Raise the Macallan-Free Scotch Tasting

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Raise the Macallan is an awesome event I attend year after year, where you do a large group scotch tasting. Its similar to a wine tasting where you are served several types of scotch, and you go through this whole routine and learn about what you are drinking as you do it. Absolutely fun, and absolutely FREE. This is done in several locations, so go click HERE to see if it is available in your area!

As of the date I wrote this, San Francisco and Denver has time slots available!

A life hack pro tip: When at the event, make sure to socialize and find the type of people that go to these events often. BEFRIEND THEM, because they are the ones that will invite you into this world of freebie unique events. Raise the Macallan isn’t the only one I do, but this is how I entered this world. Enjoy! Checkout pictures from previous events down below as well to get yourself hyped up.

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How to write a *Useful* Review on Amazon

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Reviews both positive and negative are directly responsible for the success of a business or product. Think about the people who use Yelp to decide where to eat, or all of the people in your life that asks for help in buying specific items. Among all of the “help” we ask for, often times there is a sea of useless and unhelpful reviews that we have to filter through, to find something that helps us with what we are looking for. Overly positive reviews are frequently seen with distrust, and overly negative reviews seem to just focus on putting unrelated topics put on blast. I will attempt to layout a structure and some tips to follow, so that your reviews will be seen as a useful one, not a useless one.

Review Structure and Guideline
1. Product Name + “Review”. Introduction to the product.
-Sellers often sell several items, and all of the reviews will be bunched together. To make yours more relevant and helpful, describe exactly what you bought, so that people wanting to buy the same item can zoom in on your review. Your introduction to the product can be pulled from the product page. I would include the date you bought the item, and how long you used it before writing this review. Put down the star rating/5 here in this section too, for example: “As of 8/23/16 this product has 3.5 stars out of 5”

2. Key points and their discussion
-highlight what you believe are the key points of this product. Discuss how the packaging looks, if the product matches the pictures and description. Talk about the product specs and if they match the product listing. Use individual paragraphs per key point.

3. Reference other people’s reviews and complaints
-Doing a paragraph of this shows that you are an informed consumer and actually did research before you bought, so your review will look more credible. I would recommend you comment on other people’s complaints, because I only glance through the 5 star and 1 star reviews myself.

4. Discuss shipping and packaging, returns.
-If you managed to get a defective item, the most important thing is ease of return. People will want to know if items can be returned hassle free, because if its not FBA, chances are its going to be extremely annoying. How well is the package prepared? Did shipping come in the expected delivery window?

5. Conclusion
-Summarize your key points on why this is or is not worth a purchase.

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Free Products for Reviews- AMZ Review Trader

Whenever I shop on Amazon, the first thing I do when product hunting is hitting the search bar to narrow down my choices. Then I immediately scroll right down to the bottom to where the reviews is. You can read my post on how to dissect Amazon reviews HERE. The most interesting thing is, often times I see something like this (highlighted in green):

FREE? DISCOUNTED? Of course I’d hop on that! A few google searches later I started piecing together this puzzle, and I find AMZ Review Trader. There was a large list of options, but this was the first one that consistently worked for me. So how does it work?

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The success of an Amazon product is weighted heavily on its reviews, so sometimes when sellers create brand new product listings with no reviews, they will give away their products in hope that they get a strong informative review. That’s where YOU come in.

Here are the steps you need to do in order to join in on this venture:

1. Getting an Amazon Prime account is VERY HELPFUL, because a lot of products are qualified for prime shipping AKA free 2 day shipping. This step isn’t necessary, but you will definitely have a happier time if you do.
2. Start learning and practicing how to write Amazon reviews. I wrote a post right HERE to give tips and suggestions. Sellers can view your previous reviews and decide whether to approve or deny your request for free goodies, so you want your reviews to look like you know exactly what you are doing!
3. Sign up for an account on AMZ Review Trader, and make sure to verify your ID.
4. Log in and click on “Review Requests” in the menu bar at the top. In the blue bar at the top you will see how many product requests you are allotted, how many codes (discounts) you can claim at the same time, how many confirmed reviews you have, and your review rating (more words= better rating).
5. Now click “Go Shopping”, so we can start browsing through all of the stuff that’s available.
6. 
7. Request everything you want, then wait for either an approval, or a rejection from the seller (which you can see in “Review Requests” from step 3.
8. Once you get the approval, you can get straight to the Amazon product page by clicking on the promotion code. Make sure to add the item to your cart and finalize the order!
9. As you can see, in the final pages of buying, all you have to do is enter in the promotional code you received, and you now have a free (or discounted) item being sent to you. Good luck and Good reviews!
10. 

Freshly- The Meal on Wheels

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There has been a crop of new start-ups that does meals on wheels basically- they charge a subscription fee, and deliver food right to your door. I’ve tried a few, and the one thing in common they share is that the food comes in microwavable containers (so they look like TV dinners), and they always market words like Gourmet, Organic, & Healthy. For a convenience factor of never having to leave your home, as well as feeling good that you aren’t eating straight junk, this could be something for you. I’m a heavy foodie at heart, and I have more herbs than space in my kitchen, and these are what I believe the key points of freshly to be:

1) You order a batch at a time, basically a set it and forget it thing. All the food comes at once, and you store it in your fridge.
2) It takes only 2 minutes to microwave, and food is pretty decent. Not as tasty as eating out, but definitely tastier than most people can manage to cook by themselves.
3) They can cook chicken. People don’t understand why this is a keypoint, until they realize that ALMOST NOBODY CAN COOK CHICKEN. Chicken has a very narrow sweet spot where it goes from juicy to dry, and I can vouch for Freshly that their chicken found that spot.
4) You are definitely paying a premium for this service, and the portions are small. If you are a 100lb female, this is probably a good service size. If you like eating heavy meals, it equates to roughly $20 a meal to get you to a decent fullness level.

With that being said, due to all sorts of competition, companies like Freshly are constantly offering promotions to have people give them a shot. You can give freshly a try by clicking HERE. What you get is $60 worth of food (6 meals) for $10. That’s less than $2 a meal, and the value of the promotion is definitely worth it. Now the smart thing is, right after you place this order, you pause your subscription (indefinitely), that way if you don’t like it, you won’t get charged anymore than that $10.

I tried Freshly because of this promotion, and the promo deal is nice, but the subscription.. not so much. I eat wayyyy too much to make this economically feasible. Try the promo!