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Items in the future are closer than they appearOctober 7

Seth had a cool post today about this.

What are you working on right now?
What are you going to have done by 7:15 pm before you go to dinner?
What about next Friday, what are you delivering then?
Even harder: What do you have planned for 3 years from now?
Don’t have a plan? Then at least have a vision.

This is another reason we started the Giant Squids program. No, you don’t need our help making 50 amazing lenses. But with a goal to reach for, it gets a little more real. It doesn’t feel quite so vague, or quite so distant.

So: The next Giant Squids deadline is December 31st at 11:59 pm EST. That’s 84 days.

Go.

Stick it to ‘emOctober 7

A fun Tuesday treat: Squidoo stickers from Sticker Giant!

Here’s a picture of the sticker on the back of my iPhone. Slick.

Get your 3 pack here for 0.99 cents.

Free shipping for a limited time only. The shipping coupon code is (wait for it…) squidoo.

P.S. There are only 382 stickers left in stock, as of this typing. Giants got first dibs, now it’s your turn!
P.P.S. Whatever few cents we make from this go to charity.

An early note about lensmaster paydayOctober 3

Yes, we just gave away $80,000 to charity. But it’s time to share the love with our lensmasters, too.

Some of you may notice that in next week’s royalty payout, you’re getting a little extra. A bit more than you expected. Turns out that this is true. You are getting a bit more.

We’re always tweaking our algorithms, always looking to improve the performance of our software and our systems. In a recent overhaul, we discovered that one of our algorithms was miscalculating part of the payment we were making to lensmasters.

Here’s a confession: We’ve been consistently overpaying everyone all along. While our terms of service have always allowed us to cover our losses before paying lensmasters, we never have. We’ve always paid out of the first dollar in.

Here’s another confession: Based on the miscalculation we found, we’ve also been underpaying you by a tiny percent. That part we didn’t know.

But the good news is that somehow, things wound up just about even. So to make triple sure that you come out ahead, we’ve authorized a one-time bonus adjustment. That means you’ll be getting a little extra next week. Some of you more than others, depending on how long you’ve been around. As they say when you play Monopoly, “Bank error in your favor…” Collect your bonus and pass Go. (But I still get to keep Baltic Avenue).

Another important change you’ll notice is that we’re paying your

That… was… FAST!October 3

More than ten days ahead of schedule, we reached our goal of giving away $80,000 to charity.

I can’t decide which sentiment I want to share more: thank you, or congratulations. I guess both, equally. Thanks to everyone who voted and got the word out. For believing in the power of microdonations, community, and standing up for something. And congratulations to all the organizations who got votes. We’ll be sending the donations in a week or so.

Also, I wanted to re-post an amazing comment from lensmaster Frankster, who never ceases to impress. It made our day.

First: to Squidoo, a big thanks for walking your talk. You are truly an amazing group of folks!

Second: every charity and voter won. If you voted, you were responsible for your charity getting $2 and raised awareness for your cause. Wildlife SOS, who I voted for, recognizes the opportunity and is thrilled to have been included as every charity should be.

Third: in this one small case, we had to cast our $2 vote for 1 charity. But in our daily lives, we (humans) do NOT have to choose between mothers, soldiers, bears or whoever. We really can do it all. There are enough resources in the world — both people and money to support and even end some of these problems. We each need to do our part — pick a problem then do something about it — walk yo

The $80k is spoken for!October 3

Wow, the $80,000 for charity went fast. Over 40,000 do-gooders rushed to Squidoo to vote for their favorite cause. When you have a big chunk of cash dangling in front of you, it’s easy to get excited. You can see it, you can feel it, and you know the value of it. It is what it is. It’s harder to get excited about 1000 of your volunteers (the same people who went to bat for you in the polls) creating lenses to support you. After all, you never know if each lens will make $8 or eight cents. It can feel like a shot in the dark.

But let me tell you a story. Last year I created a lens to solve a problem. My dog goes crazy over tennis balls. Give her one, and *snap* it’s in tiny pieces within minutes. So I created a lens with a few eBay modules that directed readers to good places for bulk tennis ball sales. It was kind of a stupid idea, really. After all, who goes out of their way to look up tennis balls online?

The first month the lens was live it made $6.87. Then $22.13. Then $32.37. In just over a year this goofy lens has generated over $127 for the Humane Society by selling stuff people were already looking for. Sure, some months are better than others, but what would it mean to you if just 100 people sent you $127 a year? Could you put it to good use? Of course you could.

It’s a little easier to get excited about 1000 lenses pulling for you now, isn’t it?