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Hi everybody!
I'm pretty baffled right now and just sent off an email to ask about it, but I'm wondering if this has happened to anyone else today:
I looked at my dashboard and got this message:
"January 22, 2008: Holy Squidcash, Batman! Congrats -- you're one of the top earners on Squidoo. Our records show that your Squidoo account earned more than $600 in 2007. So to make the tax people happy, we need to gather some 1099 info from you. Please drop Kimberly, our Community Organizer, a note at kimberly@squidoo.com and she'll tell you what comes next. The sooner the better... we won't be able to send your next payment until we've collected this info. Thanks for all the hard work!"
My eyes nearly popped out of my head. As far as I had known, I'd made little more than a dollar on my lenses so far, despite trying to put in really good content and not spam everyone. Checking my individual lenses, it was only about 5 cents each and a dollar for another, so maybe I missed something (something amazing at that!)??
Is this even possible?
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I think there's a bug in the system. I got the message twice and I know I only received about $40 at the most last year. They'll figure it out.
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I posted over the Chatter Box about this and sent Kimberly a note - it has to be an error/bug in the system.
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Aww man! I was thinking for a second that maybe it was true and some miraculous force had caused hundreds of people to buy guinea pig supplies and corporate blogging books, haha!
*sigh* if only.
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Bang! I'm not the only one! me too...LOL!
so, what are we going to do? I was thinking of writing an email...
false alarm!
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Me too! I only wish I'd earned more than 600 bucks...but then again, so would the taxman!
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Well I already sent an email, should know by now to check the boards first! Oh well, something to aspire to, right Everyone????
Sorry, Kimberly!
*Going to do something else now, that was my excitement for the day...*
Bette
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I also recieved this messager and only have $1.04, I'm relieved.
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so good to be true... Haha!
glad that I check out SquidU first.
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Yeah now I feel bad that I emailed first. Poor Kimberly is going to have an inbox to the moon, haha.
*is more jealous now realizing that some people actually got that message because it was true*
: )
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We're working on it. Sorry for all the confusion guys :-)
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Hey, I could use an extra $600!
Ah, well, there's still the rest of 2008. ![]()
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Boy oh boy did we ever mess up. Sorry guys.
(And Gil and I were JUST talking about how smoothly things have been running lately, too...)
So, here's what happened: We're trying to collect 1099 info for about 30 top earning lensmasters that we still need paperwork on. Gotta love tax season. But our tool for running personalized dashboard messages didn't work as expected, even after what we thought were a few successful tests, and wound up sticking a note on everyone's dashboard. That's what you all saw.
We're rolling that note back right now, fixing the system, and re-posting to just the 30 people we need info from. As well as following up with them by email.
I'm so sorry for the hassle.
And hey, if you didn't earn $600 or more for 2007... there's always this year ![]()
Thanks for hanging in.
Megan
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30 people? I'm not sure if that makes me feel good or bad...
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oh gosh I know!
Oh but wait, it was just 30 people they hadn't heard from. There have to be more than 30 making over $600. Otherwise I'm sunk! All this free content for nothin'
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That's cool. I already had sent Kimberly an email because I saw "you won't get paid" on there and shot that email off like I was on fire to do so. LOL
I'll TOTALLY pass that mark this year though! I know it! You guys can have whatever you need. SSN, real hair color, blood type, left toenail.....
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southpaw23 wrote:
oh gosh I know!
Oh but wait, it was just 30 people they hadn't heard from. There have to be more than 30 making over $600. Otherwise I'm sunk! All this free content for nothin'
South,
Don't get discouraged.
I made more than $600 as a RESULT of Squidoo. I made some from Squidoo, but most from off-Squidoo affiliate programs.
You can do it. Don't get discouraged. It's VERY possible. ![]()
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oh my gosh that's awesome!
I actually JUST started reading about affiliate stuff the other day - clickbank and whatnot. I'm honestly feeling quite swamped and overwhelmed by it, but I feel like I have the chops to make it happen if I can just wrap my brain around it.
I totally understand if you don't want to be spilling your own secrets, but any tips you have or ways to make it a little easier to swallow would be so helpful!
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kab wrote:
30 people? I'm not sure if that makes me feel good or bad...
30 people that we didn't have info for yet.
There were lots more people earning over $600.
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Megan - I know you guys are busy with the year-end stuff to close up 2007, but would it be possible to set up a mechanism for users who feel they'll hit the $600 mark in 2008 (or a future year) to go ahead and send the necessary information so you have it on file.
That "you won't get paid" scared me too - and I know I didn't make it for 2007
But I feel very confident that I can make it in 2008 and want to make it as easy as possible on you guys ![]()
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On seeing the 1099 thing, i wondered for a moment whether it was the 1st of April. Taxman or no taxman, i lose $ 600 - i already told my wife i made $ 600! Oh Megan, what a punishment......
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That is all great and all but I am so discouraged now that I quit!
I quit. How could you cause me to spend my day in celebration thinking that somehow my unique one of a kind lenses were actually making me enough money to pause and think just to come home to here of course it was a glitch. I quit! I am thoroughly crushed and disappointed. It is the worst prank that couldn;t have happened at a worse time. thanks for killing my enthusiasm for squidoo and all the hard work i have poured into my worthless lenses.
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kidrox wrote:
That is all great and all but I am so discouraged now that I quit!
I quit. How could you cause me to spend my day in celebration thinking that somehow my unique one of a kind lenses were actually making me enough money to pause and think just to come home to here of course it was a glitch. I quit! I am thoroughly crushed and disappointed. It is the worst prank that couldn;t have happened at a worse time. thanks for killing my enthusiasm for squidoo and all the hard work i have poured into my worthless lenses.
Killing your enthusiasm for Squidoo?
Doesn't it excite you that there are so many people RIGHT HERE who are earning over $600, as the message says?
Doesn't that instead make you want to say 'Hey. Who IS the message meant for? I wanna be front of the line to speak to them!'
I can see why it would be annoying seeing the glitch, but if you mustered up the energy to start here at Squidoo, why not just continue?
But then, quitting IS always easier.
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Hi Kidrox, please change your mind! Remember there are 100,000 or more squids - you will make money soon. Just plan for it. Mistakes do happen.
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Okay...I just got the message 4 more times.
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