How I Totaled My Car and You Get a Blogging Webinar

Before I even knew what was happening, my Jeep slid on black ice on Vermont’s I-89. Adrenaline washed over me. The Jeep spun around backwards and flipped onto the driver side as it sledded down the ditch and slammed into the rock wall of the mountain. “Oh God, oh FUCK!”  was all I had time to scream. I heard the sounds of scraping and breaking branches. I thought, This is it… and waited for my legs to be crushed, my stomach to be pierced, or my head to slam into something.

All motion ceased. The sound of the heater blowing seemed really loud. I was on my side. The driver’s side of the jeep was resting on the ground. I still breathed. I looked at my hands. They were still there. I didn’t feel any pain anywhere. Could this be? Am I unscathed? I looked: legs and arms still there. Nothing sticking out of me. No blood.

Not even a scratch. I called 911. I called my wife (the call she has been dreading for years, except luckily it wasn’t made by a state trooper). I called work. The EMT’s, fire department, and state police showed up. They stabilized the vehicle.

I crawled out the back hatch, and walked away.

I went to the hospital anyway to get checked out (there was nothing they could do about me being a blogger, but otherwise, I was fine). Took a cab home. Hugged my wife and cried a little at what could have been.

Then it hit me: that was my only car. My bills are paid up current, but there’s nothing extra for emergencies like this. We’ve been on a very long road to recovery after a bankruptcy a few years ago. If it wasn’t for my diversified online income streams, we would’ve gone under a while ago.

Suddenly, I have winch and towing fees. I have a rental car bill. I have no idea what my car repair bill will be or even if the Jeep (1996, over 200k miles) is salvageable. I have the feeling this is probably going to be a “technical total”, where the cost of the repairs will be too great compared to the value of the vehicle. No doubt there will be other expenses popping up as unpleasant surprises. I have to get a car at the worst possible time, and that means I need a money boost… fast. As in, like, NOW.

So here’s what I did earlier today: I put a donations link up on Twitter, and explained as best as I could the situation. People have responded, and I’m very touched (overwhelmed is more like it, but I’ll give that topic its own well-deserved post in a few). I came up with a way to pay it forward, so now I’m taking this from Twitter to the blog.

Free (or Donation) Live, No-Holds-Barred Blogging Webinar

If you donate to my “get back on the road for the holidays” fund in any amount large or small, you will help me out and get something good in return. You get a good feeling, but perhaps better yet: I am going to hold a live blogging webinar on Ustream.

This Friday evening, starting at 8pm Eastern time, I’m going to rock it and go until we poop out. You can attend even if you haven’t donated, and you can donate without attending. I will record the event, so that if you’d like to donate but can’t make the time, you can watch it later.

Here are some of the topics we’ll cover:

• Choosing a blog niche and doing keyword research
• Choosing post topics and SEO
• Getting comments
• Increasing traffic
• Social media
• Sneak peek at SEO-Nomicon

Anything goes, but we’ll at least touch on most of these. The cool thing about Ustream is that you ask questions via chat. I highly recommend you sign up for a free Ustream account so it will be easier to identify you. I will answer any questions I can. Nothing is off the table. I will not hold back any secrets. This is no-holds-barred hardcore blogging info.

Let me stress this seminar is my gift to you and donations appreciated, but are not required. And even if you choose to donate, you can donate any amount, large or small.

Why Donations?

Aren’t I supposed to be rich or something? LOL, hardly. I’m not poor. I’m not losing my job. I have food on my table and I have heat for my house. I am not destitute. But I’m not rich. I never said I was. That $1k I made last month went to bills and heating oil. My head is above the water. It just so happens that the timing of things right now is very unfortunate: I had a car accident right at the moment I couldn’t afford to have a car accident. (If I ever get rich, I’ll let you know .)

I suppose I could try and come up with some kind of scheme to sell you something, either in advance or some kind of sloppy, slapped-together product, but I don’t work that way. That wouldn’t be right. What’s maddening is that I am very close to launching my next product, a complete course on search engine optimization for WordPress blogs, called SEO-Nomicon. But a proper launch has to be done right. SEO-Nomicon will launch very soon… possibly within days.

I’m doing this because… well, because I didn’t die today. Like I said, I’m in a bind and need to raise fast cash. I want to offer you something of intense value in exchange for your donation, and I hope you think that’s fair.

EDIT: The donate button has been removed, since this is long over.

Link for the Webinar

The live show will be on Ustream.tv: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/remarkablogger-live

If you’re on my email list, Remarkanotes, you’ll get a reminder.