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✩My Own Personal Quest...✩

Ranked #1,761 in Squidoo Community, #172,418 overall

The Grand Challenge!

Ok, so as of today (15/12/2010), I accrued my first Squidoo earnings...the grand sum of $0.52! In fairness, although I have had live lens's for the past year I have only been taking this Squidoo malarky seriously for the past two months so wasn't really expecting much anyway.

My initial line of thinking was that I'd just use any (little) money I earn to buy rubbish on eBay, maybe surprise little gifts for people or whatever. Unfortunately now I am getting a little addicted...and my eBay shopping list is getting a bit out of hand!

I read all these success stories about people earning $1000's in passive income and there is literally no reason why you or I can't be doing the same. Passive income is great as it will continue to trickle in regardless of if you put in masses of hours of work. Better still, if you get bitten by the bug and WANT to continue working, your income will only grow with time!

So back to my eBay shopping list. I have decided that as there is the potential to actually earn some decent money out of this thing, I am going to have a target to aim for. Those of you who have read my bucketlist will know that one of the things I want to do one day is buy a classic VW Campervan and take it to music festivals, exploring new places in the UK and generally just have fun in it! I want to refurb all the interior, spray paint my favourite band logos all over it, make it fairly live-able when on the road and just be able to rock up to any coast and watch the sunset, sit on the roof playing my guitar or park in a field and fall asleep watching the stars.

Sounds like a bit of a dream doesn't it? And yesterday I would've had to agree with you. So what has changed? The fact that I have $0.52 sitting in my reserve hopper and the eagerness to take this far!

December 2010 Payday (For October)

15/12/2010

VW-Campervan-QuestMy first Squidoo payday saw $0.52 go straight into my reserve hopper and an obsession is born! For all you newbies hoping to make some dollars on Squidoo it can be done! In october I had around 8 lenses generating around 20 views a week with one lens ("Life of a twenty-something") accruing most of the views. This has led to a payment of 52 cents. Since then I have put in a lot more effort into adding to and streamlining the existing lenses as well as adding a few more so hopefully next month's payday will reflect this...

January 2011 Payday (For November 2010)

11/1/2011

vw-campervanWoohoo, thats another $1.24 into the kitty which is around a 240% increase since last month...hope this percentage rise continues! Before I know it...I'll be able to buy a windmirror! Lets keep plugging on.

In November I roughly tripled the amount of lenses and had traffic up to around 30-40 per week. I was finding outlets such as Facebook, and related sites/blogs/discussion groups in which to plug my bucketlist lens which generated some nice views and comments. I was contributing a lot more on others' lenses, commenting and taking quizzes which I think indirectly contributed to more views.

February 2011 Payday (For December 2010)

vw-campervanOk so my earnings increase has slowed somewhat compared to the +240% last month, but an increase is an increase none-the-less! This month was $1.62 which was a little disappointing. I had a figure in my head of around $4-5 considering how well my lenses are starting to do and acquiring a reasonable amount of traffic - still, theres always next month!

I had been contributing a huge amount on other's lens's, the Squidu Forum and generally building my presence on Squidoo. I have learned that commenting and liking other lensmasters lenses generate a nice source of recipricating traffic and lets face it, Social Media is all about being social isn't it? Don't forget this if you want your lens to succeed.

March 2011 Payday (For January)

VW Camper Van$9.12!! Biggest payday by far and it was all down to the below. Next month will be much lower (probably less than half of that) because I have been very lazy! So what have I learned?
a) Engaging with lensmasters on their lenses and in the forum is time consuming but will reap rewards far beyond just hits and visits. Explore this and see what happens for you!
b) To get a steady stream of traffic with little work, spend some time leaning about SEO and what you have to do to become more visible in Google
c) Sales lens? Write your own reviews of products (all the better if you can base it on your own experiences with it) and why it will benefit your reader. Copied manufacturer's write-ups will not entice your reader to buy - trust me!

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OK so I'm up to 36 lenses with 100-300 visits per week. BUT the best news is that my "life of a twenty-something" lens became lens of the day on 19th Jan PLUS it also gained a purple star that same day! This generated a mound of new traffic and 'likes' so watch this space for the impact this had on payday!

I broke the 1000 visits-per-week barrier thanks to LOTD and sold two books from that lens which made me an additional $0.66! The lens peaked at #3 in my category and #62 overall but as the end of the month loomed my rankings started to droop.

April 2011 Payday (For February)

Star Wars VW CampervanOk, I'll come clean. I haven't done much on squidoo this month :( ...and it has reflected in my rankings. April is going to be a lean, lean month! After not only breaking tier one last month, I have dropped down to tier two with my Bucket List lens and my others haven't exactly improved. However, I have a good reason for this. I have decided now is the time to get fit and get the body i've always wanted (one of my bucketlist goals) which involves a lot of gym time and out running which is having a major impact on my free time to spend on Squidoo. I have also been more involved with projects at work, increasing my work hours and limit the amount of time I can spend on Squidoo at work and home!

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On the plus side though, I earned a record-smashing $33.61 this month! - God bless teir one lenses! This won't last though, I think next month will be less than half that figure...it pays to work hard at your lenses!

May 2011 Payday (For March)

A sale on one of my BBQ Grill lenses has accrued a tidy $1.15 :-). My third sale and by far the biggest so lets hope this continues! March saw my tier one lens drop to tier and boy can you see a difference in earnings! $11.63...roughly equates to a replacement air-freshener for my non-existant van. Time to put some work in...

June 2011 Payday (For April)

This month has seen my barbecue related lens's hit the big time - not surprising with the recent awesome weather we've been having! I am starting to see a few sales which will impact on June's payday and inch me closer to my van! All little amounts but it still helps! There has been a surprising shift in the rankings of my lenses this month. What were my better performing lens's have now slipped down to make way for more seasonal topics. I am averaging about 400 views per week across my 40-odd lenses which clearly shows I need to put some more time and love into them to start attracting serious traffic. Stay tuned!

The Humble VW Camper's Beginnings...

VW-CampervanIt was after World War II that Ben Pon, a Dutch Volkswagen importer came up with the idea of creating a van based on the VW Beetle. It is believed that his inspiration came from visiting the VW factory in Wolfsburg, where he saw stripped down Beetles being used to transport parts around the factory.

Pon's idea captured the attention of the Volkswagen chief executive Heinz Nordoff, in 1948. The following year, the VW van was born, released to the world at the Geneva Motor Show. This first VW van was known as a Type 2, the Type 1 being the original Beetle.

The simplicity and versatility of the VW van allowed it to be produced in many different forms for many different roles, these included milk floats, ambulances, flatbed pick-ups, delivery vans, buses and of course it's most popular form as a camper van.

In 1967, VW Camper Vans evolved from having a split windscreen design (known as splitties) to having a bay window style windscreen, wind up windows and a top speed of 80mph. Later improvements included bigger engines (up to 2000cc) and better reliability - at one point VW gave watches away to owners who managed to do 100,000 miles.

VW Campers are still popular today (especially with the surfing community) and it is common to see models with customised paint jobs, lowered suspension and alloy wheels.

Taken from Camper-History

Potential buys on eBay

I don't want any old piece of junk!

I expect to spend around $5000-7000ish on a camper van. Is it realistic to set $7000 as my earning target?? Time will tell...
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Join in the Quest!

Your motivation and comments make me want to work harder at this and *hopefully* shortens the time it takes between now and when I'm touring the country in my beast!

  • bloomingrose Apr 10, 2012 @ 6:15 pm | delete
    Keep up the good work- your learning curve has been quicker than mine!
  • prosepine Dec 30, 2011 @ 5:07 am | delete
    Thanks for sharing your process...I can feel the lifestyle your going to have once you get that camper! Best of luck!!
  • snakesmom Apr 10, 2011 @ 12:11 pm | delete
    :) Inspiring post and I hope you get enough money to by that groovy van! :)
  • priscillaB Feb 25, 2011 @ 1:03 pm | delete
    Good luck! I am new and haven't made anything yet but hope to.
  • JublyJem Feb 25, 2011 @ 4:46 am | delete
    following you with great interest! i created my own bucket list after reading yours! i havent made any money yet...but theres still time! i wish you the best of luck!!
  • joanv334 Jan 30, 2011 @ 7:23 am | delete
    Hello, nice to meet you!
  • Nowran Jan 28, 2011 @ 6:04 am | delete
    Hey you've got a long road to travel to reach the $5000-7000. But we are all going to be watching and cheering for you. BTW I've made $1.09 so far.
  • catbehaviors Jan 26, 2011 @ 7:25 pm | delete
    This is a wonderful and inspiring lens. We should all set a goal for ourselves, and watch the money build up. I hope that you are able to get your VW camper someday soon!
  • Lisa-Marie-Mary Jan 20, 2011 @ 12:24 pm | delete
    I'd love to have a VW bug! Good luck on your quest! Shall be fun to watch! :-)
  • AdriennePetersen Jan 20, 2011 @ 9:59 am | delete
    Fun lens, best of luck on your squidoo-ing!
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While I wait for my money to build theres always...

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VW Camper Photo Gallery

The lenses contributing to my Quest!

I am up to about 40 lenses so far (at last update on 24th Feb 2011) and I am finding it hard to keep them all updated so I'm not going to make any more until I am satisfied that my existing ones are at least sitting pretty in tier 3 and above, all generating income of their own. As much as I want to become a giant squid with 50 (quality) lenses it will be some time before I start on some new ones so watch this space!

Please feel free to have a look at some of the lenses below; Like, Comment, Buy something? It all contributes to the kitty :). Have a good day.
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July Payout (14/07/2011)

For May

$25.74

by

dismantlerepair

I've always liked them but they never really seemed "real". They are for dreamers. I'm a dreamer. I guess if you were to get one you'd get something m... more »

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