International Removalists

Finally after many weeks of waiting, my international removalists delivered my shipment from Australia to New Zealand.

I chose a company by the name of 'Movements International' who specialize in international movements of large size. Everything from my 42" Plasma Screen, to my DVD Recorder and PC Setup were shipped in a container across the sea. (A nervous wait for me, even though everything was insured, you naturally worry about losing important items that are hard to replace)

It was like Christmas came early today when everything arrived, we have been living without things like can openers, wine openers, wine glasses and my beautiful high back leather computer chair! (Such important items!)

The only bad news was that over here in this country (New Zealand) they don't have a digital TV transmission service, so my Teach High Definition Receiver is now officially a boat anchor. I may as well sell it on eBay.

My DVD / HDD Recorder by Soniq took a while to get going, there seemed to be some funny noises in the DVD loader mechanism, but after a few minutes it seemed to warm up and is now working ok thank god.

The other cool thing is that I shipped over my complete home Satellite setup from Australia. I am a paying subscriber to an Australian based Satellite service - so my dish, set top box and card are all here and according to a local satellite guy - they can be successfully hooked up. Because Australian and New Zealand are fairly close in proximity access to the Satellite I need to receive should be fine. The local satellite guy gave me this site to track down heaps of Satellite info, http://www.lyngsat.com/ where you will find Satellite information covering the whole globe. It's quite detailed, you get positioning information and the programming feed from each Satellite too.

Once I am live with the Satellite service, it will be handy to be receiving my home countries feed while abroad.

I will be spending a bit of tomorrow sorting my home office out, so once it's all done - my blogging surrounds will be comfortable and back to normal again.

What earnings should your blog achieve?

For those of us keen to make money online from a blog, what is a realistic monetary goal to aim for?

It's all very well to say "I want to earn a return similar to John Chow, or Darren Rowse!" but it's probably a better idea to start with a more realistic goal.

I am not against aiming high! However, if you set the bar too high, too early - then the chances of consistently blogging over a long period and achieving massive success are a little harder.

I read a good post a few days ago from EtienneTeo; where he mentioned setting a blogging goal of achieving $100 per day. It was a target I instantly could connect with. $100 per day in my mind is achievable by anyone in the blogging world.

Whether you are limited technically or new to the game, the $100 a day target really can be achieved in a small amount of time. With some Google Adsense to kick off-your on-site monetization and possibly some Smorty of PayPerPost paid reviews, if you keep busy - the goal should be possible inside 3 months.

Yes, Really.

If you are serious, motivated and can keep posts up - this is possible.

By having a realistic goal, your chances of turning a nice profit online are much higher. Once you have achieved the goal, you are set to launch to the next level - some earnings possibly high enough for you to quit the J.O.B.

So get motivated, play it smart and set the realistic goals for your blog.

$100 a day is $3000 a month and nothing to be sneezed at in any currency. Go get some.

Who is Tyler Cruz?

Funnily enough, it's a question I have been asking for a while. I had heard Tyler Cruz's name popup from time to time in the Blogging world, but I had never actually found his blog and I certainly didn't know how many successful sites Tyler has created and continues to run.

At just 23 years of age Cruz has certainly garnered some impressive experience from his time online. Boasting programming knowledge from early on Cruz got a taste for making cash online after setting up a movie review site; after getting a feel for the industry, Cruz continued creating new sites and selling some for profit.

It seems his current cache of personal websites includes large scale forums and lucrative 'user generated content' type sites that are great earners with slightly less input from the owner - he seems to the be the utimate internet entrepreneur. On top of his impressive websites, Cruz has his own blog that is well monetized and it's certainly increasing his earning potential. With his RSS subscriber base almost at the 1000 mark and a recent Blog design facelift (great graphic header banner by the way!), "The Cruz man" is sure to be the next big player in the Blogosphere. (Hey, at 1000 subscribers he is already a 'player' but at this rate he will be breathing down the neck of Chow, Shoey and Rowse in no time! :)

I'm glad i've found his home, after subscribing to Tylers RSS feed I will now be able to keep a finger on the pulse of all things Cruz and if I can grab just a few ideas from this boy wonder - I will be a happy (older boy) (Yes, 29 is ancient in the internet world these days!) so get on over to Tylers dome at www.TylerCruz.com - theres a tonne of informative posts and you're sure to get heaps of value from his feed.

RSS Hugger opens its doors

RSS Hugger is a recent startup aiming to capture and display the feeds of a variety of blog sites. Aiming to help bloggers gain exposure; somthing that the likes of Technorati and Digg used to cater for, but are now literally too big.

Through RSS Hugger, you can not only list your blog but can network and meet like minded bloggers which is a good way of promoting your own blog as well as finding useful and new feeds to reed.

Built on a quality and spam free policy, RSS Hugger is personally monitored for quality - ensuring only unique, regularly updated blog feeds are added - making it much more useful for finding new feeds and material.

Many in the blog world are already realising the power of RSS feeds, and services such as RSS hugger is a great way to harness and build on the power of RSS - even though RSS Hugger is quite new and building a following, it always makes sense to get on board early and adopt potential new platforms that may increase your blog exsposure and visitors. By choosing to write a blog post explaing your view on RSS Hugger you can take advantage of a free listing on their RSS feed list. Alternatively, you can get on board for $20.

So for bloggers, there is virtually no risk in taking part in this start-up, however it's something that certain has potential!

Multiply your Blog Earnings

When I started Blogging in early 2007, I kicked off quite a few blogs covering various topics. In the first 3 months of my blogging life I was madly updating something like 15 blogs daily! It was fun in the beginning, because the idea of blogging was new and you didn't mind spreading yourself across all the niches.

As I started to run out of time; I cut down my blogs to 3 main blogs. My personal one (30 Day Man), my main Sports Blog (NRL) and my Gaming Blog (DOTA).

In the background set several other blogs that really only got updated every few weeks if that.

Now after reading a post on DoshDosh recently, where they spoke about building a 'Blog Network' by creating a new blog each month and slowly building it - I decided to go back and have a look at all my blogs. (You know, check their Activity (Comments), Hits and PageRank) and to my surprise almost all of my blogs had jumped to a PageRank 2 at least, and some had hit PageRank 3. I was quite surprised, as I had not optimized any of them, they weren't being posted to regularly - yet still the investment in them early on had seen small growth in hits and a nice PageRank increase to go with it.

Actually one of the other surprises was my Gaming Blog (DOTA). While I was considering this one of my main blogs, the updates have been a little few and far between and I really need to give it more love. I check the stats and my DOTA site is receiving 400 hits daily. I was shocked! It seems I have a few listings in the Top 3 on Google and I really need to start capitalizing on the traffic.

Starting with a Blog redesign (I might contact Unique Blog Designs actually) and then getting some regular content and more importantly a forum up there to start the 'user generated' content. Meaning less work for me, the users are building content themselves and I can capitalize on the Ad Revenue.

So folks, start building multiple blogs! Even if you cant dedicate a lot of time to them - start building a new blog maybe every few weeks and see how you go! (If you are already doing this, then keep an eye on them, they might just be building nicely themselves!)

Internet Pros cashing in for Xmas

The talk of big profits as we approach Christmas is coming from many quarters of the internet world. From affiliate gurus like Zac Johnson, through to popular bloggers - it seems with so much online shopping about to take place, there will be plenty of commission thrown around. At least this year, the marketers are being obvious about their targeting Xmas for a good cash grab - it certainly is a 'payout' quarter, as everyone clammers for gifts.

It got me thinking, not only should I be throwing up some Pay Per Click campaigns, but also I may be adding some 'Hot Xmas Deals' widgets to the 30 Day Man website - it will be interesting to see what the CTR is on the 'seasonal based' widgets.

If you are seriously looking at getting into affiliate marketing, then now is probably the best time. The opportunity is much greater as people from all internet walks of life will be chasing down a bargain.

There is a lot of talk about which ad program to use for your affiliate marketing, I personally use Azoogle Ads. After being referred by JayGeiger and eventually getting the US tax paperwork through, I was accepted and was able to pimp their offers. It's a good interface, giving you nice visibility and control without being too complex.

Get into it people! Its the season to be stuffing your stocking with commissions!

Jobs: Big Dry to Pouring Rain

Remember how I was saying it was a struggle to find suitable and well paying work here?

Well things have changed dramatically since then; I now have 3 job offers to choose from and the decision is now starting to do my head in!!

I have the option of working with Vodafone; through two competing franchises - both offering similar contracting type packages and based very closely to each other. Overall they are offering virtually identical roles. Heavily sales driven, with a small retainer component. The payoff is in the form of a 50/50 split in all profits generated.

The 3rd and final offer is from the big cola giant: Coke. The big red is offering a role with an attractive packge of company vehicle, cell phone, notebook and other advantages such as company shares, lucrative super and merchandise discounts. Hmmm sounds good.

So now I am finding it hard to decide which direction I go in. The Vodafone roles may offer more of a payoff in the end, with higher risk being a contractor and the Coca Cola role while still sales based, seems more secure and lucrative in the beginning ...

Decisions, Decisions ...

My previous experience suits the Vodafone roles much more, as I come from a telephony / sales background (business to business) as that does carry some weight.

Any ideas? Please help me decide, because the longer I wait - I might miss the roles all together.

Comfort of your OWN Internet

Ahhh I finally have my own broadband connected in this new country. After weeks of house hunting, then settling in and finally trying to get a landline and ADSL connected - it's all now working!

My only complaint is that the ADSL speeds in this country are very poor. Man, I thought Australia lagged behind the world in ADSL standards - but here in New Zealand, there is no support for ADSL2 or ADSL2+ and the copper phone network is so outdated that rarely are speeds above 4MB achievable to the exchange. Uploads are rarely experienced above 128k so these guys are certainly in the dark ages.

When I enquired about all this, most of the blame seems to centre around 'limited competition' - you see there are only two phone companies here: Telecom and Vodafone. Prior to Vodafone entering the market, options for locals were very limited and even more expensive. Telecom didn't even have a GSM cellular network, rather relying on older CDMA technology and it wasn't until Vodafone built their own cell phone network that things got competitive. (Even still rates are massively higher than other countries)

Hopefully as time goes by more players enter the NZ market and makes things nicer for the locals. (I'll just have to get used to things before heading back home in a years time!)

Oh and the other thing I found interesting, they use a completely different style telephone jack to what we see in the USA and Australia. The local standard is a form of BT (British Telecom) jack that I haven't seen in 10 years, very outdated and frustrating when trying to hook up landline phones and ADSL modems! Most modem phone cabling comes in the RJ11 style (standard US / AUS) plug type. So I had to race around and find convertors.

Having my Cisco wireless box working well is very handy! Unlike back home, there aren't very many wireless networks around the place - I tried a war walk last night with the laptop and didn't pickup anything. It seems my WPA security on the wireless box won't be targeted too much then hey? Unless some of the farm animals are going to go all hacker on me ...

Ok, I had better run - got to head off to a job interview in an hour or so.

Finding the REAL cheap deals

I have been moving into my new house in the past 3 or so days; so access to the internet has been scarce. Just waiting on the local provider to get broadband setup here; I have the landline connected, paying around $45 a month for access, but local calls are all free and untimed which isn't too bad.

Broadband however is a different story. There is no ADSL2 here and the downstream speeds are severely hampered by the poor quality of the fixed line telephone network. Rarely are speeds above 4-5mb achieved! And upstream is terrible, usually limited to 128k - which is really in the dark ages!

Anyway, the bargain hunting! I have spending plenty of time getting good deals from the local garage sales. As I await my shipping container to arrive from Australia, I need to stock the house up with things like fridges, lounge suites and desks.

I managed to pickup a second hand fridge for $20. It works a treat and looks quite presentable! I also scored a computer desk for $10, a good, sturdy and unmarked desk - another awesome deal. To top it all off - I got a 5 chair dining suite (including a glass topped table) for $50 - so it has been a very productive couple of days.

Still deciding what I will do for work; I have now had offers from Coca Cola and Vodafone - in sales roles; so I am expecting to be hitting full-time work the week after next.

In the meantime, I am twiddling thumbs and looking for wi-fi access points until my broadband goes live, hopefully tomorrow night!

Unsigned Artist Marketplace

As upcoming artists struggle for exposure and airtime; a cool new website is offering the spotlight for the good independent artists upcoming artists and it's easy to flick through and checkout the new stuff by genre.

As an unsigned band you can easily signup and start getting your work uploaded and likewise for interested fans - it's a simple sign-up and process to get listening to the good stuff.

I'm a big fan of hip hop stuff and looking through the artists on there was quite impressive. It kinda reminded me of strolling down Venice Beach, LA - where the hopeful artists would offer you their earphones and demo their independent work. But on top of this there is every type of genre; literally hundreds. Reggae artists through to hardcore artists are featured.

Make sure you check out the artist 'Alexia' under the hip hop genre; a hip hop cross soul artist that kind of reminded me of Maxi Priest from the late 80's ... Very cool.

The site is a great idea; as a fan you can not only check things out too but you can create playlists too and really get heaps of quality stuff from these artists and obviously your views are helping promote the artist and pushing them up the lists.

It's totally free to register - so check it out and start looking through the stacks of quality unsigned artists out there.

Power of Blogging Collaboration

Have you seen how the recent collaboration between Bloggers - John Chow and Shoemoney has sent their RSS subscriber base into orbit?

As two of the major players in the Blog world; the teaming up by these guys has been a very smart move. Both possessing huge subscriber bases; by working together they can get hold of each others readers. No one actually loses - because the readers will simply read both blogs. No reader would simply 'turn off' their subscription to either blog; so by sharing things - they both grow in size.

Together; these guys are a blogging juggernaut.

It got me thinking, partnering with another blogger in a similar position is certainly a smart move. By working together - you can harness each others subscriber base, but also have a dual pronged marketing attack!

So I am putting the call out; if someone has around the 50 RSS subscriber mark and would like to collaborate in a blogging effort - I would love to hear from you. Drop me an email here; asutcliffe@gmail.com (that's also my MSN Messenger Address) and we can discuss things!

In other news I have been spending more time online now; I just purchased a Linksys (Cisco) WAG200G ADSL2/Wireless Router - so I am mobile and spending plenty of time on the laptop. The range and quality of the Linksys box has been great, I'm happy with it.

I am also trying to get back into some PPC campaigns, so am looking forward to more advice from Zac Johnson the king of PPC and the Spiderman of the internet.

Are credit cards evil?

In this day and age when most people can get their hands on credit easily; usually in the form of credit cards - is it too easy for youngsters to get caught in the credit trap?

A relative of mine recently out of high school, quickly got his hands on a personal credit card and combined with some huge cell phone bills -he was soon in the red to the tune of over $5000.

The flipside of this danger; is that these days most of us need access to credit cards for not only things like cell phone payments remotely; but for on-line purchases and other distance purchases. The other advantage is access to some of the decent rewards programs around; smart, managed spending on credit cards has the advantage of cheaper flights, free meals and gifts by accruing points - something that cash can't give you!

I think the best way to keep a lid on things, while still having access to the benefits of credit cards is to have the spending cap as low as possible. Maybe get a friend or relative to help you choose a smart level of credit and ensure its capped? (That stops you from being too tempted to raise it too much).

The other key is to compare credit cards; and pick the best available option. Not only the best rewards program; but a credit card with the lowest interest rate, 0% credit cards or transfer based interest rate reductions are ideal and the longest interest free period. With so many cards available; check on-line for reviews and other advice from trusted sources.

YouTube allows auto uploader + 1GB Files

Just saw this post from the YouTube blog; it seems they have finally opened the flood gates and not only allowed bigger files to be uploaded (up to 1gb) instead of the old 100mb - but they now also boast an 'auto uploader' - a program that will allow users to download the new uploader software and start uploading in batches, much more easily and also simultaneously.

Check out the latest info from the YouTube Blog

:)

New Bloggers are Tomorrows Stars

One of the best things about blogging and the community itself; is that most of the people like to share information and generally will help each other where possible.

Personally, with the help of guys like Ed Dale, Joel Comm and others - I wouldn't have been able to get this blog going. Tips on monetizing your blog, different advertising platforms and technical tips have helped no end.

I think it's important to lend a hand to new bloggers; maybe in the form of a link, review or some guidance because really - the new bloggers of today are going to be the powerhouses of tomorrow, so you might just be the one asking for the favor in a years time maybe.

I found the last round of Google's PageRank changes quite interesting. As Google swept through the internet dishing out their latest algorithm - in some corners certainly justice was served. One of the blogs I used to read was AdesBlog who previously had the high PageRank of 7. With such a high PageRank; the blogger was able to harness a lot of power and wield it in the form of paid monthly backlinks and competitions where he asked readers to link to a new product of his in exchange of batches of backlinks from his site.

I actually took up one of the offers from this blog several months ago. Entering one of Ades' competitions in the promise of getting a backlink for a review I did - however the backlink never came. Emails and communication to Ades fell on deaf ears and myself, and possibly others felt a little bit ripped off by the backlink scam.

Well it seems Google has caught up with this cowboy and brought him back down to earth. The blog now sits on PR5; a dropping of 2 PageRank places and cutting the earning capacity and power of the owner.

As my blogs are now sitting at PR4 and PR5 respectively; it's certainly amazing to see whats possible with some regular posting and general support from the Blogging community. Thank you all for your help! While PageRank certainly isn't the 'be all and end all' - it does still have a few perks in the Google dominated world.

So help out those bloggers in need, support and embrace the community! For the guy you hurt or ignore today; could kill you tomorrow.

Early Xmas Shopping - Cowboy Boots!

With Christmas a little over 1 month away, I have decided to start planning AND acting early this year. Starting with my parents, who are extremely hard to buy for - I found a cool present for dad which I am hoping he will be stoked with.

Cowboy Boots

Yep, I found this site on-line last nite 'MetBoots.Com' based out of the USA - you can select from a huge range of Cowboy style boots; brands like: CAT, Dr Martens, Converse, Wolverine and George Boot (Plus heaps more)

Dad usually likes to think of himself as an outdoor man, and living on a large property in Sydney - I am surprised I haven't thought of Cowboy or even Western Boots before. These boots have such a cool theme, I think he would tend to wear them more on the town than on the land.

With me being in New Zealand this year; Christmas shopping I thought would be harder - as my family are in Australia. But with smart internet shopping and shipping options; I am able to do everything from another country! (Very handy!)

So take the tip; start planning and get the Christmas shopping now. Metboots.com also have gift certificates available and will ship for free for orders over $100.

What interesting gifts are you planning for the family this Christmas? Has internet shopping made things easier or harder for you?

Power of Blogging Personality

I have thought about what attracts me to certain blogs; and I may have even commented on this before - but certainly the bloggers that give me an insight and connection to their personality - tend to get more authority and respect, allowing readers to feel like they 'know' the blogger and make them more likely to subscribe.

Regardless of what blog topic, or blog niche you are into; I think you need to be able to give readers an idea of who you are - allowing them to connect with you and build rapport before really launching your blog into a multitude of posts about a specific topic.

The other thing to remember, is that new readers are coming on board all the time - or at least they are checking out your blog for the first time. That's why I like to add in a video or at least some photos every now and then to give readers the feel of a 'real person' and a snapshop of my personality. Whether they 'like' you or find you 'weird' doesn't really matter - it just allows the person to see you in the flesh, and even if you're not too their liking, the curiosity factor alot of the time may keep them coming back.

I firmly believe in this. A lot of industry bloggers will tell you 'content is king' and sure, content is important - but their are two problems with this. The first problem is, that if people don't see your content, it can never be king. The second problem is, your content might be good - but do the readers know, believe or respect the author? This is why they regularly need to 'know' who you are before you churn out your masterpieces!

I want to give a quick example here. (Sorry to pick on you Bob!) But, I found Bob Buskirk and his blog a few months ago through some John Chow advertisements. Bob's blog had a real personal touch and as a reader I could instantly get a glimpse into his life, businesses and goals. There was a touch of comedy, heaps of pics and some interesting and insightful stories.

Bob looks after a few blogs and does a fair few IT reviews; so he gets fairly busy at times - i've noticed on his personal blog, that not only have his posts slowed, but he has taken away that personal touch, picture or insight that broke up his posts each week. His posts are still insightful and giving good information, but as a reader - you lose touch with the author if there's not a connection to the article I feel.

On the flipside, a good example is over at the Shoemoney blog. The shoe man runs a free t-shirt friday post; quite simply this photo each week of the shoe man allows the readers to see the guy in the flesh and keep the link to the author in their mind - something I feel is very important.

Motivating Yourself - Fear v Courage

I have been in a writing mood this past 24 hours; I have had a constant flow of topics I have wanted to write about here on the blog - it's information overload inside my head!

I saw a great couple of paragraphs over at Yaro Starak's blog tonight; I have only recently started picking up the feed from Yaro's Blog - he is a fellow Aussie and his life story was quite interesting. He has a sort of new age, arty type feel to his blog and his post today about "What holds people back" struck a chord with me. (It certainly relates to me at the moment, as I ponder whether to kick off my own business - due to low wages being paid in my new temporary adopted country of New Zealand)

As Yaro said "Fear" - I agree is a common reason that people hold back from achieving their goals. It has certainly has played on my mind, I have hesitated several times in kicking off my own business. Obviously start up costs and initial capital are always things that can hold you back, but I have been successful in all my start-up's before - why do I continue to fear kicking them off? Not only can fear play a part in holding back your business dreams; but from romance, to work related meetings - fear plays a part in many lives.

Has it effected you? When have you experienced fear or when have you pushed through it?

On the flip side; Yaro's mentions "Courage and Will Power" are the two things you need to blow fear out of the water. Very good points, however the hard part is generating these. Whether it be a pep talk from a trusted successful mentor, motivating music or whatever - if it works for you then bottle it and just pop it out when you need the motivation!

One thing I always like to remember - if you're worried about failure and fear cuts in; just think "What is the absolute worst thing that could happen?" Usually the worst outcome isn't that bad. You might have to sell off an asset, or work for a boss again - but generally you will have your health and a tonne of experience and will be ready to try again in no time.

Don't miss that chance; life is short baby.

Accepted to PayPerPost!

After several months of hard work, I have finally been accepted to PayPerPost! For Bloggers, PayPerPost (PPP for short) is the leading review / sponsor site available on the Internet. It's the easiest medium that links advertisers and bloggers.

Advertisers lodge their site or product advertising requests with PPP and relevant Bloggers can choose the opportunity and talk about that item on their blog and be paid a fee for the task!

PayPerPost being one of the largest; is able to pay the most for each post (more than competitors) and also offers a much larger range of topics to discuss - so you can be sure your blog will find a relevant item to chat about.

I first heard about PPP through the John Chow Blog. (The now famous 6'2 Asian guy being mobbed at Blog World Expo as we speak). The Chow man directly reviews websites using the PPP direct review option; so after seeing the potential there - I followed the link and read on. (That was a few months ago)

So after over 90 days of live posting to the Blog, PPP approves your setup and you are now part of the team and able to start earning some attractive dollars.

As I have been chatting about lately, while in a smaller country and unable to earn good dollars in the job market - the internet has been a lifesaver for me, just doing smallish review tasks and being able to earn US dollars remotely has been a godsend. (I am hoping to be able to ramp this up as my sites improve their PageRanks - my sites currently stand at PR4 and PR5, making them more attractive to PPP advertisers)

The only other requirement for PPP members, is that you don't congest your site with too many advert or review posts. While it's nice to make some money; readers naturally don't want to see cheesy offers left right and center - so don't fear, 30 Day Man won't be pimping everyone hard!! Relax!

Just think; a mix of Ed Dale, Joel Comm and a twist of John Chow style and we should be ok. Does that make sense? Let me explain; (Ed Dale; relationship based affiliate marketing - uses his family values well to build rapport. Joel Comm; newsreader / presenter style delivery to build authority around what product or service he offers. John Chow; blatantly obvious selling opp's with little or no cover up. (Don't worry John, your fans love you for it!)

So if your blog is growing or you are thinking about kicking one off; get on board with PPP now. It will open up a whole new world to you as a blogger and give you more options around monetizing your blog! So if you want to get paid to blog then kick things off and join the gang at PayPerPost today.

Making More from Smorty - Booya

I think I have talked about it before, and I know many of you bloggers have certainly heard of smorty but my earnings from these guys have really started to lift in the past 2 weeks. As I mentioned before, one of my websites has recently been given a PageRank 5 by Google (PR5) - so smorty actually pay more for posts as your PageRank grows. ... Very Handy! (My Smorty posts are actually fetching me upwards of $25 US per post, which is nice)

Anyway, I thought I would do a quick video in addition to today's blog text to say hello and get some more human contact going! (Hahaha)

Cola Giant to the Rescue!

And some say that “Coca Cola” is bad for you right? Well, not for me.

As I continue my job hunting in my new adopted little country of New Zealand; a vacant position with Coca Cola as the Regional Sales Manager could be my saving grace!

I mentioned yesterday how the two jobs I have been awarded pay very, very small wages. Actually the wages were so small they were comparable to the wages I earnt as a teenager working at McDonalds back in my homeland Australia! (Amazing but true!)

Oh, and if you're thinking the wages here might be comparable to the cost of living – then your wrong. The cost of housing (purchase and renting) is astronomical compared to the local wage and so is the likes of regular gasoline and other household items. It seems the reason for the high cost of living, is that many overseas investors (from the UK and USA) have fallen in love with this little tucked away place in New Zealand and either come over here to live (mostly retiree's, bringing over foreign earnings) or they simply visit and invest here for the future. So the US dollar and Pound are enabling these out of towners to gobble up nice chunks of realestate (beautiful water front views surround most of this part of New Zealand) – but the result means higher property prices (due to demand); while local wages and business investment remains low.

Anyway, back to the big giant – Coca Cola.

I heard back from them yesterday saying I have been shortlisted along with 7 others out of a few hundred job applications. I am hoping to have an interview next week, I'm trying not to be 'over confident' but I do enjoy interviews, and I feel if I get the chance to meet with them – I should win the role.

The rewards look to be very good. On top of a nice local wage with sales commission built in, I also get a brand new company vehicle, cell phone and new laptop pc. All very handy when setting up shop in a new town.

So it seems while Coca Cola may have added to my waist line and rotted my teeth over my life of 29 years – they just may come back and save me in the end if I get this nice little job!

(Will hopefully have an update on the job outcome next week some time! - will let you know)

Depressed after GETTING the job!

Man, I thought you only felt downcast and depressed when you failed to land the job or successfully navigate your way through the job interview!

My travels today took me to a job interview for PC support, sales and administration. A role in this small town, where there is limited competition and the business owner had kicked things off nearing 4 years ago.

The role itself sounded quite good, I was prepared to put my professional 100k a year career on hold while I basked in the quiet life of this small town for 12-18 months. That was 24 hours ago! The interview went very well, all was looking good - then came the slap in the face. The pay rate was $14 an hour!

So I could have the job, but had to accept $14 an hour! Seriously! I could kick back and write Smorty or PPP reviews and land between $6 and $10 US a post online for god sake. Such a shame that the local industry isn't paying well enough.

It has led me to start thinking about kicking off my own business. While the town isn't huge, their certainly is a need for decent, personal and web IT support. With the right approach and personal touch I think it could work; start-up costs would be low if I work from home and freelance initially and certainly coming from a big city - my sales skills will help get the new customers on board initially I hope...

Apart from the right paperwork and business name to start trading. Really only advertising and business cards should be needed at the absolute bare minimum startup stage I feel.

I do want to kick it off on a shoestring budget. Does anyone have any ideas or experiences they could share with me in this area?

Google sent my PR skyrocketing

With Google hammering many folks of late; I was stunned and excited to see one of my blogs getting a massive raise from a PR2 to a PR5 in the latest round of Google PageRank updates for October / November 2007.

Many have reported PageRank drops and eventually some evening out of the rankings, but to see my NRL Rugby League Site get such a generous jump was really rewarding.

I started the blog in March 2007 and really didn't expect to climb the PageRankings so quickly. I simply made sure I was posting original content daily (NRL is one of Australia's most popular sports; Rugby League Football!) and I simply posted my thoughts each day on happenings in the sport and reviewed each game on the weekend.

Hits wise it is seeing around 20,000 unique hits each month and the AdSense revenue from this kind of site has been pretty rewarding.

I didn't really do a lot of link exchanging; just natural linking with sites of good relevance on occasion and linking through YouTube and other video sites when I posted new videos.

So the Google Update certainly wasn't all doom and gloom trust me!

How did your blog or site fare in the latest Google PageRank update? Was it a case of Google Love or Google Hate for you?

Fighting the Job Market

I am 4 days into my new town of Nelson, New Zealand. The past few days have been filled with job hunting and people networking in this town of around 160,000 people.

Being in the IT industry and having a decent sized network in Sydney, I have rarely had to actually apply for jobs - it's simply been a matter of ringing the right person or setting up the interview for a role off the cuff. Rarely if ever have I applied for roles advertised in the paper or on-line.

Things are certainly different now. In this smallish town of just over 150,000 people - the amount of IT roles are certainly limited. There seems to be a big demand for blue collar or labour based jobs, but IT and Web based roles are few and far between.

So on top of applying for jobs, I have been trying to save money where possible! As I might need the lump sum of savings to last a little while until the right job comes along.

The first step was getting a car, and fortunately the import laws here in New Zealand are fairly favourable. So importing a decent Japanese car is much cheaper than say in Australia or the USA - as their is little or no protection of local car manufacturing here.

I was able to pickup this 1994 Bluebird SSS, with Climate Air, Power Steer, Auto, Alloys, Tow Bar and Remote Start Button all for $2700 AU - which was a bargain. See Pics Top Left:

Apologies my posting rate has dropped; I am living with the in-laws at present and access to their broadband is limited. So hopefully in the next week or so I will be into my new rental house and setup properly! (I will also have a tonne of posts to catch up on from the likes of; John Chow, Bob Buskirk, ProBlogger, Jay Geiger, John Cow and Zac Johnson.. I am dreading loading up my Bloglines reader!)

Talk soon.

Adam

New Australian VB Beer Video

Most Australians love their beer. They take it fairly seriously at times too, usually before they have drunk too much.

One of the major brands drunk here in Australia is Victoria Bitter or VB for short; they have a famous tune that has been their trademark for over 25 years.

They have just released a video of a revamped tune, using a 100 piece orchestra and only beer bottles as instruments!

Check this out, it's an unbelievable video! Enjoy!

http://www.vbsymphony.com.au

(PS - I am now writing this post from Nelson, New Zealand! - I have finally relocated and am in the midst of finding local work. More news soon!)