.com (Mindi) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 01:06:00 +0000

It's that time again...time to compile my weekly list of things to-do!

Here's what I would love to get done this week:

My paper is scheduled to be delivered tomorrow for my pocketfold invites, so I hope to complete a mock-up this week. (I'll post a picture when it's complete!)
Bid on at least 5 jobs at Rent-A-Coder. I haven't been on there in awhile. Shame on me.
Write up at least 5 articles on eHow. I'm up to 79 articles now. Woohoo! :)
Complete 5 articles for Demand Studios.
Stay sane. (We have all of 4 of our kids this week!)
Which reminds me...we have all of their costumes, but this week we need to find time to carve 6 pumpkins. Yes...6 of them! (I'll be sure to post pictures of those too!)

Have a great week everyone!

Need Debt Consolidation?

noreply@blogger.com (Mindi) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 21:49:00 +0000

Debt consolidation is a high priority for a lot of consumers these days. With food and gas prices skyrocketing, it can be easy to get behind on all of your other expenses. I have actually been considering some debt consolidation myself and I think I'll start looking into it sooner rather than later.

Obtaining debt loans may not be one of your priorities, but if you consolidate all of your debts into one loan, you'll have just one payment instead of managing several payments and you could be debt free in as little as 12-30 months. Plus you could shave off more than 50% of your current balances, avoid bankruptcy all together and best of all, there is no credit check. :)

Just $5 Can Jumpstart Your Lingerie Business!

noreply@blogger.com (Mindi) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 16:26:00 +0000

The holidays are right around the corner and now is the best time to start a lingerie business!

You will have time to get all the holiday sales as well as the Valentine's holiday sales which are typically the biggest selling times for lingerie and other intimate apparel.

I have an extensive lingerie contact list made up of wholesalers of sheer lingerie, plus-size lingerie, sexy costumes, footwear, corsets and more. A lot of these places even offer dropshipping services which is excellent for any type of ecommerce setup you might have, whether it be eBay or your own webstore.

The compilation I have to offer will give you 48 different wholesalers and manufacturers of lingerie, footwear, costumes and adult items.

What will happen after you make your purchase is you will be given a link to all of the sources that I will continue to update!

*Remember:

You don't need a business license to start, just a resale number.
These are REAL wholesalers, NOT middlemen.
One of the sources is an overstock warehouse that often times has Victoria's Secret items to purchase for resale!
Just $5 will get you started. If I could, I would give this away, but I feel like it's just too much information. I have worked hard to gather these sources and they are places that I have personally done business with or know somebody who has.
They are all very reputable businesses that enjoy working with those wanting to start their own business selling lingerie, costumes and/or adult novelty items.
There are some GREAT sources for Halloween costume sales. Even though Halloween is fast approaching, you could get awesome deals on costumes now that you can resell next year and make a pretty nice profit on. (I just sold a costume I've had for 4 years, it was still brand new in packaging, and I sold it for $45 on eBay and I paid $22 for it.)

If you any questions whatsoever, please let me know and I will help you out the best I can. If you have always wanted to start your own lingerie business but weren't sure where to start, this contact list will get you on your feet! The wholesalers are very pleasant to work with and will help you with any questions you might have.

Payment is only accepted via Paypal. :)

Buy Now!

Still Loving ChaCha as an Expeditor =)

noreply@blogger.com (Mindi) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 19:00:00 +0000

If you are still looking for extra money and haven't applied to be a ChaCha guide yet, there's no better time than now! The holidays are coming up and everyone can use some extra cash right?

ChaCha even has an expeditor position now, so if you aren't interested in answering the questions from texters, you can route the questions to the guides. This is what I currently do and it's fun!

I have decided that I will not pay for any of my diy wedding projects with our money in the bank, I'm going to work ChaCha and get paid and then go shopping for the supplies I need. I've already purchased all of the paper for my invites and that was working very, very part time being an expeditor for ChaCha!

If you're interested, please visit: http://www.chacha.com/guidesignupnow and then enter in melinda.friedland at gmail dot com for your personal referral! I'd love to have you on my team.

Have a great weekend everyone! :)

Weekly Goals/Update! (and more fun stuff!)

noreply@blogger.com (Mindi) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:36:00 +0000

Lately I've been an eHow fiend! I am up to 77 articles on eHow now. Just 2 weeks ago I was at 42. I'm still not stopping, I'm just going to keep plugging along while I have the ideas in my head and written on post-it notes all over my house. :)

I'm currently fighting a serious cold. It could be a sinus infection so I've been in bed, a lot. I won't be planning on doing much this week besides my weekly eHow and ChaCha duties. Other than that, I'm just going to focus on trying to get better.

I also have my wedding to plan and I'm doing a lot of DIY projects so I haven't had time to do as much work as I normally would be doing. If you're interested in following me along on my wedding planning blog, you can find it here. I'll be posting my ideas, guides and pictures as I plan along. :)

I hope everyone has a great week!

My Weekly Goals / Update

noreply@blogger.com (Mindi) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 12:26:00 +0000

Happy Monday morning! I don't know if that deserves an exclamation point, but I gave ya one. :) I completed all of last week's goals except for the costume listings. I planned to do that this weekend but I have been sick for the past 3 days now. I do plan on getting them listed tonight though.

Also, I completed 13 eHow articles. I'm not sure where all that came from but I still have many more ideas to write about which I plan on doing this week. I think I'm going to set a goal to complete at least 5 how-to's each week until the end of the year. My earnings are already over $20 for this month so at this pace, October will be my highest month yet! Gotta love eHow! :)

The only things I plan on doing this week are:

At least 5 eHow articles
1 post per blog
List any remaining costumes

I'm just really not feeling that well at all so I don't wanna try to bite more than i can chew this week. :)

Bum Marketing Method: How to

noreply@blogger.com (Mindi) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:19:00 +0000

If you're looking for more work to make some extra money from home, be sure you read what I've got to say today! If you haven't heard of it already, the Bum Marketing Method is an easy way to start earning money from home. The creator of this method is a guy named Travis (along with his wife) and he tells you everything you need to know absolutely free.

You can also do a search on YouTube for "Bum Marketing Method". He has tutorials there as well if you prefer.

You don't need any money whatsoever to start making money this way and you don't need a website either. I have just begun implementing some of the things I have learned about bum marketing and it really does work. I signed up with Clickbank in June of this year and I didn't make my first sale until the end of September. I also hadn't really promoted anything up until that point and then BAM!, once I did, I was rewarded with a credit of $30.05 in my Clickbank account. That was for 1 sale!

See proof:

If you are interested in seeing what this is all about visit Bummarketingmethod.com! I hope his method helps you as much as it's helped me! :)

My Weekly Goals / Update

noreply@blogger.com (Mindi) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 23:00:00 +0000

I knew this past week was going to be hectic because I have all 4 of our kids home with me, but here is an update on last week's goals:

I have written 8 articles for eHow this past week and published them. I still have 2 more to do to meet my goal and I plan on doing them tonight. I already have the topics and the notes, I just need to get them published.
I have written 1-2 blog posts per blog but I haven't yet finished commenting other blogs which I will be doing more of this week.
I wasn't able to finish any magazine queries, but I have started two of them. I plan on completing them early this week so I can get them out in the mail.

It sure has been hard to get motivated today. The weather here is so dreary and cool and it's supposed to be this way for the next 4 days or so. Boooo. I will have to work extra hard this week because I did miss a couple of things I wanted to do last week. Since the weather won't be cooperating much to help elevate my mood and keep me productive, I plan on drinking lots of coffee!

Weekly Goals for 10/06/08

5 eHow articles
3 magazine queries (I've started on two of them)
Finish up my buzz blogger work for the Prevention site and invoice them on Friday for the past 2 weeks
List any remaining Halloween costumes I have (I think around 5?)

I hope everyone has a great week!

September eHow Earnings and Update!

noreply@blogger.com (Mindi) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:58:00 +0000

Guess what?? I just had to update all of you to let you know that I have made it to the 50 article mark on eHow! I am so excited! I know so many of you have a whole lot more and I hope to as well, but I honestly never thought I would make it to 50 articles!

On Monday of this week, I made a goal to write 10 articles and I now have 2 or 3 articles left to write in order to meet that goal.

Also, September has wrapped up and my earnings are the highest they have been thus far. I made $29.09 for the month of September. WoooohoooooO!!!!!!!! Keep in mind, that I just started at the very end of June. My grand total in earnings since I started is now up to: $126.94! (One of my articles was featured, so that gave me a $50 bonus.) So actually, my articles have made me $76.94 and I don't think that's too shabby.

Again, I have to thank Maria O'brien for writing her wonderful eBook, "How to Earn Passive Income at eHow.com: Residual Income for Web Content Writers". If you are interested in making money on eHow, this book will give you the steps you need to take to be a successful writer on eHow. Just because you throw up an article, does not mean you will make any money off of it.

In the book, Maria shows you exactly what you need to do and what tools to use to help maximize your earnings. Here is the latest screenshot of her eHow earnings for proof:

If you're trying to earn residual income as a web content writer, you would be silly to pass up Maria's eBook! She tells you flat out, what you need to do and how to do it!

*I know the image is blurry, but she has made a total of over $4000 this year, making just over $600 for the month of September!

Thanks again, Maria! :)

My Weekly Goals

noreply@blogger.com (Mindi) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:33:00 +0000

Good morning!

This week is going to be pretty busy because I'll have all 4 of our children to run after. :)

Here's what I am planning to complete this week:

*10 eHow articles. (Yes, 10. I haven't written any in awhile)
*At least 2 magazine queries, if not more.
*At least 1 blog post for each blog. 2-3 would be even better
*Comment on at least 20 other blogs related to fitness, wahm or sexual abuse.
*List ALL of my remaining Halloween costumes on eBay.

I think I'll stop there for now. That should keep me pretty busy!

October is almost here already. Can you believe it? I hope everyone has a fabulous week!

Weekly Goals Update + eHow

noreply@blogger.com (Mindi) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 15:38:00 +0000

<~~~My happy face!

I have amazed myself this week folks. I completed everything that I wanted to and then some!

*I have written and sent 3 queries to magazines.
*I started my book proposal ~ but might change my mind and postpone that idea until after my wedding next summer.
*I completed my sexual abuse Squidoo lens, but I will still be sure to keep adding information.
*I have posted at least twice on each of my blogs, some of them more.

Today I just plan on cleaning my house and maybe doing a little 'ChaCha'!

*Just a note about magazine queries: If you are interested in learning more about how to query magazines I suggest you checkout 30Queries30Days. It's a FREE, fantastic 30 day program to help you succeed in breaking into the freelance magazine writer's market!

**Also: My eHow earnings for September have already surpassed the amount I made in August. Woo!

My Goals for This Week

noreply@blogger.com (Mindi) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 10:00:00 +0000

I have never made it a habit to write down my goals regarding my work at home 'gigs'. Well, all that is changing this week!

I'm going to start making a list of my goals and posting it here on Mondays and then I'll check in on the following weekend to check off the goals I have completed. I'm hoping this will help to keep me motivated and less distracted. There are so many distractions when you're working at home.

I think making a list of items to complete each week will allow me to complete more tasks and get more work done because I'll have a focus.

Without further ado, here are my goals for this week:

*Write at least 2 magazine queries
*Start working on a book proposal for a memoir that I really want to write
*Write at least 2 posts for each of my blogs (4)
*Finish up my sexual abuse Squidoo lens that I started this past week

Wish me luck! ;)

(Feel free to jot down your goals and leave them as a comment!)

My Latest Posts as a Buzz Blogger for Prevention!

noreply@blogger.com (Mindi) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:49:00 +0000

Happy Friday everyone!

I just wanted to share a couple of new posts that I have recently written as a buzz blogger at Prevention.com. I feel that they're helpful for WAHMs, other moms alike and females in general.

Have a look:

1. Managing Your Daughter's 1st Pregnancy

Not having been the chance to be a grandmother-to-be (because my daughter is only 2...) I do have some tips for moms being that I was a teenager when I first became pregnant and my mom was so supportive and helpful of me. I think mothers and daughters alike will agree with some of these. Feel free to add more tips if you'd like. :)

2. How I Keep My Face Oil Free

Ugh. Oily skin. I hate it! Recently I tried a new skin care regimen that has banished the oil from my T-zone (where it's the absolute worst!) This blog post will go through the steps I take to have skin that feels clean, fresh and most importantly, NOT oily!

My eHow Earnings for August 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Mindi) — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 10:00:00 +0000

I have now been doing the eHow thing for about 2 1/2 months and it has really paid off so far. I started during the very last days of June 2008 and I have already earned $79.59 from late June through August 31, 2008. I currently have 43 how-to articles that are published on eHow and I do plan on writing more. It's addicting!

Here are my latest earnings:

Looking at the earnings table above, you can see that my articles have made me about $1.22 per day and I haven't had to anything except for spend a few minutes writing the articles. Keep in mind that my articles are still considered pretty new and my earnings should be increasing as my articles get indexed more and more by the search engines.

Keep in mind too, that the more articles you have, the more money you will be making. Once those articles are posted, you have to do nothing. Sit back and watch your earnings grow and then submit a few more articles.

One thing that has really helped me do well on eHow, is Maria O'Brien's new eBook called, "How to Earn Passive Income at eHow.com: Residual Income for Web Content Writers. She has been extremely successful with eHow (she makes over $600 per month now) and she's written an eBook to share her secrets with us. I made the purchase and I'm so glad I did because there is so much that she teaches you about eHow and how to make a residual income with it. I personally wouldn't have been able to figure this out on my own!

Make Money Online with MTurk

noreply@blogger.com (Mindi) — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:54:00 +0000

I'm always searching for ways to make money online. One that I've just recently started working on is MTurk (short for mechanical turk) which is brought to you by Amazon. MTurk allows you to choose your own hours and get paid working from the comfort of your home office...or wherever else you choose. :)

All you need to do is go to the MTurk section of Amazon, which you can get to by clicking here. If you already have an Amazon account, you'll just need to be signed in and if you don't, you'll just need to sign up and it's completely free. They have a variety of tasks that you can complete including transcription, asking questions about an article provided for you, answering questions and giving the best answer, blogging about somebody's website and more. There will be instructions for each task and you can choose to do which ever tasks you'd like.

Once your account accumulates $10, you can make a withdrawal and transfer the funds to your bank account, or you can elect to add your MTurk balance to an Amazon giftcard and do some shopping online. I believe you do not need to accumulate $10 to shop with your MTurk earnings on Amazon. I always spend my earnings on Amazon because they have such great deals on books and things like that. :)

Just a heads up, there will be a lot of 'tasks' that will not be worth your time, just sift through them until you find ones you like. Once you complete the task, you'll generally be credited with your earnings within 24 hours. Occasionally you'll have to wait a few days, but I've always been paid. You won't get paid the big dollars or anything, but these days it seems like every little bit helps. ;)

Just Bloggin' Away!

noreply@blogger.com (Mindi) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 14:44:00 +0000

I have started 2 new blogs in the past week so I have been pretty busy! Speaking of blogs and blogging...

I know quite a few of my readers are from the WAHM community and similar places, but for those of you who aren't, there is an awesome thread over there that's all about blogging. It started out as people wanting to try doing sponsored posts for places like PayPerPost, however, I have not been having too much success there. I don't know if it's because a whole ton of people started around the same time or what, but there are usually no opportunities for me. I know it takes time, because each advertiser has different requirements you need to meet, but instead of just doing paid posts, I figured (after taking advice from some other wonderful wahm's) that I'd just get a few blogs going at once and try to make some money myself! It's working... :D I'm not up to $5 a post or anything of course, but it's nice to just make some money with my own writing and not sponsored posts. It just feels more rewarding to me.

I've learned with blogging that you need to have several going to really start making some money. Plus, having several different ones allows you to see what's going to earn you money and what doesn't. It also helps to have blogs about things you are passionate and knowledgable about. All of my blogs are about fitness, sexual abuse or being a WAHM. I love blogging to help others and all of my blogs are on topics that people are interested in learning more about.

Now I must go write some more...I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!