Bumblebee Blog

Bzzzz October 15th, 2014

Now that I have put the pack back on, so to speak, and am blogging again after my year-long blog vacation, I decided I better check in on those clever blog gurus. You know who they are. They’re the professional bloggers who tell us amateur-hour bloggers all the things we need to do to become big-time bloggers as clever, industrious and remarkable as they are.

One of the first things I noticed is that the gurus are all talking about how to monetize your blog. “Monetize your blog” is the fancy way of saying “making money from your blog.”

(*Head slap*)

Brilliant! I’m going to make this little WordPress baby into a money press so that I can sit back and watch that beautiful green stuff pile up in my checking account while I fiddle with pretty tomato jam photos and give updates from my incredibly exciting and colorful life. Why have I waited so long to get onboard with this wealth-generating phenomenon?

So, I did some surfing—I mean, I invested in the future of my blog by spending an afternoon doing research—and read up all about how to make money blogging. There’s a lot out there. I mean—a LOT.

There’s just one problem. From what I can tell, it involves a lot of work.

To make money blogging involves blogging at least once a day—but preferably more. You have to have a really unique and clever niche about which you know more than anyone. Then you have to figure out all sorts of software and plugins so you can mine information you collect from people who visit your blog. Then you have to entice your blog visitors with offers so that they will divulge their email addresses. Then you have to produce ebooks and white papers and podcasts and Youtube videos and all sorts of other stuff so that you can offer it for free to the blog visitors so that they will love you and hang on your every word and will come back to visit your blog every single day so that you can then try to sell them other ebooks and white papers and podcasts and Youtube videos. Then when you get a whole bunch of emails of people who love you and can’t get enough of your free stuff you can roll out your subscription products so that all those people will pay you to write even more stuff to promote other stuff that you will write to sell.

To quote the immortal words of that Youtube lady, “Ain’t nobody got time for that!”

Besides, I came up with a better, brilliant-er plan.

Wait for it!

Instead of monetizing my blog, I am going to monetize my dog!

I am going to turn the Papillon-driven cash flow that’s been going on around here back in my direction. I am going to put Sophie to work to pay for her expensive homemade roast chicken thigh dinners, $300/year dental cleanings, $50/month prescription medications, $40 beauty shop appointments, not to mention all the designer sweaters, neck kerchiefs and bling she likes to wear when she lounges around the house on my furniture.

Therefore, I am announcing the following opportunities to interact with Sophie.

Hire Sophie as Your Team Mascot – Sophie loves sports, especially if she gets to dress as one of the players. Sophie will show up at your games and bark her head off. She will allow people to pet and admire her.

She will happily chow down with the players at the team buffet table and prance down the field at parade time. Better yet, you can wheel her around in her own personal conveyance.

Book Sophie for a Personal Appearance at Parties, Openings and Other Events (Just Like Paris Hilton!) – Sophie can be quite the party animal. She has her own bling, but if Harry Winston wants to drape a few diamonds around her neck, she will be happy to oblige.

Buy Sophie’s Collectible, Limited Edition Paw Print – And you can pick a paw! She has four of them, so there are actually four sets of limited editions. Collect all four!

Upcoming products will include the inevitable t-shirts, ball caps, bumper stickers and more.

There will also be a Sophie iPhone and Adroid app. We are particularly excited about this one. The new Sophie app will wake you every single day, including Saturdays and holidays, at the crack of dawn with her unique musical blend of snorting, sniffing and coughing. If you opt to purchase the iPhone scent-generator attachment, you can enjoy the unmistakable eau de doggie fart.

But wait! There’s more!

The Sophie app will occasionally—but unpredictably—wake you at 3 a.m. to go outside and look at the stars while it displays an animated Sophie wandering in circles looking for just the right spot to poo.

You may be wondering about how Sarah, Sophie’s best frenemy, fits into this scheme. She doesn’t. Sarah hates to have her picture taken. I’m not sure, but when I point the camera in her direction she seems to think I’m trying to steal her soul.

Until I get Sophie’s personal website and toll-free number set up, you can just contact me by email. Price list available on request.

Go Sophie! Cha-ching!

Posted In: Blogging, Dogs and Cats

Tags: Sarah, Sophie

6 Comments

Bzzzz September 25th, 2014

Well, hello there! Did you notice I was gone? Did you miss me? I missed you.

Truly, I didn’t set out to take nearly a full year off from blogging here at Bumblebee. Sometimes, life just gets in the way. Sometimes you have to make a choice between living life or writing about it. Not that living and writing are mutually exclusive, of course. I recognize that. Heck, all those Mount Everest climbers, round-the-world sailors, Appalachian Trail hikers, North Pole explorers and English Channel swimmers are certainly prolific about cranking out the books. I bet some of them even blog more than once a year.

It’s just that I was writing other things, particularly for work. But I did write also write a book. Yes, it’s finally out! Wisdom for Home Preservers was released at the beginning of this month.

I sneaked into Barnes & Noble the other day and took a selfie with the only copy they had on their store shelf. I suppose they had sold the dozens of other copies they had stocked because they really did have only one copy. Just one!

Let that be a lesson to you. You must run right out and buy a copy before they are all gone!

The book includes 500 (500!) tips about canning, freezing, curing, smoking, root cellaring and more. It’s an easy read and the specially commissioned linocut prints by printmaker Melvyn Evans provide a nice retro vibe to this tidy little hardback book.

I’ll be back soon writing about the life I’m living. It’s not Channel swimming or polar exploration though. Just more country life.

Posted In: Blogging, Books, Canning and Preserving

Tags: Wisdom for Home Preservers