I Won $1,000 + Video on Flipping

Danny on Google+

• How I Won $1,000 Dollars on Prizes.org
• My Online Dreams and Starting From Nothing
• Video: Buying and Selling Websites on Flippa.com

I Won $1,000 Dollars on Prizes.org

I was waiting for my wife to watch 'Friends' with her while our kids played with their raggedy dolls in the house. The cool air of Batangas province wafted through my nostrils as I patiently thought about the future and what it holds for me, my 4 kids and my pregnant wife. 

Out of the natural tendency to check my email every now and then, I decided to sit down and click on the gmail icon. The familiar blue status bar slowly inched its way to 100 percent and I rearranged some stuff on my table as I normally did if I didn't have anything else to do. 

I haven't checked my email for 1 day, so the inbox had about 50 unread messages - mostly people selling something or asking me to do this or that. 

Then I found it. (I kept the email and starred it)

Without saying anything, I patiently walked towards my wife and I told her, "I love you". I hugged her and I felt some moist warmth coming out of my eyes. I kneeled with my hands down on the floor and just stayed there, just saying "Thank you, thank you and thank you." 

For me, the ground that I'm standing on, reminded me of the times when I had no money. The warmth of the wooden floor made me understand that. I needed to remind myself how difficult it was to reach this point. I knew that one single misstep could bring me back down to having nothing and being nothing. Money is tremendously hard to earn but it was infinitely easier to spend. 

My Online Dreams and Starting from Nothing

My online dream is simple and that's to make a legitimate online business thrive through content and services.  I wanted to take on the giant Demand Media. When I first started this blog on http://dannybuntu.blogspot.com, I had wild dreams of being a dot com mogul as Mark Zuckerberg or Sergey Brin but with a slight twist, I only had my ability to write and to follow instructions. I am not a programmer.

I wrote everyday with very little rest and made quite a living out of it. But then, I knew that I couldn't go on like this forever. I needed to find that elusive making money online formula that seemed to have gotten lost among wads and wads of blogs and opportunists who have no intent but to mislead. I had to manually test every single avenue and possibility to ferret out the truth. 

The first major break was also the first stumbling block. I was supposed to get my Adsense check on the first of October. It was the product of 4 years of blogging with no income. You can only imagine how painful that felt at the time. 

But then I moved on. At the very least, it validated what I was doing. Knowing that I had the ability to reach that point gave me the impetus to find out how to minimize the amount of time to replicate it. 

Dividing Time Between Real World Business and Online Business

Moreover, one of the challenges of running extremely streamlined businesses is time. I simply had to do most things on my own. I had to learn everything I needed to do in a shorter time frame and I needed focus. There's a limit to how much I can multitask. Sometimes, real world business gets in the way and I have to physically leave the zone to handle matters. It's difficult and I am getting tired. 

The Road Ahead

My short term goal is modest - to earn at least $10 a day in adsense revenue. After that, $50. Ultimately, a $150 daily revenue stream would be sufficient to cover the costs needed for the next big step.

I came from the dirt road, and now I am on the pavement. The next step would be to move on to the expressway. There are still a lot of loose ends and lot of inefficiencies in my process but hopefully with the money that I won, I would be able to get some help to optimize my already boot strapped operations. 

Giving Thanks

I am very thankful for all the people who have helped me specially my sister and Lovedy, my sister-in-law who is an excellent writer. 

• I am thankful to Nist, the person who held the contest on prizes.org. 
• I am thankful to the actors that I hired. 
• I am thankful to everyone who voted and believed.   
• I am thankful to God for giving me the ability to win. 

Video of John Chow, Zac Johnson, Tyler and Steve Re: Flippa

If you are a person like me, then you would most likely agree with my principle of reinvesting 75% of earnings derived from online sources to endeavors that would also generate income. One of the things that I am studying intently is website flipping. Here, you can buy websites or blogs that are already generating money for a certain amount.

Though I have still have some reservations, I think that the video below is very instructional and informative.