First off, I apologize for the 12-day gap since my last post. My hard drive was completely fried on the 21st and it has taken me a long time to get back set up since my last backups were 3 months old. I will blog more about that later in the week.

I started this epic weight loss challenge against Paul Piotrowski 4 months ago, which finally ended 1 week ago on September 21st.

The competition stated that we each must lose 14% of our starting body weight (which works out to 30 pounds each) within 4 months (120 days). If one of us doesn’t make it, then he will have to pay the other $650. If neither of us make it, then we will donate $650 to the BCSPCA.

The Final Weigh-In

Before I reveal the results, let’s built a little bit of dramatic effect first.

On September 19th, with only 48 hours left to the final weigh-in, my official weight was 185.0 and Paul’s was 187.6.

Paul also mentioned to me that we had made a small miscalculation, stating that we each had to lose 30 pounds, when in actual fact the official rules we agreed to were to lose 14% of our starting weight. 14% worked out to 30.2 pounds for Paul and 29.8 pounds for me, meaning that I suddenly had a 0.2 pound bonus and Paul had 0.2 pounds extra to lose!

In addition, all of our weigh-in’s after the official starting weigh-in were of us wearing lighter clothes and with no camera. Since we had to do our final weigh-in wearing exactly the same clothes we wore on the first day, as well as hold our video cameras, this meant that we had to lose roughly 1 more pound as well!

So, on September 19th, with only 48 hours left, I still had to lose 3 pounds and Paul had to lose 2.8 pounds. Normally that wouldn’t be such a big deal, but after you’ve already lost around 13% of your body weight, that’s a lot to lose!

With 3 pounds still to lose in only 48 hours, I knew I had to push my efforts 100%. That same day, I went on a 14 KM (8.7 miles) walk/jog. It took 2 hours and 25 minutes, which was actually very fast for me, especially considering all the hills. I could definitely see progress in my fitness level from when I started the competition.

On the 20th and 21st I went into super-strict diet mode, eating and drinking very little (without starving myself). As a result, I was super weak on the 21st, but the pounds were coming off.

What sucked is that my hard drive crashed and burned around 7:30am and I spent half of the day trying to get it fixed and taking it to a technician, which added a lot of unneeded stress and took so much focus away from concentrating on losing weight.

The Results

Enough with all the build up! Here are the final results of this epic weight loss competition!

(Note: You may need to visit the post directly at TylerCruz.com if you’re reading this via e-mail or RSS in order to see it.)

Below is an updated line graph comparing my daily weigh-in’s to Paul’s:

As you can see, I made it! As did Paul! I barely made it, weighing in exactly at the required 183.0 pound mark (I weighed myself like 40 times on the last day to make sure I wouldn’t lose by 0.2 pounds!). Paul actually managed to lose a full pound more than his needed weight.

Check out that graph though… I love how overall consistent my weight loss was.

This graph shows my consistency even better. So, we both made it. We lost 14% of our starting weight within 4 months. So now we can stick out our tongues at those of you who kept voting that we wouldn’t make it

Below is an update on the overall numerical data, taken from the last update to the end of the challenge (it’s too long to show the entire thing – if you want to know all the exact numbers, simply view the past weight loss updates for this challenge):

Together, Paul and I lost a combined total of 61 pounds in 4 months – that’s the equivalent of a 9-year-old kid!

Immediately after I did my final weigh-in photos and video, I ate a huge victory meal:

Yes, I ate the ENTIRE thing, in one sitting. Although, it took me a couple of movies to eat it all.

It was glorious.

I realize it’s a lot, but you have to remember two things. First, I had hardly ate or drank anything the 48 hours prior, and secondly, I had not eaten ANY fast food, pop, restaurant food, or high-calorie foods in a quarter of a year, so I was really craving a nice big tasty meal.

The bad news is that ever since finishing the challenge, I’ve been eating horribly and have been slacking on my ‘daily list’ that served me so well during the challenge. I DO NOT WANT to regain all my weight, as that is just stupid, so I am very conscious of this.

I am leaving for vacation tomorrow which won’t help matters, but when I return I plan on doing another weight loss challenge (maybe with Paul if he’s not afraid…) to lose another 10 pounds, which would put me down to a fit 173.0 pounds.

Before and After Photos

What weight loss competition would be complete without before and after photos?

Before…

After… (4 months later)

You may have noticed that my doorknob is reversed on the after photo. This is because I apparently faced the wrong direction when doing the after side portrait photo and so flipped the image horizontally in order for an easier comparison.

There is not that much physical difference from the front, but from the side you can definitely see a difference. It’s funny.. because I don’t remember being that fat, lol. It’s comical to look at now. Hopefully I don’t return to that.

The above photos are me in a very relaxed state… almost exhaling in order to take accurate and honest photos. Out of curiosity though, I decided to take photos of myself sucking in my gut as well, in order to see the difference of what might be accomplished by losing another 10 pounds or so:

Definitely a change from 4 months ago!

You can view Paul’s final weigh-in report complete with video and his final thoughts on the challenge.

Anyhow, that marks the end of this weight loss challenge. I will try my best not to gain it all back, and I do hope to lose another 10 pounds. I won’t bother blogging about those 10 pounds, but will do a post if/when I do lose them and get down to 173.0.

I hope this post inspires those of you who are looking to lose some weight. I did it by simply eating healthier and exercising more – no special workouts, diets, pills, etc. It’s not rocket science, it’s just hard work and determination Kind of like making money online…

иконопис

We’re getting close to the grand finale folks!

I started my weight loss challenge against Paul Piotrowski nearly 4 months ago, which means that there are only 4 days left!

As a quick recap, we each must lose 14% of our starting body weight (which works out to 30 pounds each) within 4 months (120 days). If one of us doesn’t make it, then he will have to pay the other $650. If neither of us make it, then we will donate $650 to the BCSPCA.

This will be the last weight loss update before the final results post which will be published in a week from now.

Below is an updated line graph comparing my daily weigh-in’s to Paul’s:

Those of you who have been following this challenge will probably be surprised by the graph above.

Paul had been absolutely creaming me in the challenge shortly after he started his Dr. Bernstein diet in the beginning of July, and actually made his target weight on September 1st.

But going to the clinic 3 times a week to pee in a cup and take vitamin-B injections quickly became too costly at $600 a month, so Paul only stayed on the diet for 5 weeks before switching over to their reduced ‘maintenance’ program in the second week of August.

He continued to lose weight at a good pace, but slowly his weight loss slowed down… plateaued, and then actually started to turn into weight gain.

Paul will likely say that this weight gain is due to his recent working and focusing on his new website, but that’s really not an excuse. I believe the truth is that Paul is similar to me in that we have a kind of “all-or-nothing” attitude; we’re either a level 1 or a level 10, and we find it difficult to find the balance between 4-6 (or even 3-7).

Therefore, Paul did awesome while on his extremely strict diet because he was 100% (level 10) focused on it. But very shortly after going off it, he started to plateau and then gain weight because he wasn’t as focused.

As you can see from the graph above, I’ve kept a very consistent and gradual rate of weight loss. I have the standard spikes and valleys here and there, but for the most part my weight loss could be drawn with a diagonal line.

During the past week or two, Paul has been totally pigging out indulging in unhealthy, high-calorie foods such as: pizza (thick crust, non-vegetarian), pasta, perogies with smokies and bacon, and McDonalds.

So, I have absolutely no sympathy for Paul’s recent gain. See, I love food… I just love to eat tasty food. Not everyone loves food, but I do. And so for me it has been real struggle to completely cut out all fast food, pop, unhealthy foods, restaurants, etc.

Paul was on his diet for about 5 weeks. It was a very strict diet, no doubt, but it was only 5 weeks. I started my less-strict diet since the beginning of the challenge, so I’ve been on it for a third of a year. For somebody who absolutely adores food, that requires a lot of willpower.

When Paul tells me that he just finished eating 4-5 slices of pizza, I get hungry and jealous, but I also get mad because I’m craving those foods so much. And so whenever I see Paul gain weight, I get that feeling of schadenfreude.

Below is an update on the overall numerical data, taken from the last update to today (it’s too long to show the entire thing – if you want to know all the exact numbers, simply view the past weight loss updates for this challenge):

I lost 5 pounds in the past 14 days (I was 190.6 on Sept. 2nd) which is pretty good (especially considering that I’m lighter now), but am still below the pace that is required in order for me to make the challenge.

The Minimum Pace is taking the average amount of weight we need to lose each day (which works out to 0.25 lbs.) over 120 days in order to just barely lose 30 pounds, multiplied by the number of days so far.

The Real vs Min. Pace is the difference between our current weight loss and the Minimum Pace.

There are only 4 days left in the challenge and I still have 2.8 more pounds to lose. However, I actually have to lose more than that due to the fact that during the final weigh-in, I have to wear the exact same clothes as during the first weigh in (which are heavier), as well as my camera. I’m estimating that I’ll need a cushion of 2 pounds to be safe.

So, that’s roughly 4.8 pounds (1.2 pounds a day) that I need to lose in the next 4 days. That’s a fair bit considering that I am starting to get down there in weight.

Paul is finally back in the red, actually managing to get behind the minimum pace. In my last update only 14 days ago, he was 4.3 pounds ahead of minimum pace.

However, he only has 2 pounds to go… or around 4 pounds when you consider his final weigh-in clothes and camera, so I think he’ll make it. However, he will have to work to make it and won’t be able to easily coast his way there like he thought he’d be able to 2 weeks ago.

My Efforts

I’ve been continuing to do my ‘daily list’ which consists of: walking for 26-minutes (2.3KM or 1.5 miles), playing badminton twice a week, eating 4 servings of fruits and vegetables, drinking 3 glasses of water, being banned from restaurants/fast food/high calorie foods/juice/pop/etc., 12 push-up’s, and 36 crunches.

In addition to my ‘daily list’, in order to expedite my progress in this weight loss challenge, I’ve also been occasionally going for my ‘long walks’ around once every 4-5 days.

I’ve been slowly incrementing the distance by 0.25 KM each time I go so as to not shock my system.

My last long walk was yesterday at a distance of 13.75 KM (8.5 miles). Below is a Google Maps shot of the Parkway Trail route I go. I walk from my condo to the end and back:

By the time I return home, my feet are ridiculously sore. There are a lot of hills in it too.

Since I was still behind the minimum pace in order to make this challenge on time, I increased the time of my daily walk by 1-minute. It’s only a 1-minute increase, but you can’t argue with my progress thus far

Diet-wise, I could be doing more. I’m a little bit behind with my water and vegetables, and have still been eating a bit too much for my late dinners and snacks.

Anyway, I’m 27.2 pounds down with 2.8 more to go. Can I lose 2.8 pounds in 4 days? It’s not as easy as it may seem, especially since I’ve lost a fair bit in the past week and so I’m due for a small gain again based on my past trends.

Paul’s Efforts

As I mentioned earlier, Paul more or less fell off the wagon during the past couple of weeks. He started by maintaining his current weight, but then got into eating a lot of high-calorie fast food.

He is the exact same weight today as he was 13 days ago, which is a big change in momentum when you consider the pace he used to be on.

However, even though Paul’s progress has had a bit of a setback, he lost so much weight earlier on in the competition that he hasn’t dug himself too much of a hole that he can’t crawl out of it.

If Paul focuses on the challenge again, he should be able to make it. After all, he only has 2 more pounds to go. But if he continues to indulge in all the foods I wish I could have right now, there’s no way he’ll make it.

Will We Make It? Cast Your Vote!

In my last few weight loss contest updates, I included polls to see what you guys thought would happen in this challenge.

It’s interesting how in my first poll, at the 45-day mark, 44% of you voted that neither of us would make it. And in my last poll, 57% of you voted that “Only Paul will make it” with 0% voting that “Only Tyler will make it”. I’m sure those numbers will change now

Below are the results of the last poll as well as a new poll for you to vote on:

I’ll post the results of this epic weight loss challenge in about a week from now, so be sure to check back!

иконография

I started my weight loss challenge against Paul Piotrowski exactly 102 days ago, which means that there are only 18 days left!

As a quick recap, we each must lose 14% of our starting body weight (which works out to 30 pounds each) within 4 months (120 days). If one of us doesn’t make it, then he will have to pay the other $650. If neither of us make it, then we will donate $650 to the BCSPCA.

I am writing this post right around midnight, so by the time I post it, there will actually only be 17 days left. It is quite incredible how fast time seems to go when you are nearing the cut-off time of a very ambitious project. In fact, I will probably only have time for one last weight loss update after this post before the competition is over.

Below is an updated line graph comparing my daily weigh-in’s to Paul’s:

As you can see, I’ve been continuing to lose weight at a fairly gradual rate if you look at it from the long-term instead of day-to-day.

Paul’s tremendous progress finally started to slow down this past week, and it almost looked like he was about to bottom out, until he lost 1.8 pounds yesterday.

This graph below shows a direct comparison of our total weight loss in pounds, as opposed to just our our total weight:

Below is an update on the overall numerical data, taken from the last update to today (it’s too long to show the entire thing – if you want to know all the exact numbers, simply view the past weight loss updates for this challenge):

The Minimum Pace is taking the average amount of weight we need to lose each day (which works out to 0.25 lbs.) over 120 days in order to just barely lose 30 pounds, multiplied by the number of days so far.

The Real vs Min. Pace is the difference between our current weight loss and the Minimum Pace.

I managed to lose 3.4 pounds since the last update 13 days ago. Unfortunately, that pace is not fast enough to put me on track to make the challenge. I somehow need to step it up a notch.

I’ve now lost a total of 22.2 pounds so far, which works out to 11.65% of my starting body weight. I am currently 190.6, which means that I am almost in the 180’s!

However, I am 3.3 pounds behind the minimum pace, and I still have 7.8 more pounds to lose within only 18 (17) days. That works out to nearly half a pound… that’s half a pound I have to lose EVERY DAY for the next 18 days, just to barely make the challenge!

Paul on the other hand actually hit his target weight yesterday. He gained 0.2 pounds today, so he’s not out of the woods yet, but unless he goes completely insane, he’s going to make this challenge no problem. Amazing.

However, it does kind of suck in that Paul only needs to get to 186.0 for the challenge when I have to get down to 182.8. He did weigh in at 4 pounds more than me, but he basically lost all of that on the 2nd day of the challenge. I guess he really ate a lot on the eve before the challenge start time in order to influence his numbers.

Anyway, Paul basically has this in the bag now, and so it’s now up to me to see if I can make it in time.

My Efforts

I’ve been continuing to do my ‘daily list’ which consists of: walking for 25-minutes (2.3KM or 1.5 miles), playing badminton twice a week, eating 4 servings of fruits and vegetables, drinking 3 glasses of water, being banned from restaurants/fast food/high calorie foods/juice/pop/etc., 12 push-up’s, and 36 crunches.

In addition to my ‘daily list’, I’ve also been occasionally going for my ‘long walks’ which works out to around once every 4-5 days.

I’ve been slowly incrementing the distance each time I go… by around 0.25 KM each time so as to not shock my system.

The last trek on it was earlier today at 13.25 KM (8.25 miles), which wasn’t very fun as it was quite windy and I was facing the wind most of the way.

Below is a Google Maps shot of the Parkway Trail route I go. I walk from my condo to the end and back:

I originally only walked the entire thing, but now I do a tiny bit of jogging once I hit the trail. My heart is unable to handle jogging past a minute or two, but I do try to jog whenever I have the capacity.

Also, lately I noticed that I just felt like picking it up a notch and would break into a jog for a while. I think it’s a sign that I am beginning to get in better shape.

Since I am still behind the minimum pace in order to make this challenge on time, I increased my number of daily crunches by 1 last week, and increased the time of my daily walk today by 1 minute. I had to readjust my daily walk route as a result. It is now 2.3 KM (1.5 MI). It’s not very far, but it does get me out walking for 25 minutes every day, and it adds up – 2.3 KM everyday over 1 month works out to 69KM (43 MI).

Here’s the new route:

Diet-wise, I’ve been slacking a bit. I’m a little bit behind with my vegetables, and appear to be eating too much for a late dinner.

It’s hard though, because while I try to only eat enough to satisfy my hunger, I am usually still hungry even though I’m eating slow.

Anyway, I’m 22.2 pounds down with 7.8 more to go. Can I lose 7.8 pounds in 18 days? It’s not as easy as it may seem, as I’m 190.6 now, not 212.8 anymore…

Paul’s Efforts

Paul has been continuing with his Dr.Bernstein diet, albeit on ‘maintenance mode’, which has continued to do extremely well for him. As mentioned earlier, he actually hit the challenge goal of losing 30 pounds yesterday.

He does a little bit of walking/running on his treadmill, but other than that, it’s all diet.

You can read his thoughts about losing 30 pounds in his latest blog post.

Below are Paul’s before and after photos:

Congrats to him for losing 30 pounds! I know first-hand how difficult it is and just how much time and effort it takes.

That being said, the competition isn’t over, and he’ll have to maintain his weight for the final weigh-in. And he’ll actually have to lose a couple pounds more in order to compensate for the added clothes and camera during the final weigh-in.

It’s also interesting… while Paul has lost 30 pounds, it looks like he could still afford to lose another 20 in order to really get in shape. I’ll be curious to see how Paul’s weight progresses over the next 2-3 months.

Will We Make It? Cast Your Vote!

In my last few weight loss contest updates, I included polls to see what you guys thought would happen in this challenge.

Below are the results of the past polls. I’ve closed them now, since this post is now up with our updated stats:

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll. Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll. Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

And here is the new poll. Please cast your vote!:

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

With Paul having already lost the target goal of 30 pounds and me still needing to lose 7.8 pounds, it will be interesting how people vote this time around.

Last Thursday, I launched a giveaway in which I was giving away a custom mascot logo from my friends over at LogoNerds.com.

To enter, all you had to do was follow me on Twitter and tweet the message: @tylercruzdotcom I’m entering to win a custom mascot design from LogoNerds.com via TylerCruz.com!

However, even though the instructions were very clear and precise, I ended up having to redraw for a winner 4 times because the first 3 people Tweeted the message correctly, but didn’t follow me!

The 4th redrawn winner did follow me, and so he won himself a nice custom mascot logo from LogoNerds. Thanks for supporting the giveaway guys!

Exposure

I was pleasantly surprised as to the turnout of the giveaway. In the past, similar giveaways would see around 10 entries. However, this giveaway had 43 entries – that is, people who followed me on Twitter and tweeted the message mentioned above.

Counting the total number of followers from the people who tweeted the message, it came out to around 70,000 followers, that means that 70,000 Twitter followers would have seen that message in their Twitter feed, which is pretty good.

In addition to the Twitter exposure, LogoNerds also received two posts (the giveaway post and this one) on my blog.

It just goes to show that sponsoring a giveaway can be a lot cheaper than ordering a paid review, but can result in even greater of a yield in terms of overall exposure.

Sponsor My Next Giveaway

If you’re interested in giving away a nice prize (or prizes) for an upcoming giveaway on my blog, contact me and we’ll work something out.

I’m only looking for prizes that my readers would particularly enjoy though, and should be of decent value.

I haven’t posted in ages, I know, and I’m sorry. I’ve been working… just not on my blog. But I’m going to make it up to you by running this easy-to-enter giveaway!

I label posts like these as giveaways and not just simply contests because they’re really easy to enter, requiring maybe 15-seconds of your time. They’re also extremely easy to win, because most people never bother to enter. For example, If I were to guess, I’d predict that only around 10 people will enter this one… can’t hate those odds…

In this giveaway, one lucky winner will receive a custom mascot logo from my friends over at LogoNerds.com.

The Prize

While the title of this post states refers to a custom mascot logo the winner is actually able to choose from any of the 3 packages LogoNerds offers on their order page.

However, since the custom character mascot design package has the most value, I definitely recommend grabbing that one.

Branding is everything, and there is no better way to brand yourself than to get your very own custom mascot.

You can browse through some of their character mascot logos on their portfolio to see the type of quality you can expect.

How to Win

As always, I like to make entering my giveaways as easy as possible, so all you have to do enter is:

1. Follow me on Twitter: @tylercruzdotcom
2. Tweet the message: @tylercruzdotcom I’m entering to win a custom mascot design from LogoNerds.com via TylerCruz.com!

On August 24th, 2011 I will be using TweetAways to randomly draw 1 lucky winner who meets the above criteria. Make sure you both follow me and tweet the message above or you will not be eligible.

Please note that I will be sending a private tweet (direct message) to the winner on Twitter, asking them to e-mail me with a code that I send in the private tweet. This is to confirm they own their Twitter account and so I can give them the details on how they can receive their prize.

I must hear back from the winner within 2 days from when I send the private tweet or I will draw again for a replacement winner, so be sure to check your private messages on Twitter on the draw date. I have this rule in place because I am tired of winners not claiming their prizes.

Good luck!

About LogoNerds

LogoNerds is, as their name suggests, a logo design company. What makes them different from most logo design companies and freelancers is that they are dirt cheap for the level of quality they provide.

For example, for only $27 you can get a professional web logo complete with 3 different concepts, free revisions, and a turnaround time of 3-5 days!

While LogoNerds specializes in designing logos such as web logos, business/traditional logos, and character mascot logos, they also offer other design services such as logo repair, template design, headers, banners, stationery, holiday-themed logo design, and favicon design.

Be sure to check out the LogoNerds.com portfolio to see some of their work.

And there it is.

It took me a month to set up and finally launch this contest simply because there were so many sponsors and prizes to organize.

PublisherForums.com is giving away over $7,000 in prizes and cash over the next 7 weeks. Thanks to the large support of 19 sponsors, we have a total of 55 prizes that will be given away to 12 lucky winners.

The prizes are put into prize packages. For example, 1st place of the Top Posters category is actually comprised of a bundle 7 prizes valued at $2,163.

There are 3 different prize categories (top posters, quality posters, and top referrers), and it is possible to win prizes in all 3. Therefore, it is possible for one person to win $3,545 in prizes if he places 1st in all 3 categories.

I will be posting more about the contest throughout it’s run, but get started now! The earlier you enter, the better your chances.

This should be a very fun contest – all you have to do is post (and/or refer members if you want). Many of you already comment on this blog, which is not much different from posting on a forum.

You will meet a lot of like-minded people at PublisherForums. It’s a webmaster forum, so you’ll feel right at home.

Below is a video I made last night to present the contest. It runs just over 30-minutes long because there are so many prizes to announce (55!) that it took me forever to go through them all, even though I was going as quickly as I could.

Check it out below:

(Note: You may need to visit the post directly at TylerCruz.com if you’re reading this via e-mail or RSS in order to see it.)

There are some real awesome and valuable prizes in this contest, so don’t miss out. It is very easy to win, and you are rewarded for your effort (no random draws in this contest!).

Here’s a direct link to the official contest page.

Below are the winners of my second UPrinting business card giveaway. As predicted, the number of entries was extremely low, with only 2 people actually bothering to submit anything.

It takes literally 5-minutes to record and start uploading a video to YouTube, so there is really no excuse not to submit anything unless you are too shy or for some reason are stuck in the 1980’s with no video camera (although they still had VHS records back then!).

But that’s okay. I’m sure the two guys who did enter won’t mind that everyone else was too lazy to enter. In fact, since there were 4 prizes of 1,000 business cards and only 2 entries, I will be doubling each of their prizes, awarding them 2,000 business cards each.

That actually works out to a value of $42.94 each, assuming they go with the most expensive card stocks, sizes, etc. Not to mention the free publicity they are getting out of this very post. It’s like a free paid plug or paid review with their very own video (the strongest medium) and links to their sites. All for something that took 5-minutes of their time.

I apologize if this is sounding like a rant, but it just bothers me because I always hear people complain about how they never win anything or how it’s too hard to make money online. Well, maybe it’s because you’re not willing to put in any effort at all, even if it only takes a couple minutes to grab your camera or phone and record a 1-minute video.

Opportunities like this appear constantly, and won’t always be as easy as this one was, so don’t miss them. This was a perfect opportunity to get free exposure and backlinks to your site or blog as well as win business cards that would help you promote your website or blog even more.

Okay, rant over

The Winners

Congratulations to the 2 winners who did decide to enter. Here are their submissions:

Winner #1: Ryan McLean

Ryan actually submitted a video and ended up winning in my first UPrinting contest giveaway, so he knew just how easy it was to win. He won 500 business cards in that contest but never ended up claiming them.

Now that he will be receiving 2,500 business cards, that should last him for the rest of his life, or at least for 6-7 years. Even if Ryan gave out 1 business card a day to somebody (which never happens), this batch would last him 6.85 years!

Here is his video submission:

Winner #2: Paul Piotrowski

You all know Paul, so I won’t introduce him. He actually states a very good reason for why I should pick him as a winner, so even if there were more submissions in this contest there is a good chance I would have selected him as one of the winners as I can sympathize with his reason

Here is his video:

Submission #3: Sasha McLean

In order to double his chances of winning, Ryan McLean even submitted a video under the guise of his 4-month-old daughter! Unfortunately, I wasn’t actually able to actually count this as a submission due to our 18-year-old age prerequisite, but it doesn’t matter as Ryan won anyway.

Here is Sasha’s video:

The Prizes

Both Ryan and Paul will each receive 2,000 business cards (Ryan will actually get 2,500 due to winning 500 in the previous contest which he didn’t claim yet).

UPrinting is also letting them choose their card size, type of paper, and is offering full colour on both sides.

Here are more details:

• 2,000 Business Cards
• Sizes:  2 x 3.5”, 2 x 2” (square card) or 1.5 x 3.5” (slim card)
• Paper: 14 pt gloss cardstock, 14 pt matte cardstock or 13 pt recycled uncoated cardstock
• Specifications: Full Color Both Sides

Paul and Ryan can upload your their own custom business card templates, choose from a large number of pre-made templates, or create their own designs from scratch using UPrinting’s U-Design service which will let them add their own logos and custom imagery.

Thanks again to UPrinting.com for sponsoring this little competition.

About UPrinting

UPrinting is a very established (25 years) company which aside from offering business cards online also provides online printing for various stationery and printed marketing material.

They cover a lot of different types of printed mediums including business cards printing, brochures, calendars, letterheads, and postcards to just name a few.

They’re also in the top 500 fastest growing companies in the US as per Inc. 500.

So if you’re looking to get any type of printing done, you know where to go.

A bit over a year-and-a-half ago I ran a fun Business Card Giveaway which was hosted by UPrinting.com.

Well, they contacted me again a while back and want to run another giveaway with me. Since my blog is bigger now, I asked if I could get an upgrade in prizes, and they were happy to fulfill my request.

So this time, I’m giving away 4 sets of 1,000 high quality business cards (previously I gave away 4 sets of 250). Everybody needs business cards, and even if you already have some, it never hurts to get some more on hand. I personally have a set of business cards for my blog and a set for my corporation.

Any successful businessman will tell you how important it is to network, but what’s worse than getting yourself out there networking, only to have the people you spent telling your company to forget all about you the next day? Business cards are such a reminder and vital for proper networking and branding. If you don’t have any business cards yet, you should strongly consider getting some.

The Prizes

4 winners will each receive 1,000 business cards.

UPrinting is also letting you choose your card size, type of paper, and is offering full colour on both sides.

Here are more details:

• 1,000 Business Cards
• Sizes:  2 x 3.5”, 2 x 2” (square card) or 1.5 x 3.5” (slim card)
• Paper: 14 pt gloss cardstock, 14 pt matte cardstock or 13 pt recycled uncoated cardstock
• Specifications: Full Color Both Sides

Upload your own business card template, choose from a large number of pre-made templates, or create your own from scratch using their U-Design service and add your own logos and custom imagery.

How to Enter

To enter, all you have to do is record a video of yourself explaining why I should pick you as one of the 4 winners and then upload it to the video sharing site of your choice (YouTube, Viddler, Etc.) and then leave a comment on this post linking to the video.

Remember, most people are lazy and probably won’t enter, so your chances are most likely very good if you just submit a video.

I will be awarding my favourite 4 videos and will be looking for creativeness, energy, and humour, so keep that in mind when making your video.

I’ll be posting all of the videos on my blog when I announce the winners on July 15th.

The deadline is 11PM Eastern (8 PM Pacific) Time on July 15th, 2010. Remember to post a comment in this post linking to your video.

Unfortunately, this contest is only open to US residents, and you must be 18 years or older to enter.

(I actually think that if you’re willing to pay shipping that they will send outside of the US, but am not certain on this… so if you’re outside of the US and really want to enter, let me know and I’ll ask the about this)

Don’t Be Lazy!

Submitting an entry for the competition is easy, and your chances of winning are extremely high. Last time, only 3 people bothered making submissions, even though there were 4 prizes to give away… so if the turnout this time around is anything like it was last time, you’re pretty much guaranteed to win if you just submit a video.

Previous Winners

Below are the 3 winners from the last UPrinting Giveaway in case you needed some ideas or wanted to see just how easy it is to win:

1st place: Ryan McLean

2nd place: Ms. Missive 

3rd place: Chris Brandrick

Thanks again to UPrinting.com for sponsoring this little competition.

About UPrinting

UPrinting is a very established (25 years) company which aside from offering business cards online also provides online printing for various stationery and printed marketing material.

They cover a lot of different types of printed mediums including business cards printing, brochures, calendars, letterheads, and postcards to just name a few.

They’re also in the top 500 fastest growing companies in the US as per Inc. 500.

So if you’re looking to get any type of printing done, you know where to go.