No movements at all

I think ever since I have started with this blog, I have linked it to my Google Adsense account. I remember when I was personalising the blog, I was asked if I want to have it linked so that I can earn a profit by blogging (why not right? It felt like hitting two birds with one stone at that time).

Completely ignored the fact that the blog was not earning because I wasn't writing then. Work took over and of course the "intend move" also preoccupied my time so I was not that bothered about it. Last year, I made a conscious effort to keep on checking my Adsense account so that I can make sense if I was earning anything or not.

Checked it out and I think from $0.03 it went up to $1.00. I gave myself a pat on the shoulder and said that this might be a good sign because it also means, I will slowly gain revenue with the blog. I also changed the layout so that whenever I end a post, an ad will be there for people who visits my blog to click and explore.

Since I was not that busy, I kept checking my Adsense account. Lo and behold, the earnings were as slow as the turtle (or even more). I have earned $2.57 for two years!

Not that I am super proud of it but just to give you an idea :p 

This cannot be true....!

I was searching and checking online on how to boost my Adsense earnings but some articles were a bit technical for me that I dropped the idea of looking. One night, I stumbled upon the Freelance Blend Facebook page and joined the group. They had a webinar last week and I joined them (first because it was free of charge - Thanks Marv! and secondly, I want to understand the online world when it comes to earning).

During the webinar, one of the insights provided by Marv de Leon was that Google Adsense does not do a website any good. There's no benefit to it anymore and at times, can be the cause of distraction on your blog or website.

With this information at hand, I am now considering to remove Google Adsense on my blog... though I am challenged if I can make it reach $100 so as to be able to cash out. Also, this kind of challenges me to push myself more to write and see which topics of mine click with Adsense.

My fellow bloggers, do you have Adsense too? Any tips for me? :p

Tips on Moving on after Losing or Leaving your Job

I knew back reading would make sense! :p

A few minutes ago, I have been reading an email that I have received last 2008! Imagine, I still have an unread message from 2008. Either I was really busy or I have completely ignored my email because of my love life (hahaha!).

Anyways, when I opened this email (unfortunately, I cannot provide the link because when I tried opening it from the website, it gave me the error 'page cannot be found' anymore so I will just give you the gist and in case...just in case, you want to have a copy of this email, I can forward it to you - just drop me an email about it).

The article was from Colleen Eddy regarding moving on after being laid off. In my opinion, her notes and comments about moving on can also be applied for people who left their jobs without any replacement as of yet.

Colleen on Careers from Poynter.org

I was reading this and thought if I do start looking for a job again this can be a good basis on how I should approach potential employers about what I can offer. 

The question that stuck with me is this :- What work would you be happy doing?

I would definitely be happy working as a novelist if I can and be a baker on the side (yes, that will definitely be ideal for me). 

More from the email article is this:- 

Ask yourself what you have to offer: 

• What are your accomplishments? 
• What strengths have you developed as you met challenges that seemed overwhelming? 
• How have you survived in such a changing world? 
• What technology has become part of your repertoire? 
• How have you cultivated teamwork, leadership skills, learning on the fly? 
• What were some of the results of your work and how did they help the company? 
• Who at your company would speak well of you? 
• What would your bosses say?

I know that it is very hard to find a job and just like me, when I was still in Dubai, I would rather apply internally for any new opening than venture out of the company. I guess one of the reasons was the hassle of having to submit requirements for a new working visa. This task is something that I am not very happy about (yes, so that is the reason why I stayed xx amount of years in my company... Kidding aside, I did like where my career path led me). Another reason, I think, more than the job were about the people that I have met and worked with on my tenure in the company. 

Hopefully, this will be helpful to people who scan through my blog :) I plan to keep this email as it has great insights and questions which can be of use when you are on a lookout for a job. 

Happy reading! 

How to motivate yourself

This is what I always ask myself.

When I was still working, I would always tell myself that I will read later or write later which would mean nothing will be accomplished.

Now that I have a lot of this free time in my hands, I still ask the same question - how do I motivate myself?

to go back reading?

I see a lot of articles, news features or books that I really want to start reading but for some reason, I always get held up by other things -- the best word to sum this all up --- distraction.

Yes, I get distracted or get lured easily to either browse on new website finds or I get stuck with sorting out my emails (yes, six months of being idle and I still have tons of emails to read and delete).

It was only last week when I started reading an ebook. It was good. The words seem to surround me with happiness that I cannot explain. However, after my initial read, I have not gone back :-(

to start writing my book?

It was just recently when I had a chance to reconnect with my friend, Rob . After our usual Hi and Hellos, he asked me what's keeping me busy (to be quite honest, this is the reason I do not want to meet up because I do not have anything else to tell them except for the fact that I have been busy being a dog mother to my puppies).

Dead air... and lots of dead air... Rob asked me if I was still there so I took a deep breath and told him what I was doing. I can sense his disappointment and I kind of felt it too.

Back when we were still working on the same company, we have talked about what I really wanted to do and I told him that I want to write a book. I have always set myself as a novelist even when I was still a kid. He asked me what's stopping me from realizing this dream and I pointed out the pile of paperwork at my desk.

Now that I have all the time in my hands, he again urged me to write. Rob said the time is now or else I will never be able to do it anymore.

I know that he is right but I am not sure what is keeping me from doing it.

Is it the weather?
Is it the distractions?
Is it the slowness of my laptop?
Is it me just being lazy?

I, too, cannot figure it out or I just won't admit it.

Pinterest - is it Pinteresting? Really?

I think I was still in Dubai when I have noticed that there is a new website that is making itself known - Pinterest. 

For the first time in my tech life, I was not excited with it... I guess for the reason that I do not know what exactly to do with it. I mean, they say it will be like your personal corkboard / visual board of the things that you see online.

photo grabbed from www.inboundio.com

I shrugged it off because I was still obsessed then with BBM and Twitter.

Now that I have time in my hands and when I did an online writing gig two months back, Pinterest is slowly creeping up again... luring me to give it a try.

Honestly, I want to but I think I have to clear out my online space first. Though it is not like the physical stuff that you can see and be irritated that you are not doing anything (yep, like the mess on your table, just as an example), my virtual space is really messed up.

I have 3 email address that caters to different stuff (yeah, Hotmail, Gmail and Yahoo). I also use Pocket for my articles to read later, Zinio and Buqo to read my magazines for later, Kindle and Bluefire to read my books for later.... yes, that is how messy it is.

I was actually thinking of signing up and if it does not suit me, just forget about it later --- but I decided against it. I might just hold it up for a bit (is this me slowly turning into a non-techie person *gasp*???). Though I did a bit of research and Sheknows.com has actually provided a few insights on how some people have fallen in love with it and others got addicted to it (click here for the link on the article

Hopefully, I will organise myself virtually and make space to welcome an addition to my ever growing online apps / friends.

Writing in the Past

If you have been my follower for the longest time... I keep telling people that I want to write. Be it on this blog or to write a novel or a short article, basta I need to write.

While browsing through our old external hard drive (yes old... it's WD book version of the external hard drive... the one that needs to powered on before you can get any files unlike the ones now where its portable), I found this baby

photo courtesy of http://www.pencomputing.com/palm/Pen47/dana.html

I always wanted to buy one of these before because I have this feeling that I will be able to write more and focus... The idea is to buy this and start writing my novel! 

This was kind of something I'd really, really want before. I thought if I had this, there will be no distractions whenever I want to write... well, to be honest, this was like my reasoning as to why I bought the Kindle but I still was not able to read as much as I would want to... so you know... (embarrassed)... let's forget I said that.

Seeing this device made me realise that my dream did not die... it was just in hiatus or hibernating... I am planning to write a novel soon...oh please, don't ask me when soon is... :-( but seeing this made me realise that I should really start working on my dream. 

I just think I keep making excuses on what I should be doing (super!).

Hopefully, with all these things popping up, I get to work on my dream.