The 12 Steps to Comping Recovery

Here it goes, a big confession.

I've not had a win in a while.

Yes, it happens to all of us, even those who have Prize Unboxings to record (please can some prizes arrive before mine has to be published!!). But as the old saying goes, it's not about when you fall, it's about how you start picking those parcels up again. Or something like that. The trick is not to give up. Quitters never win and winners never quit (I'm trying to beat my record for most motivational quotes). For the last two weeks in August, I was away volunteering with the RSBP, where there was no Wifi, limited signal and I was miles from the nearest town. Safe to say, I didn't get much comping done. This has resulted in the first two weeks of September having a lack of those 'congratulations' messages we all love to see.

The thing is, this is something I often say to new compers. You can't expect to start entering competitions today and have the winning messages tomorrow (unless you're incredibly jammy). There is often a lag time between entering and winning. So if you are just starting back after a break, be prepared for a small gap in your winnings, but hopefully it will all be worth it in the end.

My point is, we all get dry spells and start to wonder what's going on. Why that magic winning streak is over. So if you are stuck in a rut, follow these steps. I call it the 12 Steps to Comping Recovery...

1) Switch it up!

Do you spend hours a day mindlessly doing Click-to-Win comps? Maybe try switching it up and seeing if you can 'Win on Instagram'! I like to change up my comping routine every so often. When I first started entering competitions, I was mainly doing Twitter comps, which resulted in lots of little wins. Then, I decided to set my sights on bigger things and began with the effort comps, which resulted in my first Snapchat win of an iPad! The results weren't instantaneous but I'm so glad I stuck with it.

2) Get Outside

Sometimes, when I feel I've been looking at the screen too long and my brain goes that fuzzy way, I know I need to take a break. It can be soul destroying sometimes to be entering hundreds of competitions with no results. To combat this, I grab my camera, get outside and take some pictures that I think will be good for future competitions. This feels so productive and gives me a real boost. I then go back, upload them to my computer and put them in my comping file.

3) Get Organised

On the topic of filing, I like to be organised when it comes to comping. I have a cute little notebook with a motivational phrase on the front that I use to write down slogans, closing dates of big comps and prize wish lists. This gets me away from the screen and, as a list enthusiast, makes me feel productive and so boosts my comping mojo.

Another way to get organised to is sort your bookmarks on your computer and set up AutoFill. Or, if you already have Autofill, make sure your details are entered correctly! I heard a horror story about a comper who had been filling in her email address wrong on all the comps! Maybe you're not winning because the people can't get in touch with you!

4) Look Back

Before I started doing my Prize Unboxings, I would keep a list of all the competitions that I had won and how I won them in a big spreadsheet (got to love a spreadsheet). When I was having a time without any wins, I would look back at all the prizes I had won before and remind myself how lucky I am to be part of this awesome hobby!

5) Celebrate With Others

For me, one of the best things about comping is the community. On my Facebook group (join here) and groups such as Lucky Learners (an amazing place to find comps and chat to other like minded people), people share their wins and others are so happy for them. It's great to see other people celebrating their prizes, even if it's just something small. Rather than this being a source of jealously, it can be a way to remind you that comping success is real and to help you appreciate those small wins too (which we can sometimes take for granted).

6) Keep on Searching

One of the first places I go when looking for specific competitions is Prize Finder. A frequent search of mine is 'camera' (a prize that has been on my wishlist since my wishlist began) and then I will systematically go through all the competitions.This works really well when searching for presents for people. My dad was over the moon with the cycling biscuits and bag I won him after entering countless cycling comps.

7) Go Shopping

This is a combination of the 'Switch it Up' and 'Get Outside' tips from earlier, but something I love to do is wander round the supermarket at a leisurely rate and find competitions in the supermarket. My weekly shop changes frequently depending on the current competitions (I've discovered I love Frubes since the Angry Birds comp). I may look a bit weird (especially when I'm standing studying the back of a pack) but I love doing it, and it helps my daily step count as I walk from shop to shop finding the best deal! Who know comping would be a form of exercise?!

8) Read a Book

But not just any book - SuperLucky Secrets! A while back, I wrote a review on Di Coke's book SuperLucky Secrets. Since then the book has been read many a time, and is rather bashed from always being in my bag so I can read it on my travels (a bashed cover is the sign of a good book!). I love reading something that's not on a screen for a change (ironic as I write a blog), and I am always learning something new from it. It gives me a new perspective on some methods of comping and encourages me to continue comping!

9) Have a wish list!

One thing that keeps me motivated more than anything else is my wish list. I like to make colourful and creative wish lists and then pin this on my noticeboard in front of my desk. I include big things (one day I'll win that camera) and smaller things (I have a thing about winning tea) so that I can tick things off and see the success of my wishlist. Every so often, I'll make a new one to keep things fresh! For more tips on making a wish list, check out this post.

10) Take a Break

This may sounds drastic, but take a night off. If constant comping is starting to get you down, forget about it for a night. When it becomes more of a compulsion that something you actually want to do, it's time to take a break. Even if it's just a night off, it can be good for you to take a break. It was really good for me to have two weeks without comping, spending all day outdoors and just switch off for a bit. Holidays are a great time to do this and, after attempting to comp on holiday once before, I would say, switch off the computer and have fun (making sure to take photos of these fun times for when you're back into comping). Something that I love about this hobby is that you can put as much or as little time into it as you want.

11) Stay specific

Just because you're not winning lots, don't enter anything and everything. Winning an iPhone charging station when you own a Samsung Galaxy may be a win, but if it's not one you want or will use, it's not much use. Don't waste your time entering random competitions, but instead invest that time in finding specific competitions that you actually want, or lower entry and effort competitions you'll have more chance of winning. This will make the hobby so much more rewarding and make better use of your time.

12) Stay Positive!

Just remember, winning does happen and comping is awesome. Everyone has times when they don't win for a while, but stay positive and follow the tips above and you should be back to winning within a couple of weeks. In the week and a half it took me to write and edit this post, I have already started to see my wins return to normal.

If you have any more tips to add, please comment below. I think you can always learn more about comping, so am always keen to hear other compers opinions!

Luck and Love,

Laurie

Day in the Life of a Comper...Neill Johnstone

Hello! I’m glad we share this amazing hobby, do you have a story about how you got into it?

Pressed for a date, I’d say I first started comping in 2014. I’d been meaning to start for years, but for reasons I can’t fathom, never got around to it! The final nudge came from a piece in the MSE newsletter when my first-born was still pretty wee and I was juggling childcare and part-time employment. Looking for a way to make Christmas easier I figured that if I entered enough comps, I’d soon be drowning in iPads, tellies and protein shakes. (Guess what? Didn’t happen!)

Haha, I think that's always the image people get! So what has been your best prize so far?

I don’t know about best, but my most cherished came in my first year of comping when I won an iPhone 5. I’m pretty sure it was a reconditioned model (the fact that the promoter was a phone repair company was a major clue here!) but I didn’t care - my old phone was so lamentably awful that two tins and a bit of string would have made for a quantum leap in technology. The new phone changed my life (or at least made me more pleasant to be around!). From that point, every call I made, every text I sent, reminded me that I could be - and indeed was - a winner. In your early days of comping, that’s like getting ten dozen motivational pep talks a day! On top of all that, I was able to enter so many more photo comps that you might say that I won several times over!

A daily reminder is certainly motivation! Do you prefer physical prizes or experiences?

Boringly, I’m going to sit on the fence here. The truth is, I’ve not won that many experiences, but I have been to a couple of great concerts that I would otherwise have missed, enjoyed meals I would never have been able to justify eating, and even got to see Norwich hold Man City to a goalless draw (honestly, it was a fantastic game!). On the other hand, I’ve also won physical prizes that have opened my mind to new things or stopped me from having to throw money at really boring things I resent paying for, like batteries, razor blades and granola.

I have saved myself a fortune, it's true! What do your friends and family think of this hobby?

I’ve got one friend whose mother is an old-school comper, so she takes an interest, but most of my other friends are indifferent at best, baffled at worst. “You win things … like … for a hobby?” asked one, before scratching his head and leaving it at that.

As for my family, my first-born only seems to notice if I win something he can eat, and steadfastedly refuses to cooperate for any photo comps that might benefit from having a small child mugging the camera. And to be honest, the second-born isn’t much better. My wife was sceptical at first, but now that she’s seen the benefits, she’s much more supportive. Generally, however, she stays out of it - although I did convince her to enter the Chicago Town dance off. First-born approved of the unscheduled pizza nights!

Haha, who doesn't love free pizza after all?! Aside from pizza, what are your top 3 dream prizes?

I’ve got family in North America, so I try to keep an eye out for tickets to the States. After, that, like most compers I imagine, I have fancy luxuries at the top of my wishlist, such as a Sonos system or a new motor. I confess, however, that I don’t try any way near hard enough to look for relevant promotions so I’m unlikely to win any of these anytime soon!

Don't give up! Searching for specifics is easy with sites like Prize Finder! What is your favourite method of entering competitions?

If you’re talking about social media channels, then I’m torn between Instagram and Twitter. There are many reasons to dislike Twitter, but it is effective for rooting out specific comps - including comps on alternative channels. Instagram, meanwhile is still relatively good for low entry comps, and largely easier on the eye. My gut also tells me that with Instagram, it’s possible to win regram comps; by contrast, I seldom bother with RT comps on Twitter as there are so many bots. The last time I retweeted a comp entry, I got a dozen bot retweets.

If, however, you’re talking about my favourite kind of comp, then it’s effort comps, sans doute. I’m terrible at the classic tie-breaks, but with most photo comps, you don’t have to be a pro photographer - some of my best prizes have come from quite unremarkable camerawork. The golden rule (and this applies to most effort comps, I’m sure) is not to follow the crowd.

Any tips for fellow compers?

I am by no means a comping veteran - indeed, I have much still to learn - and anyone who reads my blog (http://luckmuscle.blogspot.co.uk/) will know that while I love chatting about comping, most of my advice boils down to one thing: do what Di Coke does! Read her book. I endorse it without reservation. There is so much in the book about comping smarter rather than harder that it really will pay for itself.

My other tip is to establish a skeleton routine to your comping. For me, that’s basically opening a set of comping bookmarks (local comp searches and daily lotteries). These bookmarks take seconds to open and, at most, minutes to close. Anything I do on top of this - whether catching up with Facebook groups or hashtag searching on Instagram - is a bonus. If I lose my mojo, I just need few moments to keep my hand in the game - which makes it a lot easier to pick up speed once my gears kick back into sync.

Any final comments about this amazing hobby?

Mental health is a subject that’s dear to my heart, so the main thing I’d like to say is: ENJOY YOURSELF! With non-effort comps in particular, it’s very easy to find yourself filling in form after form after form. At some point, the joy dries up and all that’s left is the compulsion to complete yet another entry form. As anyone with addiction or compulsive behaviour issues will tell you - that isn’t healthy! So, to borrow the words form the Gamble Aware campaign - when the fun stops, stop. Switch to another media channel, try an effort comp, or - dare I say it - take the rest of the night off. You can’t enter every competition, so don’t try!

The other side of the coin is mojo loss - when you just can’t face another comp. Mojo’s a funny old thing, and surprisingly easy to lose. Frustration with a dry spell is often the root of this problem (if this sounds familiar - try my tips, For some people, however, it can be down to an episode of low mood or depression, or simply being broadsided by extraordinary circumstances, perhaps benign (eg school holidays), perhaps tragic. The important thing here is to get your groove back - go easy on yourself and let comping take a back seat. The mojo will follow when it’s good and ready.

In short, look after yourselves, people! If you have a positive mental attitude, you’re already one of life’s winners!

Thanks so much to Neill for answering my questions, I really enjoyed reading his answers and it inspired me even more in my comping. If you would like to be featured on my 'Day in the Life of a Comper' simply Tweet me: @LaurieBeat, email me on lauriebeat@gmail.com or send me a message on Facebook.

Luck and Love,

Laurie

Comping Conundrums

I have decided to start a new regular part of my blog - Comping Conundrums. Submit all those niggling questions that occur while comping. and I will go off and so some research as well as look back at my own experiences and try to answer them as best as possible. So here we go with the first installement of Comping Conundrums! Please submit your questions in the comments below, and I'll pick my favourites for next time!

1) The ‘I never win’ myth

Although this comment may have been made with some jest, we all go through a time in comping where it just feels like we just ain’t lucky. We can enter the same amount of competitions every day, and do the same things we always do, but the luck just doesn’t seem to be with us.

Comping prizes are like buses, you wait for ages and then two of the same come at once (this genuinely happened to me yesterday, and it was entertaining to see everyone roll their eyes at every stop we approached)

With comping, you just have to be patient. But also, switch things up a bit. I went through a spell of no wins a while back. The only competitions I was really entering was social media comps (and mainly RT-to-win Twitter comps). I decided after reading Di Coke’s book that it was time to switch things up a bit. I started entering more effort competitions and more online competitions such as through radio websites. I continued to do a bit of Twitter comping (as the odd small win really keeps up motivation) but after a while, I started to see the type of prizes I was winning change.

I was lucky enough to win £250 in the Oxford Campus competition, where you had to draw a phrase in a notebook along a theme they gave. I made sure to make it rhyme, add lots of colour and a few drawing (despite my extreme lack of artistic flair).

Then, when I was on holiday, I got a call from KissFM – I had won a technology bundle including an Apple Watch and iPod for simply answering a question about Batman v Superman (helps that I’m a huge Batman geek) online. Simple.

So to answer your question - you will win, just keep going through the dry spell and maybe switch things up a bit to keep the excitement and joy of comping going! Good Luck!

2) When doing competitions by post, on a postcard, does there seem to be any evidence that bright or larger postcards have a better chance of being chosen to win?

Sadly, the days writing letters pen to paper are slowly dwindling away, although I am still a fan and own a couple of colourful writing sets (The Works is a great place to get these fairly cheap). However, it is possible to find the odd postcard and post-away competition – and if this is the only method of entry, you have a better chance of winning, as less people are willing to pay the price of a stamp than enter an online comp for free. 

However, how should you send in your entry? A plain piece of white card? Or the craziest, most colourful postcard you can lay your hands on. Well, it all depends.

If the promoter is a small company and it is the traditional ‘pick a card out of a hat’, there is a good chance that a colourful entry will be chosen. Its human nature (especially if it’s the end of a long week) to go for the more colourful entries, and so there could be a better chance of winning. However, some companies will choose by machine, or make sure the chooser is blindfolded when picking, to make sure that it is fair. My advice? If you have colourful cards, go for it! Better safe than sorry. However, if you are decorating it, I would suggest only using coloured pens and things, as sticking things on can increase the price of posting and glitter can cause one massive mess (years of working with children have taught me this the hard way).

Another thing to note on the subject of postcard entries, is how to write the address. There is often the risk that by writing two addresses on the same side the post office could get confused and you will end up with your entry back at your door. To make sure that the correct address is scanned, write your address at a 90 degree angle from the promoters, and make sure that the promoters is on the lined space provided (if it’s a traditional postcard, or if you are making your own, draw this bit in). Good luck!

* To win some stamps for those postal enties, enter my competition here*

3) In your experience, is it better to enter early or late during a competition, or does it not make a difference?

This is a question that phases a lot of people, and the answer is simply – it depends. Don’t worry, I’ll explain.

Twitter

If you are entering a Twitter competition, sometimes the time that you enter does matter. For companies that are choosing a winner based on comments, they may not have time to look through all the answers, and so may just look at the most recent ones (as unfair as this seems). Therefore you are best to enter late on. I often will do a massive ‘win-it-Wednesday’ comping session on Twitter at about 4 o’clock typing into the search bar ‘#winitwednesday 5pm’ so that the competitions that are closing at 5 show up. This means that I will be one of the last people to enter. Once I started doing this, I did begin to see a change in the amount that I won.

Effort Competitions

By effort competition I mean things like slogans, photographs and drawings. For these competitions, I would always say enter as late as possible – but set a reminder on your phone for the day before the deadline so that you don’t forget and miss out! The reason that I say this is that ‘originality’ is often mentioned in the T&C’s of effort comps and so you don’t want any sly compers stealing your amazing idea! One of my comping friends was outraged when she saw an entry very similar to hers winning, even though she posted hers up first! So I would say, even if you have your entry prepared on day one, wait a little longer to post it up- just don’t forget and miss the deadline!

Online Forms

When the competition consists of simply filling in a form, or using a Gleam or Rafflecopter widget, I really don’t think that it matters. I am currently running a competition on my blog <enter here> which uses a Gleam app. Once the closing date is reached, the winner will be chosen at random from all the entries, regardless of when they submitted the form. So in this case, enter away and keep your fingers crossed you are lucky.

I should note that for some competitions it won’t matter, and this is just my thoughts from speaking to other compers, people who run giveaways and my own experience.

I hope this blog helped and please do comment any other questions below, I am keeping note of all questions asked, and look forward to answering more Comping Conundrums!

Luck and Love, 

Laurie