THE WEGO HEALTH AWARDS...PLEASE ENDORSE ME :)...

Endorsements are now open for the Wego Health Awards.

If you missed my last post I was excited to announce that I have been nominated and shortlisted for the WEGO Health Best Chronic Illness & Illness Recovery Blog Award in the 2018 WEGO Health Awards.

WEGO Health is a mission-driven company connecting healthcare with the experience, skills, and insights of patient leaders. They are the world’s largest network of patient leaders, working across virtually all health conditions and topics. Click here to learn more about their Patient Leader Network. The WEGO Health Awards were created to celebrate those who tirelessly support the mission of WEGO Health: to empower the patient voice. With 16 award categories, the WEGO Health Awards are the only awards across all conditions and platforms, that recognize the over 100 thousand inspiring Patient Leaders who raise awareness, share information, and support their communities – but often without recognition.

This year, the 16 WEGO Health Award winners will be honored and I’m now looking to my incredibly supportive network to help endorse me for this award. There are two easy ways to endorse that only take seconds of your time!
1) You can click on my endorsement badge located on the right-hand side of this page.
2) Click here to be taken to my WEGO Health Awards profile where you can click “Endorse” under my nominee photo

If I have ever supported you, made you laugh, or inspired you to keep fighting – please consider endorsing me for this award

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HOW TO MAKE MONEY ON THE INTERNET...

How to make money on the internet. This great graphic on Pinterest from Twitpic explains it all in a very easy way.

MAKING MONEY FROM HOME ON PINTEREST...

Making money from home, a board full of making money ideas on Pinterest.

HOW TO MAKE MONEY FROM CHOCOLATE...

Watching the 2nd episode of Give it a Year on ITV this week was one I didn't want to miss as I enjoyed the first episode last week. This week Karen Brady meets more brave people who decide to go it alone and start a new business. Two sisters embark on making their own chocolate so bespoke that the boxes would start at £15. Their ambition was to be in top stores in London like Selfridges, Fenwicks, and Harrods. One year on the ambitious pair already had their bespoke chocolates in Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, and Fenwicks. Anyone who has ever thought of starting their own chocolate business would be inspired to give it a go after watching this program.

If you love chocolate like me then you need to know about craft chocolate online.  They say chocolate arouses our passions and tempts our senses. Chocolates are loved by most and they come in various forms ranging from dark chocolates to milk chocolates and they leave memories of happy moments.

Chocolate is tasty and delicious but making your own chocolate at home can easily be done if you know where to buy your ingredients. Before making your own you need to check that you have the right equipment to make your chocolate in.

Some essential tools include digital thermometers, various sizes, and shapes of molds, a dipping fork and other utensils. Buying the right products to make your chocolate is also something that you need to investigate. Principally start your chocolate making with buying cocoa beans from a reliable source.

With so much chocolate available on the high street you will have to think outside the box and develop a recipe that will be unique as well as tasty.

If you get the right ingredients and utensils, making edible gifts really doesn’t get much easier than making craft chocolate bars.  Get your juices working on handmade gift ideas you could make with your own chocolate. You could start a new trend and even put kits together for people to create their own chocolate.

After making the chocolate, the next challenge is where to store it as they advise you not to store in a refrigerator full of other foods. They suggest you store the chocolate in a tightly closed container away from direct sunlight. This will help your chocolate to last longer.

Chocolate making is an art and a science. The best way to create your own delicious chocolate whether you want to make it for personal use, for friends or even to sell is to go to Craft Chocolate UK who say they ‘make the dreams of chocolate lovers to come true’ by teaching the art behind the chocolate making. For anyone looking for a place in the craft chocolate art, Craft Chocolate UK are the ones to contact.

Anyone can put a few ingredients together but knowing how to make it the correct way has to be the best way forward. All this will take time and money but if two sisters on a £5,000 loan can get their chocolates in 3 top department stores within 12 months it makes you realise that it's worth giving it a go.

TOP FIVE FREELANCE WEBSITES FOR JOBS...

Upwork is a very popular site for freelancers as you choose your own clients and projects. They say that clients are now posting jobs in hundreds of skill categories, paying top price for great work. The greater the success you have on projects, the more likely you are to get hired by clients that use Upwork so create a great profile and start working. Companies Odesk and Elance merged to form Upwork.

Freelancer would be my second choice. It is very similar to Odesk where you can find just about any job you can imagine ranging from delivery to website development. Again, you simply fill in a profile with your skills and Freelancer will match you to the right jobs. Membership is free but you can only bid for a job 8 times a month.

My third choice would be Fiveer which is popular as you can sell gigs to others at the minimum price of £5. It’s different from the other two as you do not bid for proposals on those sites. Instead, you have to sell gigs and potential clients look through all the lists of gigs in their chosen category. However, Fiveer is a great place to start getting a few freelance jobs under your collar.

ProBlogger site is always full to the brim of blogging jobs but also a great site to access tips, courses and topics on everything to do with blogging. I’m sure most of us bloggers have heard of Darren Rowse founder of ProBlogger at some point or another.

My final choice would be Linkedin which they say is the biggest social networking site for professionals with jobs being posted daily. You can also develop a large following through Linkedin who know what sort of work you are looking for. If you find a position fitting right for your field, then you can always apply for it and it is completely free.

HOW TO MAKE MONEY FROM PINTEREST...

The money site Lifehack say there are several ways you can make money on Pinterest.

The first one is to follow your passion then build your audience then sell to them. Get followers to your boards then create a mailing list. They say that you don’t need that many followers to your account to sell to your audience. So, for instance, if your passion is floristry then you could write lots of posts on your boards on the type of flowers to buy and then sell them to your followers.

Another way they say you can make money on Pinterest is by targeting a group then build your Pinterest followers like above. Then select the companies offering products that appeal to your audience. So with the example above you could approach companies that sell flowers. You then need to share your Pinterest accounts statistics with the companies that you approach and ask for sponsorship maybe by offering them to put their brand on your site for a year.

In order to make any money on Pinterest, people have to be able to find your pins and boards so Lifehack stresses that you must use SEO strategies. That way you will also be found on other search engines like Google. Make the most of your About profile and use keywords you would expect searchers to use to find you. Another tip is to us Sep strategies on your pins. Each pin allows you 500 characters (around 100 words) of description, so make the most of it by adding keywords and links. Include keywords naturally, rather than in a spammy way.

Another great well to sell on Pinterest is to have a competition for people to get some of your products and create interest.

Pinterest is all about pinning so an easy way to get people is to be very active and pin others pins, in particular, those people in your target audience. That way they will notice you and they may then start following your boards.

Another way to make money is to teach your money making ways to others by writing an ebook or course to explain to others what you have learned and how you have succeeded. Create a board dedicated solely to ways to make money. One board on Pinterest on money making ideas has over 100,000 followers.

Cash Blog site says that you can also make money by cashing in on the social media goldrush by becoming a Pinterest consultant. This requires a little marketing but the multitude of freelancing platforms make it easier than ever to connect with companies that need your help. They say that you can use your personal presence on Pinterest as an example of what you can do. Highlight your pins that have done well on your account like blog posts, infographics, quotes etc. When you get about 200-300 followers then start applying to Pinterest Group Boards as this is the best way to grow your followers and get traffic to your blog.  Use the Pinterest search function or pingroupie.com to search group boards in your field. Or just look up what groups your competitors belong to and apply there too. Also, apply to Pinterest tribes to get more pin exposure and traffic with the help of other bloggers.

It is important to optimize your profile with keywords as this will make it easier for people to find your content when they are searching on Pinterest.

Then create great blog posts that have at least one affiliate link in it. Then pin an eye-catching graphic to your Pinterest boards that lead to your affiliate blog posts. Canva is a great site to create eye-catching graphics. It’s free and they also have a Pinterest template to help you get started. Keep in mind that you must always disclose your affiliate link in the pin’s description. You can do this just by saying ‘affiliate’ or ‘affiliate link’ in the Pin description.

FREE TICKETS FOR THE THEATRE & OTHER EVENTS IN THE UK...

If you live in London then this great way of getting free tickets for the theatre and other events is perfect for you.

The company Central Tickets, have a FREE membership as a seat filler. By becoming a member of Central Tickets you get the opportunity to attend an amazing selection of different events including the West End theatre, fringe theatre, dance products, operas, classical concerts, pop and Jazz concerts, comedy nights, movies, sporting events, informative talks and workshop for a fantastic price.

Your ticket is completely FREE, all you pay is a small booking fee per ticket to Central Tickets to help cover their running costs. Your first year of membership is completely FREE and they don't even take any bank details from you. Other ways to get ticket offers from them are -

Share a video trailer on social media for the show
Write a brief review of the event
Answer 6 multiple choice questions about the event
Purchase a programme
Purchase drinks
Purchase snacks or food
Purchase merchandise

You could start a blog and write reviews of all the events you attend and make money from your blog. It's a win, win situation as you will be able to attend a wide variety of events in London at a heavily discounted rate. Even your family and friends can save hundreds of pounds a year. They obviously have a few T & C's which are -

Not share your account or forward our emails or ticket offers to anyone.

Always attend any events that you book with us.

Always direct any enquiries to us, not the venue.

Accept the seats you are given, graciously. Be friendly and respectful towards all staff.

Don’t mention complimentary tickets in or around the venue.

Do not make any social media posts referencing free tickets.

Read the collection instructions on the booking confirmation.

Collect tickets at least 30 minutes prior to the event beginning.

Show a printed copy or screen shot (using a tablet or smart phone) of your confirmation booking to collect tickets.

Always collect your own tickets, do not send someone in your place.

Dress smart-casual.

Be willing to stay for the entire show.

Applaud heartily and generously.

We also ask you to bear in mind that as the account holder with Central Tickets, you are responsible for the behaviour of your guests.

Booking fees for cancelled bookings are non-refundable.

If you cancel more than 3 bookings per year, your membership will be withdrawn.

HOW TO GROW THEN SELL YOUR OWN VEGETABLES/AND OR FRUITS...

A great way to get a little something extra coming in during the summer months is to grow your own vegetables then sell them on. Package them in paper or cardboard which will be a winner with everyone trying to cut down on plastic.

Vegetables and or fruit can be grown in your own garden or on an allotment (or if you have a neighbour who has a big garden you could ask to use some of their space for free vegetables for them). A scheme has been set up to help local communities to encourage members to exchange produce so they can enjoy a variety of goods.

The Flower Pot Man has some great information about growing and selling your own vegetables and includes a list of places where you could sell them - "Get the timing right for car boot sales, display the produce on a stall at the gate or driveway to your house, grow old fashioned and rare varieties of vegetables plants from seed, sell to local greengrocers, specialist restaurants and delis or even swap produce for a service."

A great magazine which has information on every type of vegetable and fruit is the Grow Your Own Fruit and Vegetables Magazine, which has great offers if you subscribe to the magazine, it's also available as an app which is great if you need to check something about a particular crop while working on it.

A best selling book on Amazon, "Allotment Month By Month: How to Grow Your Own Fruit and Veg" by Alan Buckingham has over 250 customer reviews.

HOW TO MAKE MONEY FLIPPING...

To make a profit flipping you must know what products you can flip that make the best money. A flipper is someone who buys something at a lower price point from one market, and sells it at a higher price point to another market that is looking for it.

Vintage items seem to come quite high on the list. You can find them online, at car boots and auctions and the quickest way to flip them is to revamp them even if its just with a coat of paint.

One of the best places apart from Ebay to find things to flip is at a carboot sale. Look for smaller items like old books or well known children's toys to then immediately flip onto Ebay and sell at a profit.

If you can't get out to buyt some items to flip then go online to lastminute auctions and look at items that are about to finish for 99p and see what they are selling for on Ebay then buy your item, pop it on Ebay and you might even sell it before your item arrives to you so it could be sent direct to the customer.

Check out Craigslist or Gumtree and work on the same basis as lastminute auctions on Ebay or similar sites.

If you an expert in a particular field or passionate about something like fashion, accessories, gadgets, collectibles etc then concentrate on flipping these sort of items as you probably already know the rough price these sell for.

The opportunity is endless and there are plenty of sites to help you get started and even books on the subject. One of my favourite sites is this article on What Really Makes Money and this book Flipping on Craigslist: A Guide on How to Make Side Income by Justin Dallas.

10 BEST WAYS TO MONETISE YOUR BLOG...

You can get paid blogging in several ways, here are my top ten.

1.     Google AdSense provides a way for website owners to earn money from their online content. AdSense works by matching text and display ads to your website based on your content and visitors. The ads are created and paid for by advertisers to promote their products.

2.     Create a paid online course. You are already teaching your visitors through your blog so why not make it into an online paid course, bringing together virtually any type of content. They are a great way to build passive income long term.

3.     Paid reviews are those in which the person giving the evaluation has been paid to do so. Some people question this practice, wondering if people who write paid reviews can remain impartial but if you give an honest review you will get repeat business.

4.     Banner Ads are ads placed in a banner style on the sidebar of your blog. The business sponsor usually pays a monthly fee to have the add on your site and this can be very lucrative as it allows you to cut out the middleman and charge what you want for other people to advertise on your site.

5.     Writing an eBook is another great way to make some money from your blog. Self-publishing through Create Space is a simple process. Create one aligned with the content of your blog.

6.     Sponsored blog posts are another way of earning some money. Joining a blogging company like Get Blogged make it really easy for bloggers to monetise their blogs, and for brands, businesses and agencies needing help with, or wanting to outsource their outreach in a cost-effective way. They do all the work for you and send you a list of potential jobs. Getting paid blogging is the icing on the cake.

7.     Affiliate Marketing is a type of performance-based marketing in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor brought by the affiliate's marketing efforts. There are lots and lots of companies you can work with. A popular one is Amazon Associates due to the number of products it must sell.

8.     Host a Webinar, which is a live workshop online. People go on to Webinar’s to hear you talk about your specialist subject. This is great for people that live overseas that can’t get to one of your workshops. You make money from Webinar’s by charging for a virtual seat on your presentation. They pay to watch you perform your presentation online.

9.     Offer a Membership area. Your most loyal readers are your clients and could be willing to pay to read more of your work. You can create a members-only area for them to share more in-depth blog posts, downloads, videos, audio content, and more.

10.  Offer a Freelance Service, you’re already an expert on your niche. Earn an income by offering your skills and expertise as a freelancer, create a Hire Me/ Work With Me page. 

HOW TO MAKE MONEY FROM AFTERNOON TEA...

The quintessentially British Afternoon Tea is big business now and is something you could tap into quite easily.

If you don't have a coffee or tea shop then you could always use pop up sites and rent a place once a month or stand at exhibitions all over the UK. If you have space then hold a themed afternoon tea at your own home.

The quickest and easiest way to make money from 'Afternoon Tea' is to theme your event.

To get ideas on themes just look what is on at the Cinema/Theatre at the moment which is very fashionable or you could go down children's book themes.

Some examples include:-

Mad Hatters
Star Wars
Disney
Vintage
Charity
Chocolate
Japanese Inspired
Harry Potter
Great Gatsby
Tennis
Sherlock Holmes
Halloween

The list can be endless and can include events that are happening around the UK throughout the year. A bit of imagination can soon create something a bit different to go with your theme.

Even a simple beef sandwich could be changed to a 'hound of Baskerville with roast beef and English mustard'. Make it as quirky, opulent and as stylish or outrageous as you can think. The more exotic the more popular it will become. 

Raise funds for a local charity, have regular or one-off themed afternoon teas. If you haven't got the correct cups and saucers to start you off then hire them.

A NEW YEAR AND NEW WAYS TO MAKE SOME EXTRA CASH...

With Christmas well and truly behind us now and all the credit card bills coming in, it's no wonder that this is the most popular month for people to seek out ways to make some extra cash to help pay off their bills.

To kick start the new year I thought I would give you some quick and easy ways to get some quick cash back.

Please tell me that most of you already use a cashback site as this is the quickest way to get some 'cash back'. Most of the transactions you will have bought through this site over Christmas will now have gone through so your total amount of cash back should show on your statement. One of the best cash back sites is Top Cash Back which is the UK's highest paying cashback site.

Another quick return is to sell any unwanted gifts online through Ebay, Craigslist or Gumtree, even Ebay offer free listings or nothing to pay until you sell for January.

Pop over to The Money Saving Expert's site and head to the 'Boost Your Income' forum boards which have lots of ideas on how to boost your income.

According to Save the Student site the best survey sites are - Toluna, Vivatic, MySurvey, Valued Opinions, IPSOS, Global Test Market, The Opinion Panel, You Gov, Pinecone, One Poll and more.

Changing your bank account or credit card can also give you instant cash and the best site for these deals is The Money Saving Expert.

Check out the site Task Rabbit which lists jobs such as picking up parcels, flat pack assembly or moving and packing jobs in your area.

Finally, watch TV and get paid for it. At this time of year the nights are long and we do tend to sit in front of the TV for longer so why not make some money while you are watching by joining The Viewers you can earn £40-£70 for a group discussion on specific programmes.