Saturday, February 04, 2012

Arrondir les Fins du Mois with Home Page Pays

One of my favourite expressions in French is 'arrondir les fins du mois'. It literally means 'rounding out the end of the month' which means supplementing your income or making ends meet, and the French had myriad dodgy ways of doing this until the Autoentrepreneur system was started aimed at putting a little (fiscal) order into things.

One man's fin du mois, however, is another man's main income. When I first started my job, it was to supplement my ex-h's salary and enable me reimburse the student loan I'd taken out to pay for my Master's degree. That income became my principal source of revenue when we divorced, and I thank my lucky stars I have that job.

Still, with two growing, consuming (out of house and home, especially on Nutella and chorizo) boys one is always in search of a bit of arronding. Not in the tradition of dodgy deals though, and with no ideas as to autoentrepreneurship, or significant income from my writing (yet...), I am happy to have been introduced to another source of potential dosh.

But is it always all about me? Well, this is my blog so there is no reason why it shouldn't be, but in this particular instance, I'm allowing thoughts encompassing a wider appeal to sneak in and be heard. For example, how can we help developing communities help themselves? How can we help with learning; to bridge the digital divide between those who know how to use technology and those who don't? Do we care or do we not give a shit?

Well what makes this innocent sounding source of income, with me sitting in the comfort of my cosy bedroom bashing away at the keys, cup of tea or glass of wine depending on the time of day to hand, is the fact that it is free and has the potential to improve the lot of anyone, especially those who lack resources in developing communities. Yeah, right, you scoff, come off it, it's just another load of marketing media bullshit. But in fact Nay! I tell ye, because at the basic level it's not only free but it also offers an amazingly useful array of extra content.

We already know about a student in Uganda who, introduced to Home Page Pays through a Facebook friend - a real one, I'd imagine, not a contact thrice removed - started using the vids in the My University section to help him keep up with his studies, and then started sharing the sessions with his mates so they could benefit from the learning videos too. He is not the only one.

The My University section contains over 2000 video on subjects like algebra, differential equations, geometry, MA tests for education, history especially if you have a fascination for the French Revolution (and who doesn't?), organic chemistry, precalculus, GMAT problem solving, SAT preparation, Stanford University lectures in modern physics (I've got that one at the top of my To Watch list...), Yale University introduction to psychology and ancient Greek, brain teasers and so on, and it's being added to the whole time. I have no direct contacts with charities that work with developing or poor communities, but perhaps you do?

The main point about all this content is that it is free, and safe. As long as the community has at least one computer with an internet connection, they can watch the videos to their heart's content! And as all work and no play is very dull, they can also play about in the Games tab, practice their typing skills, learn how to make a Powerpoint presentation or an Excel spreadsheet in the Smart Library, or download Audacity in the free (virus-free) Software tab and start recording and editing their music using the tutorial in the Smart Library. If you are struggling with Windows 7, there's a tutorial on how to use that too.

If you haven't yet heard about Home Page Pays, you soon will. Laura Paulson, a former HR bigshot and now a business and marketing coach believes that the company that has developed HPP will be the next global technology giant because it has the most advanced branding system in the world.

This free home page (with all the free content) has recently been released and is being distributed by members around the world as I type.

So what is Home Page Pays? It looks like this as a dynamic tool bar at the bottom of the screen with the discreet rotating ad on the right:
See my name and link bottom left? Can also be used to advertise your business.
...or this as a home page:
Customizable home page, extra free content in the tabs at the top, note daily, weekly and monthly prizes too
How does it work? By sharing 75% of the advertising revenue with paid and free members. Do you normally get paid for using the internet? Does Google send you a monthly cheque to thank you for bringing in so much advertising revenue? Does Facebook? I don't think so, we don't get so much as a slap on the back or a matey handshake, and yet they are making millions if not billions from advertising thanks to us, the users.

Why shouldn't we all have a slice of the cake, eh? Let's share and redistribute some of that wealth. Me, you, the bloke in Uganda, the girl in Ghana, the family down the road's student kids, auntie Flo on Facebook, your kids, my kids, uncle Tom Cobbley and all.

Every time you use the internet the little advert is doing its stuff, rotating and trying to look winning, and clocking up payments to the user. So not only will free members be earning a little bit of money, but if you wanted to join up, or pay for a gift membership to a charity or particular community, you would be helping yourself and/or them earn even more (unless they are big/rich enough to pay for their own sodding membership in which case you can just point them in the right direction).

How? Because every time a paid member sends out the link to friends or a charity to its supporters, who then start using Home Page Pays, not only will the new folk get paid, but the paid member/charity will get paid too. Go forth and multiply, sayeth she, and share the joy! This is one for us all to join in and enjoy, not just the favoured few who happened to be around at the right time in the right place (like Facebook's graffiti guy just about to net $200million from his shares, lucky sod).

How can you find out more? Easy peasy. Ask me, I can send you a schedule of (free) webinars where you can listen to a real person give a clear explanation of Home Page Pays and even see a live demonstration. You'll have to bring your own drinks and nibbles though.

If you want to check out free Home Page Pays first, you can click here: HomePagePays

I'm looking forward to not having to choose whether to repair the car or visit my folks in the UK like I did last summer thanks to HPP.