Taking The Plunge ...

Ok, I have a confession to make (what, another one Nick?). I've jumped onto the paid postings bandwagon about a month or so ago and have since then done about 6 assignments. I've always had my reservations about this and have been really skeptical. I refused to even consider doing it. I'm stubborn and when I make my mind up about something, I normally refuse to budge! Actually it was my wife who kinda convinced me to join up.

She's been blogging longer than I have, well, maybe about a week or so longer ... LOL! When we both first started blogging, we never were huge fans of paid postings. We'd normally skip the blogs that contain loads of them cos they were not really postings. They were more like ads. It's not the kind of blogs I'd like to read.

Then about 2 or so months ago, my wife threw caution to the wind and went full scale into the world of paid postings. Initially I thought she'd lost it ... hehehe ... I asked her what got into her and she said if she was going to be blogging all day, she might as well make a little side money out of it. So I went like ...

'Uh huh, whatever honey ...' (LOL!)

She would feverishly log on constantly and check if there were any assignments waiting for her and if there were, she'd snap it up instantly. I seriously thought her blog was going to get fewer visitors (She has quite a huge number regular bloggers who visit her daily). And I was thinking eventually they would stop visiting her. I mean who really wants to read lots of paid postings right?

But you know, I was absolutely wrong about this. Her viewership went up instead. I had like 1000 visitors more than her and she is actually catching up with me pretty fast. And you know why? It's the way she writes her paid postings. She doesn't just see them as something she's paid to do, she sees them as something of a challenge. And that doesn't turn people off. Any assignment that she gets, she does quite a bit of research on it and then she tries to find something about her personal life or daily happenings that compliments or relates to the assignment and she makes that paid post her own and really personal. And she's getting better at it with every assignment.

That's when I started getting a little interested in it. I was thinking if I could make these assignments run along closely with something that relates to my personal life and if I could make some money from it, then why not? I created this blog strictly for my personal rantings and experiences and I still stand by that belief. I don't want this blog to be boring and I sincerely hope it's not. I'd like it to be a part of me, a part of what I really am in real life, a glimpse of my inner thoughts.

So I signed up with a few of these websites offering these paid assignments. I wasn't 100% convinced yet but I wanted a feel for things first. My blog was accepted and approved but I still didn't want to start or accept any assignments yet. Then I checked out some of the blogs I visit on a regular basis and there are a few that do these assignments pretty well, they make it so personal that sometimes you find it hard to tell if they're really paid postings or sponsored posts. Here are some fine examples of some pretty good paid postings that I think makes the post sound more like a personal one. The only giveaway were the sponsored links attached.

Drive Baby Drive! by Nessa of Mumblings.
Me, Myself and I by Cindy of Foreign Beauty.
I lost my favourite pen! by Shemah of My Sweet Escape.
I want to RIP my hair out! by DiamondsSapphire of Nonsense, Fun, Tears, Happiness & Anger ...

So, I toughened up, took a huge deep breath and about a month ago, I actually posted my first ever assignment. And since then I think I've posted about 6 so far. And I've been paid for all of it already too :) And every single word in those posts are related to some of my personal experiences and thoughts. And I've decided that's the only way I'd do any of these assignments. I've rejected (well, not really rejected, just didn't do them) so many assignments given to me cos I found I couldn't write anything or relate it to any of my personal experiences. So, you might say I'm really very picky about the assignment I am given.

Some of you may say I've sold out, so be it. If I could post something that relates to my personal experiences and get paid for doing it, now that's a good deal isn't it? And with that big motor mouth that I have I don't think it would be too much of a problem for me ... LOL! Then again, it just might be a little problem. I have this assignment waiting for me and it's about Vegas and for the life of me I don't know how I'm ever going to relate that to something personal of mine. I've never ever been to Vegas in my life and all I know about Vegas is what I see on CSI ... LOL! Oh well, nobody said doing this was a piece of cake, right ...