February Prize Unboxing

 My first month back to comping has been fairly successful. No big wins but a few lovely little ones:

https://youtu.be/u7QTvNh1akc

Prize: Case of 8 beers

Promoter: Badger Beer

Entry Method: Instagram

Prize: Embroidered Hoodie

Promoter: Tate Espoana Apparel

Entry Method: Online Entry (Gleam)

Prize: Cheese Board and Vegan Sheese

Promoter: Veggie Magazine

Entry Method: Online Entry

Prize: 3 planners and a pen

Promoter: Complete Planners

Entry Method: Instagram

What was your favourite win this month and what are you aiming for next month? I'm going to set the task of winning a fitness watch! Check in next month to see if I manage...

Luck and love, 

Lorna

Mental Health and Comping

Intro note: for those only interested in just the top tips, skip to the bottom. Enjoy!

*tries desperately to remember password*

*resets password*

 *dusts off blog*

Hello, does this thing still work? 

It's been a hot minute since I wrote a blog. In fact, my last blog published on the 27th of September 2018, announced my return to the comping world. Since that is still my last blog, I think we can all assume how that went. Since my last real blog post in July 2017, life has been busy. One university degree, an ED relapse, 2 break ups, 6 house moves, a parents divorce, a dream job, a global pandemic, meeting my incredible boyfriend and lots of other highs and lows in between. 

In short, it's been busy, and my mental health took a battering. As someone with a highly addictive personality, and a bit of a perfectionist, comping became something that I had to do, rather than what I wanted to do. And when I wasn't winning, rather than being able to brush it off, I felt like a failure. Rather than taking hope and celebrating other compers' wins, I felt jealous and compared myself to them. All of a sudden, I realised that comping had gone from being fun, to a source of my anxiety. And so, as the saying goes, when the fun stops, stop.

So, how did I get back to a place where I can enter competitions for fun, enjoy the wins I get and feel genuine pleasure when other compers win (the recent Capital Holiday comp being a great example, Lucky Learners showed the country how to comp!)? In truth, I worked on my mental health. Three things have helped me the most: I have given up alcohol (perhaps temporarily, but at least until I get my anxiety fully under control), I have started therapy and tackled my demons, and I have began to feed the good wolf, rather than the bad one. The parable goes like this: 

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.
He said, "My son, the battle is between two "wolves" inside us all.
One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.
The other is good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"
The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

I have decided to feed joy in others' wins, hope in success, truth in when I need a break, and compassion to myself when I do not win. And so, I have come up with 5 things I am going to do to protect my mental health, all while diving head first into this incredible hobby:

1. Focus on wins: your wins, friends wins and little wins

When you do win, rejoice! Celebrate it! I won a 4-pack of beers as my first win back into comping.        They will be going to my boyfriend, as I am not drinking at the moment, but I sprung out of bed and celebrated like I'd won the lottery!

2. Not winning does not mean you're failing

The fact that the word win in featured so heavily in the comping world, and the antonym is fail, makes it easy for compers to get caught up in their "failures" rather than their wins. However, given compers can enter countless competitions in a day, with perhaps only a 10% success rate, it is important to focus on the wins. If your success rate is 0% (we all have dry spells), try to focus on other people's wins and know that one day they will be celebrating with you! Finding the joy of comping friends will help with that.

3. If your eyes strain, head aches and you want to take a break: take a break

Simple this one. When the fun stops: stop. It's all so tempting to think "just one more", "the next one might be the winner". But in actual fact you cannot prove that the next one will be a winner and you are more likely to just end up with a head ache and a bad nights sleep (said from experience).

4. You don't need to spend all your time on social media. 

Switch up methods if you're avoiding social media: social media has never been great for mental health, so if you need to avoid it, do not think that it is the end of your comping! Yes, there are many competitions on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, but these are also becoming very popular. Perhaps by trying some gleam comps, or creative comps (to get away from that screen), you will even  increase your wins!

5. Have a natter. 

 Remember that there are real people our there! Chat to other compers on comping Facebook groups. Hearing other compers chat about their lives, their wins and their not-wins (avoiding that F-word), makes them real, rather than a competitor. It helps you to celebrate their wins, rather than being disgruntled that you did not. Groups such as Lucky Learners and Mission Competition (shameless self plug) are a great way to meet other compers. 

So, that's my current 5 aims of being a comper and keeping my head above water. I'll be trying to create a "compers chat" post on  my Mission Competition Facebook group about once a week and celebrating everyone's wins. Please do add your own tips in the comments: I'd love to compile a massive list of ways we can support each other!

Luck and love, 

Lorna

WINstagram: 2018 Update

Like with most social media, Instagram is constantly updating and changing the way that it does things. This means that the way we enter competitions is also constantly changing. And so I felt it was high time to update my old Instagram tips blog with this brand spanking new one. While my old one had more tips and tricks, this blog serves as more of a guide as to how to enter Instagram competitions (with the odd tip thrown in for good measure of course).

In my opinion, Instagram is one of the trickiest and also best ways to win competitions and it is where the majority of my wins have come from. These two things go hand in hand: because the competitions often require a little more effort and hunting, less people will enter them.

There are different kinds of Instagram competitions:

- Repost (including repost to story)
- Combination of like/comment/follow/tag
- Loop competitions
- Creative competitions


1. Repost Competitions

Now to be honest, this is the sort of Instagram competition that I enter the least. In fact, I have only done a repost comp once, and that was to win a pair of wellies that I really needed for work, and I was lucky enough to win!

The issue with repost competitions, in my opinion, is that they make my Instagram profile look a bit messy. Some promoters will check out your Instagram page to check if you are a bot or a comper (give us a break), and so making your profile as 'real' as possible is important. For this reason, I would recommend deleting the post from your page after the competition winner has been decided.

To enter a repost to win competition, you have to post a copy of the promoters original competition post onto your own page. The simplest way to do this is to download an app such as 'Repost for Instagram' or 'RepostIt'. This will make sure that the caption below the promoters post is also copied over, and this often contains essential hashtags and handles.

For the repost to story competitions, you just need to take a screenshot of the post and put it on your story, as shown in the infographic below. Once you've chosen your picture you can add things to it! Make sure to tag the company and include any hashtags.

2. Comment/like/tag/follow Competitions (I need to think of a catchier name for these)

The most common type of Instagram competition is a simple interaction one. The promoter will give instruction in the post, and you just need to follow these. Be careful to check how many people you need to tag, and also if the person you tag also needs to follow. If that is the case, I will tag a fellow comper who has already entered the competition (or I'm pretty sure will after my tag) to make sure we are both entered correctly. If you're looking for people to tag, or want to be tagged, comment below this blog with your Instagram handle to build up some comping friends.

Make sure to follow all the brands mentioned, as they will check if you follow if/when they go to contact you as a winner. Be prepared for your Instagram feed to become filled with promoters, so if you're not a fan of  'JD posting a different angle of shoe every 15 second' (Neill Johnstone, 2018) consider opening a separate comping Instagram (but make sure to post to it so it doesn't look like a fake account). A similar style of competition are:

3. Loop Competitions

If you don't like following a lot of brands on Instagram, this is not the competition type for you. The idea of a loop competition is that lots of different brands collaborate together to have one large prize, and each of them benefit.

Starting on any of the competition posts you will have to like and follow the post/promoter before following a link to the next promoter in the chain. When you find the same competition post on their page you then also like/follow and continue to the next page. Do this until you are back at the original post and comment 'DONE' (or they will tell you to comment something). The idea is that all the promoters benefit, however it can be a bit of a long process, as sometimes there can be a hundred brands involved (well, about 15 but you get my point). Easy to enter if you can be bothered, but check where it's open to, as these are more common in America.

4. Creative Competitions

All hardcore compers love a good effort comp! Instagram is the perfect platform for them, as it is such a visual social media channel. These can be harder to find, but there are a few good Facebook groups that advertise them. Whenever I see an effort comp on Instagram I take a screenshot of it and add it to an album on my phone, so that I can check the details whenever inspiration hits. Another way of doing this is the 'Save' feature on Instagram. This way all the details are easily accessible for when you have time to create your post (often not when scrolling through Insta on the bus).

The key thing to remember with creative competitions is to stand out. Really take your time with these and read the brief carefully, making sure to include any tags, hashtags, products or specifications necessary. You don't want to go to a lot of effort for the perfect landscape photo when it has to be a selfie.

Another tip would be to check out the other entries by clicking the hashtag to view the other entries. Obviously not to copy any entries, in fact, the opposite: make sure your post is original and stands out amongst the others. Pick a colour of background or clothing that hasn't been used much, or include text or quirky angles to draw the eye of the promoter. 

Personally, I love a good Instagram competition. They are so easy to enter when out and about, and as I follow so many brands, the competitions just come to me on my timeline when I'm scrolling anyway. 

Follow me on Instagram (@lornab22) and comment below your Instagram handle if you want to be tagged in competitions too.

Luck and Love, 

Lorna