My first fiverr gig - Mannys Sauces

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I've completed my first gig for fiverr this week and I absolutely loved it. The gig was producing two blog entries and a testimonial for Mannys Sauces - an exciting new venture by the guy who originally founded Nandos in South Africa many years ago.

The idea behind the blogs is that they fitted the narrative of my existing blogs but mentioned heavily the products of Mannys Sauces and provided a platform for the products to gain more exposure. And I'm pleased with the results-

http://inofftheblogpost.blogspot.com/2015/09/whats-best-food-to-go-with-football.html

The first blog entry is related to football and I decided to look at how food and football mix. The blog was about the perfect good to go with football and Mannys Sauces fitted this bill with their mix of spice and flavour. It's a similar way to how curry is eaten when watching the football - with friends and a few cans of beer. My football blog is read by the type of demographic that would enjoy the product.

The second entry is on my retail blog and talks about two things - buying from a UK business and getting to know a product or brand on the ground level. My retail blog is read by independent retailers that may want to stock the sauce and by people in larger retailers that may want to get onto a product that may become very big very quickly.

http://mytimeinretail.blogspot.com/2015/09/shop-local-is-about-spending-with.html

The idea is they both of these blogs and the surrounding social media marketing will give the brand and products some exposure. The other piece I wrote for Manny is a testimonial piece for his own use. It's related heavily to the product but I believe that it is a positive article that can be used in different strands of his marketing strategy.

Overall in pleased with the work and already looking forward to the next gig.

homeestates

Fiverr

Seller

I am a writer - I write all the time. I have several blogs, have written three books (so far) and I just love writing. I will write positive reviews or articles or mention you in my blogs in clear English. I'm new to Fiverr but I'm incredibly passionate about what it can empower.

A different way of presenting my work

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The internet, especially social media, seems to be full of headlines or strap lines such as-

You won't believe what happened next…

See what happened when…

Who would have thought what could…

And I like the fact that people have realised the world is more interesting with words. As someone who writes a lot, I think that simple, interesting stories can transform other parts of the internet, and the world around us. And it's got me thinking about how I present things such as my photography and Kindle books to the world. Adding my own story to the photographs or the books gives some context, some background and some interest to what I present.

I can now see photography as a story. "See what happened when one photographer…" is a far more interesting piece than just uploading photos to social media - no matter how good the photos are.

Presenting my books with the context behind them of how I ended up writing them will mean more to potential readers than telling them it's good or great or interesting or any other description I could come up with.

So, off the back of this enlightened thinking today, I'm looking at re-writing the blurb on Amazon for my two current books and adding to the introductions for both. I think that anyone browsing through Amazon and coming across my books would be more interested in whi ive written them than a synopsis of what the books are about.

So here goes. I write them because-

I'm sick of dealing with estate agents that aren't very good at their jobs.

I think I can do better.

I want to help people to help themselves.

I think that there is a better way than how houses are currently bought and sold.

I think that consumers should know more about the process.

Watch this space, and I'll update you on my progress.

Fiverr and RawShorts

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I've been back on the serendipity trail (blog) this week and I've found two great little sites that are helping me to earn money and self-publicise the work that I have been doing recently.

The sites that I am referring to are www.rawshorts.com and www.fiverr.com and I've found both sites to be a real help in moving forward with marketing.

I've mentioned before about using fiverr to get the covers designed for my Kindle ebooks and I find that for a medium such as the Kindle ebook, the designers come up with suitable fast designs that meet my needs. The things that fiverr offers are huge - from flyers, posters and banner ads to copywriting, translation and proofreading. There are thousands and thousands of people on there offering services for small and medium businesses. It's worth checking it out.

One of the people offering services is me! And I'm offering blog mentions on my football, retail and estate agency blogs or positive professional reviews on a website of the buyers choosing. The concept is simple - find a service you need, pay $5 to the seller and then receive the service in a couple of days.

My offering can be found at https://uk.fiverr.com/homeestates

Check it out!

The other website that I found on one of my meandering serendipity trips is RawShorts. This has a series of templates of short animated promotional videos for yout to edit and make into something that you can use yourself. The videos can be uploaded to YouTube and from there you can download the MP4 file and use it where you need it.

I have produced the video below to advertise my blog service on fiverr.com.



There are loads of videos to choose from and then you can edit away to add your own logo, own wording and own images to make it look like something that was made just for your brand. Again, I recommend that you try it out.

The video is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s1dOfqflec

homeestates

Fiverr

Seller

I am a writer - I write all the time. I have several blogs, have written three books (so far) and I just love writing. I will write positive reviews or articles or mention you in my blogs in clear English. I'm new to Fiverr but I'm incredibly passionate about what it can empower.

New book is now available in the Kindle store

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It's finally here! I've published my new book! It's been uploaded to the Amazon Kindle site and is now available here.

It's entitled "How To Buy Your First Home - What estate agents don't want you to know".  I'm really pleased with how it's actually pulled together in the end. The several layers of editing have increased the size of the book and the quality of the writing. I've again used fiverr.com to have the cover produced, after the success of using it last time.

The blog about that is here.

The final cover looks like this-

And the book is available here

So what's next on the writing front? Regular readers of this blog will know that I spend a lot of time mystery shopping. I've carried out mystery shops now for nearly five years for twelve different mystery shop companies, and I've decided that I should share this experience. The book will be a mix of background knowledge, practical advice and some hints and tips. I hope to have this book written quickly and to add to the library I have on offer.

As I be said before, the idea behind having these things available is that it provides me with an income whilst I go away from my paid job and start up a business that won't bring in an income for the first few months. Having a set of five to ten of these books will give me the best chance of gaining an audience. That's where I'm heading…

It's time to get the house set for the colder weather

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It's time to get the garage-cum-office finished and all the little snagging jobs in the house find before the weather turns. Before long Autumn will turn Wintry and it will be too late to get any outside jobs done, so that's where I will start the focus.

It looks like it's list time again…

I'll have to go round the house and trek a look at all the areas that I feel need attention. From there, it's a case of setting up sons time to ensure that I can get everything done. I'll probably start the list this afternoon and from there I'll have an idea of how much time it will take me to complete.

If like the setting up if the estate agency for next year to follow a similar path but there are do many aspects of it that I have no idea about timescales. I'll just have to leave more time than I think possible and take it from there.

I'm one of these people that likes to have everything planned to the finest detail with accurate timings but it's just not possible when setting up what will be a new business. The current thinking is to finish my current job at Christmas, take a couple of weeks off and then start in earnest during January. From there I'll step up through the gears to be opening after Easter with a view to building stock levels for this time next year. I follow the cycles of the market and it appears that there are two main markets in my part of the world. The first is taking on property in January and February for sales in March and April. The second phase is taking on property through the Summer to sell after the kids go back to scho in September for people that want to move in for Christmas. I'm looking to catch the tails end if the first market and be really up and running for the second.

Wish me luck!

Ebook revised, edited and published

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Just a very short blog entry today to state that my ebook 'How To Sell Your Home - What Estate Agents Don't Tell You' is now fully edited, extended and updated and available on the Amazon Kindle store.

How to sell your home: What estate agents don't tell you

I'm pleased with the updates, as it extends the book by approximately 40% and goes into more detail in parts of the book that need attention. I've told the story on here before, so if you're not a regular reader, then the blog below will give you a good idea of the changes-

Photographs, reviews, fiverr and some changes to my ebook

Thinking time whilst on holiday, and not enough action time on my return

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I've now returned from three weeks holiday. A three week break brings lots of thinking time but the return to reality and activity is tougher than I remember.

I've kept physically active whilst away, with a gym and swimming pool on the complex I've been staying on. But a lot of time on the road, by the pool, in the gym and on the beach gives you plenty of time to think about what you are doing and where you want to start going next with everything you do.

I think that it is good (and it was good) to have a period of reflection and contemplation. It gives you a chance to determine whether you think that you're on the right track and to plot the way forward without the everyday distractions of work life. It also enables a little "blue sky thinking" as there exposure to a different routine and a different culture can have you thinking about things in different ways. I have looked at the direction I'm heading in and I broadly think that it's where I want to be going.

It's now thinking about heading out of the break and back into my life that's occupying my mind. I landed and got home in Sunday evening and it was back to work at 7.30am on Monday, so there was no real transition to be had. It was a case of holiday mode as is went to bed and work mode when I got up the next morning. It was just the way it had to be with three weeks off - there was no spare time to be had! So it was straight back into it, which can sometimes be the best way to get on, although I don't really feel like that the the moment! I can just about see the wood from the trees at work now, after a few days of catching up. I just wish I could say the same about everything else I do.

The thinking I've been doing has further develop the direction I've been going in with the writing. I've got the two books ready for final edit, plus the extras of getting the covers done. I think that I should be able to final edit this evening and from there I will produce a glossary of terms that will help readers of both books. This should all be finished this week and then it's time for the launches.

The next book after that will now be one based on "What estate agents can't be bothered to tell you" or a similar title. I'll be looking to set up a blog, some simple You Tube videos and a social media presence. From there it will be a case of editing the blog into a readable book. I think that the social media can feed the You Tube views, then the blog and create an interest for the book. When all are up and running, I expect each to feed the other.

The new book is almost there - editing commences!

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The new book is almost there

It's taken far longer than I thought possible, with extra work commitments and ending up doing a lot more mystery shopping than I thought I'd do, but the second boom is almost complete. Large parts of it have actually been written in the same way I'm writing this - on the park and ride bus on the way to work. I have chapter after chapter saved and stores in different devices and I'm really pleased with the first draft. All that remains is reading through it, editing the text to ensure it flows and makes some sort of sense. I say all that remains, but I know from the experience of writing the first book that this can take some time. The first book was edited up from a series of blogs, so the content was really written without me really noticing the amount of time it took. I then had to re-read, edit and make it sound like a book with chapters, rather than a blog with entries. The cross-references had to work and I wanted to break up the text with blocks of colour.

As I've said in a recent blog, this has been re-edited again, adding a chapter, rewriting parts of other chapters and adding photographs and a newly-designed cover-

http://245daystogo.blogspot.com/2015/07/photographs-reviews-fiverr-and-some.html

I want to go through this process in the first instance with my second book. I want to edit it thoroughly and launch it on the Amazon Kindle store in it's finalised form, to make the most of the reviews and sales. After this is launched, the next step will be to write a link between the two books to ensure that they flow and then publish this as a double book. The idea is that you can get the content from both books as a double book for less than the price of buying each book individually.

Hopefully this will all get finished before a near-three-week holiday starting soon, and I'm hoping that the writing creativity continues to flow. I'm thinking about/hoping that I can get another book written during this holiday. It will be a fiction book that describes the beautiful landscape of where I'm going on holiday mixed with thoughts and feelings about certain aspects of my life so far. I'm inspired by the inner monologue of the writings of Phillip Roth and I want to tap into feelings I have the echo and come to the forefront when reading Mickey Sabbath or Swede Levov in Roth's writing. Obviously I'm not comparing myself to Roth or trying to be a Roth-lite but I find the writing crisp, energetic and witty. I hope to capture at least the first two in my writing, but I'm very aware that this will be quite a slow process and the drafting, redrafting and editing process is something I expect to take up a lot of my spare time. I'll look to self-publish it again, but the main idea behind it is a sort of line-in-the-sand moment where I can move on to other things. It's quite personal, and I'll get my wife to read the drafts first and help me with the content editing process. The writing and rewriting will all come down to me, though.