CDL Career Coach takes the HubChallenge
Why I'm Taking the Hub Challenge
I Love This Graphic
Okay, so the long story that goes with the caption, because I think people will ask.
I didn't actually lose my job. I quit my job. I didn't quit my job because I was over-weight. I quit my job to take another job (which I thought was going to be a better job). It wasn't better. So I quit it too. Meanwhile, the old company has started a BMI requirement for hiring which I don't meet. I have to lose about 100 pounts to get my old job back. (As of this morning's weigh in, maybe only 70 pounds.)
Call it Hedging my Bets...
I'm not really sure I can lose that much weight. Most people don't realize I'm as heavy as I am and guess my weight 100 pounds lighter to begin with. I've never managed to lose more than 25-30 pounds before and generally gain it back, plus some (hence the current weight problem which did not exist when I first started dieting, but as a teenage girl, it's hard to understand that boobs are normal and being a girls size 14s doesn't really qualify as fat.).
So I am looking for ways to create an income, or strech my current savings, just in case I can't go back to driving a truck. Then againk, working from home doesn't really sound that bad if one could make a decent living at it. But I fiture the only way to do any of that is to throw myself in 100% right from the beginning and that's what this challgenge is for me, encouragement to start out big.
And besides, it's hard to eat and type at the same time.
Day 1 (January 3)
- Compound Interest Has The Power to Make You Rich
Compound interest can build up a fortune over time. It's up to you to decide if the fortune will be in your pocket, or someone else's. Understanding how compound interest works is the key to make sure your money works for you.
Day 2 (January 4)
- 9 Tips for Getting out of Credit Card Debt
It may be hard to believe if you are addicted to credit cards, but you can have a better lifestyle without them. Have you ever stopped to add up what you are paying in interest and service charges for your...
Day 3 (January 5)
- Help for Student Loan Debt
As a group, Americans owe $875 BILLION on student loans. The cost of a college education has gone up nearly 400% in the last 30 years. And the unemployment rate for recent college graduates is close to 9%....
Day 4 & 5
Oops... gonna have to write harder. Didn't get a hub done today. (Two days... really lost track of time here!)
The topic for the personal finance contest was car loans. I had a couple car loans a long time ago. The first one was when I was 18 from a credit union. I remember asking them about why the payment was lower than the interest per month. My dad and the credit union rep both told me I was just an ignorant kid. I tried to sell the car a year later when I lost my job. It was very difficult since I owed more than I originally borrowed. And my dad had co-signed the loan with me so I really needed to make things good, you know?
The second car I bought on my own credit through GMAC and paid the 5 year loan off early at about 3 years. I owned that car for 12 years and the last 9 were great. The best option you can get with a car is one that has no payment book attatched. Didn't think that would make a great hub for the contest though.
Now I'm car-less by choice and learning to get around a new town by foot and bus. There are lots of advantages to a car-less lifestyle. That I may write a hub about sometime.
Day 6 (January 8)
- Not Much Change in New Hours of Service Regulations
Hours of service rules dictate how many hours a day a truck driver can drive. The main reason for the rules is concern over driver fatigue and preventing accidents. Back when... - Questions About Getting out of Debt Through Bankruptcy
Who will know? Will it effect your spouse? How much does it cost? Can you get credit after a bankruptcy?
Day 7
More excuses? I seem to be falling behind and losing track of time. I don't know if I can catch up, but I am excited to be getting close to that 10 hub mark...
Day 8 (January 10)
- How the Standard Meal Per Diem Deduction Works for Truck Drivers
Over-the-road drivers who are away from home for days at a time can claim a standard meal deduction on their taxes. The current rate for DOT regulated workers is $59 a day. Most drivers are home only 3-4 days...
Day 9 (January 11)
- 4 Easy Steps Anyone Can Follow to Create A Financial Plan
Financial planning may sound intimidating, and sometimes the way people approach financial planning make it sound pretty boring too. But financial planning can be fun. Starting when you are young gives you... - Finding Motivation & Inspiration for my Next Hub
I can't say I have all the answers, but I've found being on HubPages has helped me get more ideas of what to write about both on HubPages and on my own websites. Some of the things I do that have helped me get...
Day 10 (January 12)
- Are You Investing, Trading, or Gambling?
You may have heard that playing the stock market is like gambling. Sometimes it's compared to betting on horse races. And often people talk about "speculators" like... - Beginner's Guide to Stocks, Options, and Futures
Do you know the difference between a stock, and option and a future? These words get thrown around a lot by investors and the news media, but do you know that they are talking about? If not, then I will...
10 Hubs in 10 Days...
I'm relieved to be back on track. The first day I missed I thought I could catch up... the second day (or was that a whole weekend?) I missed I thought was the end of my chances with this challenge.
One of the things that helped me catch up was that I had started a couple hubs on the days I didn't publish and so they were there waiting for me, with just a little bit of a start to get me going. Writing went faster on the hubs that I came back to than on the ones I start and finish the same day... usually. I think the quality suffers a little on those that write themselves really fast. But it feels good to have something fall in place like that.
I got an honorable mention in the Money Grows on Hubs contest for "4 Easy Steps Anyone Can Follow to Create a Financial Plan". I was so happy!! Even though I didn't win any money, it really helps me feel like I'm on the right track with the quality of my hubs.
Oh, my and what day is it today?
Just when I thought it would be okay to take day off and do something else. Let's see...
If Day 10 was January 12 and now it's the 16th?
Day 11 = January 13
Day 12 = January 14
Day 13 = January 15
Then today is day 14. Okay, so 2 hubs a day for the rest of the week and I can catch up. This challenge is turning out to be harder than I thought. It's really not that hard to write one hub, but that everyday thing is not so easy for me.
Day 14 (January 16)...Hub #11
- How I Made Over $1000 in the Stock Market Last Week
I want to be clear I am not making $1000 every week. This was just a really good week for me, the kind I want to have more of. I trade stocks. I am something between a day trader and a swing trader. The...
Day 15 (January 17)
- Embed Video and Images Without Copyright Infringement
Most of the images you find on Google Images are copyrighted. You can click on the image to find the source and ask permission to use the image. That seems like a lot of work to me though. So where can you... - Surviving anEarthquake
I've also lived through a couple of earthquakes. The one I remember most clearly was a 6.0 in Southern California. I lived in an older mobile home at the time. At first, I thought it was the garbage truck....
Day 17 (January 19), Hub #14, 15
- Keeping Your Truck Clean & Organized
Okay, so I had to give the Amazon hub a try just to see how they work. Not sure I like it, but there it is. - What is The Relationship Between Followers and Hub Score?
Do more followers guarantee a higher hub score?
Days 18, 19, 20, 21
Three days and no hubs. (Make that 4 days...I read an interesting hub by Hub Llama about writing 30 hubs in 30 hours. Maybe it's not too late to give up hope.)
It's only 9:15, I could stay up a while longer... but I probably won't. I've got a bunch of hubs started, but the mental clarity to fix 'em up so they can be published is probably not going to happen between now and midnight.
I'm still counting on myself to get around to finishing them soon though. I've been away working on a monster website. I'm pleased with the results of the last 24 hours or so. It's a heck of a lot better than 2 days ago, but still not good enough to want to share a link. It is also over 200 new pages ... however short and unfinished ... that is my reason for not hubbing. This challenge may have been a mistake. At this point I'm wondering why I got myelf into this, and why do I feel like I need to finish.
It's not a mistake though. I came to HubPages hoping to break through a case of writer's block and really worried that I had lost my ability to write at all. I'm glad I'm here. I'm glad for the hubs I've written and the way it has helped me to write off this site as well. Especially that. And I think this challenge and the HubMob and Money Grows on Hubs have all helped me to get past that fear. It's a good thing. Even if I don't get all 30 hubs done in 30 days.
Then again, I have 10 days left. You never know.
Day 22 (January 24 - Hubs 16,17,18,19,20)
- Promoting your Web Pages with Social Bookmarking and Backlinks
First, let me start with a simple definition, in case you are new to bookmarking and backlinks. Backlinks are the links from other web pages that are pointed to yours. Linking is what makes the World Wide... - Advice for Getting Your CDL
If you want to get a CDL, chances are you will need to go to a CDL or Truck Driving School. Some states require a certain number of hours of classroom training and behind the wheel training before they allow... - Cheapest Way to Start Your Own Trucking Business
There are many companies that offer a lease to prospective drivers with little or even no money down and no credit check. Some of these companies even offer training to help drivers get their CDL and some... - Understanding Fuel Surcharge
A fuel surcharge is an extra payment to help cover the cost of your fuel. The surcharge became popular around the time fuel went over $1.20/gallon. Most large carriers include a fuel surcharge in their rates.... - Surviving Life With Your CDL Trainer
In order to make up for CDL schools that give drivers only the bare minimum they need to pass their CDL test to get their commercial driver's license, many entry level driving jobs start out with a few weeks...
Day 28 - 21st Hub
- Growing a Venus Fly-Trap
I got our venus fly-trap for my 10-year-old son. I was on my last run out to the East coast. He has been riding in the truck with me since he was 5 and we homeschool. It's not easy to work 70 hours (or...
Day 30- Hub 22
- Trucker GPS Reviews
Tickets, fines, and accidents can be the result if a truck driver relies on a GPS designed for automobiles. Trucker GPS systems are 2-3 times more expensive than a car GPS. You might wonder why. If you are a...
30 Day Challenge Review
I'm glad it's over!
I'm just a little suprised that I'm more relieved the 30 days is over than I am disappointed that I only wrote 22 hubs. That's actually not bad. (And I wrote a few hubs on my other accounts too, so 30 is do-able, but maybe not if you have a split personality and other websties you are working on at the same time.)
This week has been especially bad. I tried to upgrade some software on one of my websites and it went wrong... crashing ALL of the websites. I'm rebuilding and just don't have time to do hubs AND try to get these websites back up and running.
Life does get in the way sometimes.
Overall, I'm glad I took the challenge. I'm sure I have more hubs today than I would have without the challenge to kind of push me along. At least twice as many, maybe 3 times.
I've been looking at that 60-day challenge and think that next month I will be trying to put some effort into SEO and backlinks to build traffic. Not to mention improve some of the hubs that I wrote "fast". I would expect to round out the 30 hubs, maybe even hit 40 next month. I'm still thiking about a strategy for linking to my websites and back to my hubs from my websites so that they all work together better. I want to have the RIGHT hubs for that project and not all of the ones I've written work for that. I also suspect I will have a few other topics I need but don't have yet.
Oh, and traffic and adsense earnings... I suppose some people might be wondering.
My best hub so far appears to be the "How the Standard Meal Deduction and Per Diem Works for Truck Drivers". It's had 174 visits, 119 of them from Google. It's that time of year, and the information is not always easy to find online. I should know, I have to search for it every year when I get ready to do my taxes. I suspect this hub will continue to do well until mid-April. It's the only one I've spent any time on "fixing up" as it had so much traffic and started out pretty plain. I'd still like to find a good photo for it so it isn't just showing the "Money Grows on Hubs" logo.
I'm up to $7.12 from adsense. I've had this adsense account for several years, and it was around $4.83 or maybe $4.38 when I started the challenge. I have 3 hub pages accounts and 16 websites so I can't be sure all the clicks came from the 30 hubs in 30 days, but I'm impressed that my earnings have almost doubled over the last month. I've only been on HubPages 5 weeks and it seems that's early for any clicks. But due to the dismal click-thru rate on my other websites I'm going to give credit for the whole $3 to being on HubPages.
As for traffic, Google says I have gotten over 752 visits this month between my 3 HubPage accounts. My next best website had 198 visits and most of them were spammers or me visiting to clean up after them. I thought it would be fun to compare stats between my 3 accounts to see how the HubChallenge might have played a part.
Comparing Stats
CDL Career Coach
| Alter #1
| Alter #2
|
---|---|---|
812 page views
| 219 page views
| 160 page views
|
187 from google
| 46 from google
| 22 from google
|
89 Hub Author Score
| 84 hub author score
| 89 hub author score
|
93 Hub Karma
| 96 hub karma
| 96 hub karma
|
24 hubs
| 7 hubs
| 6 hubs
|
19 followers
| 8 followers
| 19 followers
|
Google Traffic Stats
Thanks for Reading!!
Anyway, thanks for reading!! Leave a comment if you are in the 30 Day Challenge and I'll come visit some of your hubs!
(2/28/11 Update)
I earned $2.38 from Adsense in January and have been suprised and thrilled to see another $8.95 in February! I may have to do the challenge again... but maybe not for March, maybe April.