Who Likes Squid?

I Do! I Do!

Now, put it together, and what do you have? Squidoo!

Sorry, I had a silly moment there.  I’ve mentioned this site quite a few times in the past, so I figured that I would explain what the heck this thing is, and what my fiance and I have been doing with it.

What in the world, you might ask, is Squidoo? It is a slightly silly website with paradigm-shifting potential.

Do you remember the days when everyone was creating their own, personal homepages on angelfire.com? What were these pages about? Usually nothing, or your dog, or cat, or job. I remember trying to build one of those sites, and it being incredibly cumbersome to deal with. Granted, I was about 12 at the time, and not interested in code, but today I am still not interested in any kind of code. Copy and paste HTML is about my limit.

Then came the days of the blog - I had one before they were even named a “blog.” Back them, I just had a LiveJournal account, which was just as it sounds, a journal.

Now, Wikipedia has passed its 2,000,000th entry. People don’t even use a traditional encyclopedia anymore. Why would you? You won’t find a sentence on anything related to the Sony Playstation, or the Cure. But on Wikipedia you can find incredibly detailed entries about just those things.

What if you took all three of these significant shifts in how we think about the internet - personal pages, blogs, and Wikipedia, and throw in some social networking and mix it all together… and POOF… you have Squidoo. The beauty of this is that anyone can build their own webpage - with graphics, pictures, and YouTube - about ANYTHING.

Because it is all on the internet, and it is made by individuals, you do have the chance of coming across misinformation. But seriously, haven’t we learned that just because “I found it on the internet” that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is true? And whereas there is only one article on Wikipedia for each topic, on Squidoo, there can be several articles about each topic.

Now, for the best part. The lovely people at Squidoo must be readers of Ayn Rand. They have found a way to build something that is entirely self-perpetuating and moderating (with a little help from the staff). On top of this, Squidoo recognizes that in order to grow and attract more members, they need content - LOTS of content. So what do they do? Reward their “lensmasters” (those who create pages, or “lenses” on topics) by splitting the profits that come from the *small* Google ads.

What does this result in?

MONEY.

Those that make the best lenses rise to the top and get the most traffic. At the end of each month, the Squidoo team divides up the profits into three tiers based on the quality of the lens and the amount of traffic it draws. So, you can make your own website about the things you love - and make some drinking money on the side.

BEAUTIFUL.

Try Squidoo out for yourself. I am passionate about this site because I really do believe it combines all the best things about the internet.

And on the Eighth Day…

(This is also on my “About My Goals” Page)

God Made Sweet Tea. -Blind Melon

And on this day, man also realized that he was in debt.

I too, have found both sweet tea and debt, although I am trying my hardest to get rid of the latter. I have a lot that I am trying to accomplish here, and there really aren’t enough hours in the day to do it all. But to give you an idea of what I am trying to do, here are my goals:

• Plan my wedding (June 27th, 2008 is the date)
• Become debt free by April 2008
• Stop working at the restaurant and be working for myself by the wedding
• Eventually stop working for myself (at home) and go back to school for art
• Become a professional artist
• RETIRE by 35

That’s all doable, right?

Now, my definition of retirement isn’t exactly sitting on my butt and watching TV all day. If I am able to become a professional artist and travel the world to paint, I consider that my ideal form of retirement, even though I would be technically working. I think when you stop working and learning, you are dead.

In the meantime, I am taking a class or two for painting, waiting tables, and trying to get my internet business(es) off the ground.

In order for me and my fiancee’s budget to work, I need to make about $400 per week. Right now, these are my various sources of income:

1. Restaurant (waiting tables)
2. eBay
3. Squidoo
4. Affiliate marketing through eBay and Squidoo
5. Antique Booth at an antique mall (soon to be going bye-bye)

So basically, this blog is going to follow my quest towards accomplishing the above goals of becoming debt free, then weaning myself off the restaurant (although it is SUCH easy money sometimes), then going back to school for art and my quest as an artist, and finally - RETIREMENT.

I’m 23 right now, soon to be 24. I think I can accomplish those goals. Most people don’t really begin to save for retirement until their 50s, so why don’t I just start early? If I screw up and have to wait until 45, fine by me!