The Contest Queen, Carolyn Wilman!

Bobbi:
Welcome to the Fly Mom Fly program. Today we have a special guest, Carolyn Wilman, who is also known as the contest queen. The pandemic impacted Carolyn's entry into empty nesting and her daughter's university experience. But amidst that all, Carolyn found a passion for sweepstakes, contests and giveaways. She turned her expertise into a thriving platform called contestqueen.com. where our listeners can learn the art of finding, organizing, entering, and winning in these exciting opportunities. Join us as we explore Carolyn's unique emptiness journey and dive into the world of sweepstakes success.

Carolyn Wilman:
Hi!

Bobbi:
 Hi, Carolyn. Nice to have you here. Thanks so much for jumping on board.

Carolyn Wilman:
I love talking to people. This is my passion.

Bobbi:
I can tell.

Carolyn Wilman:
And I love helping people win, not just sweepstakes, but in life. And honestly, I'm super biased. I think it's the best hobby in the world.

Bobbi:
It's gotta be such a good hobby because as you said, who doesn't like to win? Who doesn't like to have that dopamine level increased? And yes, I have done it. However, I'm sure you know a lot of people who say what I'm about to say, oh, I enter and enter and enter, but I hardly ever win. So I'm so looking forward to learning your secrets and your tips and tools and all the knowledge that you have. in order to increase our chances of winning. But first of all, I'd love to hear about your own emptiness experience because from reading about you, it was a little bit different than perhaps the average person's experience. So tell us about that.

Carolyn Wilman:
Well, as the world shut down, it kiboshed all our plans.

Bobbi:
Yeah.

Carolyn Wilman:
So the year my daughter finished high school and entered university, I was spent in her room

Bobbi:
Yeah,

Carolyn Wilman:
because

Bobbi:
right.

Carolyn Wilman:
we couldn't go anywhere. And then, and the university only offered online, which is really difficult because she's in art. She goes to... the biggest art university in Canada.

Bobbi:
Wow.

Carolyn Wilman:
And it's not really conducive to online learning. So it was really difficult for her. And then the second year, they had opened up some classes. So it was like hybrid. And then this, well, I guess she just finished the third year. It was all in person, thankfully. And she's heading into fourth year, but it's really been hard. trying to find employment in the summer. Sometimes she couldn't, she hasn't even found one for this year. Yeah, the pandemic changed everything. And then the other thing that occurred simultaneously was that rental prices where we live skyrocketed. And so what was in our budget isn't in our budget anymore. So I don't even know when this poor young lady is gonna be able to. to leave the nest because it's become so much more difficult. But

Bobbi:
I

Carolyn Wilman:
so

Bobbi:
do

Carolyn Wilman:
first

Bobbi:
not.

Carolyn Wilman:
I just tell her, focus on getting your education and then

Bobbi:
That's true.

Carolyn Wilman:
we'll, worry about that problem when it comes. Like that's as Evelyn Ryan was the protagonist in a great book called The Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio. And when she was... ever confronted with an issue like that, she said, well, that's a problem for another day. Like, I'm

Bobbi:
Oh!

Carolyn Wilman:
not going to worry about that issue right now. Let's focus on what's right here in front of us and then we'll deal with that later. And

Bobbi:
I

Carolyn Wilman:
so

Bobbi:
was.

Carolyn Wilman:
I think that's a great way to look at life because what's the point of worrying about something in the future that may or may not happen?

Bobbi:
It's so true

Carolyn Wilman:
So let's

Bobbi:
and I

Carolyn Wilman:
focus

Bobbi:
often...

Carolyn Wilman:
on getting your education and then we'll deal with the other stuff later.

Bobbi:
That's so true. I mean, the education is going to be the foundation for the rest of her life. So let's focus on that now. When I was reading your story about your daughter being prevented from in-person education because of the pandemic, it got me thinking, were there any blessings in disguise that did come from her remaining at home for a little bit longer?

Carolyn Wilman:
Well, it's been hard for her. I think she missed all her friends. I think it was just hard for everybody, especially the young people. She felt more confined just to her room because that's where she slept and that's where her desk was. But then we have an in-law suite in the basement and when the tenants moved out, we moved her desk down there. We didn't rent it out. And so now she has a whole space to be in. And I think that really helped a lot with her mental health and her physicality. She also had scoliosis when she was a child. And so she had spinal surgery and so sitting a long time and especially in a confined space was really hard on her back. And so now we're, once everything opened back up we were able to get her back into, you know we go to therapies, just, you know massage therapy and chiropractic to maintain her back health. And now she goes to a physical trainer. So once you can get out of the house, it helped a lot. But yeah, I can't even imagine, because my uni experience was probably similar to yours, where you went to school or you had your own apartment or you were on campus and you made friends and you had all these different experiences. And all the kids on those years had none of that.

Bobbi:
Yeah,

Carolyn Wilman:
And I think

Bobbi:
I mean...

Carolyn Wilman:
it... That's part of the learning is not just what you're getting in the classroom, but the whole being on campus, you know, solving your own problems, making new friends, going out places.

Bobbi:
I

Carolyn Wilman:
I

Bobbi:
couldn't.

Carolyn Wilman:
feel really bad for all those kids in

Bobbi:
Yeah,

Carolyn Wilman:
her same circle.

Bobbi:
and we had a similar experience with our daughters, as I was just chatting to you before we started recording. I was letting you know that my youngest daughter came over to the US with us. The rest of the kids stayed back, they were older and they were committed over there. And Lucy came over here and started ninth grade and she was supposed to have, in my husband's word, words, she missed out on that whole American experience really because initially we, it took us a long time for us to get our green cards, which apparently in the scheme of things is not a long time. It took us 18 months, but we had started building our house over here. Our dogs were over here. My husband had started his job over here. And yet for Lucy and I, we would have to come spend three months. go back to Sydney for a period of time. Then we'd come back here and visit again for three months and then go back. And then finally, when we got our green card, shortly after that, the pandemic hit. So she was doing online school, public school online because of the fact that she was... needing to do it back in Sydney and then over here and then everything shut down. So she did have a few friends over here but she really missed out on that whole experience of what this country had to offer and I kind of feel bad because although we travel a lot together in this country and we were doing stuff together every day socially I had it better because This was a new community where we had all built and everybody wasn't already established and in a clique when we moved here. So the adults were like, yeah, let's make friends. Let's do social stuff. And she was kind of not exposed to too many kids her own age. So anyway, but she's gone back to Sydney now and she's thriving over there along with her sister and our other kids. And As we were just speaking earlier, you spent a year in Sydney, so you know why it kind of fits that a child's going to be out of Ohio and back in Sydney when she turns 18.

Carolyn Wilman:
Yeah, I would have gone back to Sydney too, because actually I've always wanted to go back. It's kind of like there, but I've never had an opportunity to do it.

Bobbi:
Yeah.

Carolyn Wilman:
And it's fantastic. Who doesn't want to live in a city where it's like, I live in a fairly flat city and Sydney's, you know, very hilly and every time you turn a corner, there's another beach. I mean, hello. Who doesn't want to live like that? That's why I said do it off air. Why did you move to Ohio? Because I want to get back to Sydney. But

Bobbi:
Yeah.

Carolyn Wilman:
again, it's all economics and that's what we have to do. We have to take care of ourselves and take the opportunities. And it is, it's really exciting to live in another country because I did that. I'm Canadian and I have an aunt and uncle that live in Australia. My cousins are there. They were little when I lived there. They're all grown now. And actually my, I have some, my cousin had babies. So I feel like more like their aunt than their cousin because I was

Bobbi:
Yes.

Carolyn Wilman:
so much older. But they've grown up there and yeah it's just an amazing place to live. But so is everywhere else actually. You just have to find the adventure in wherever you are.

Bobbi:
And

Carolyn Wilman:
And

Bobbi:
it

Carolyn Wilman:
the nice

Bobbi:
is.

Carolyn Wilman:
thing about the world now is we're all connected. Like when I lived in Australia I was writing letters home and calling was so expensive. And I keep thinking, oh my gosh, if I lived there now, I could just FaceTime anybody, anytime.

Bobbi:
Yes.

Carolyn Wilman:
And it wouldn't cost me anything because I'd have Wi-Fi everywhere.

Bobbi:
Yeah, I mean, I had a similar experience. I, and people will say, why did you move to Ohio? And it's like, well, why not? A, we had to come here because of my husband's work, but it's still a gateway into discovering everything this amazing country has to offer. And when I was in my twenties, so yeah, 30 years ago, plus now, goodness me, I did live over in London because as part of the Commonwealth, probably the same for Canadians, we were able to go over on a working holiday visa and live there and work there, and a lot of Aussies and Kiwis go over and have that experience. But I loved it, and I think it's so important, just as a human being, to try to immerse yourself in different countries, cultures, and different experiences and learn how the rest of the world is living. But like you back then, it was like erogram letters home and it was very expensive phone calls and only if you had to. But anyway, I feel like we could talk about our international experiences all day, but we're actually here to find out what you do because what you do is a lot of fun and I can understand why this is your passion. Tell us how you stumbled into the realm of on test sweepstakes and winning.

Carolyn Wilman:
Well, there's kind of two levels to this story, because I always knew you could win. When I was a kid, I remember going to parties, and they would have games. I was always really good at the memory game, and I would win prizes. And so I thought, OK, I like the idea of winning. I had that feeling of euphoria. And I don't know if you've ever talked archetypes with somebody, but I like Robert Ohado's work. He works closely with Carolyn Mays, and they... She wrote a book called Sacred Contracts and talks about your archetypes. And I definitely have the gambler archetype because I like the games of chance. However, it's gracefully paired with the sacred miser because I don't like to spend any money. So you won't find me gambling because that costs me money. That's why I like sweepstakes and contests and giveaways because they're free and I still get the same dopamine hit when I win. And my odds are better. So I think this is the perfect hobby. Plus, if you're gambling, you're just gonna win money. If you're lucky. If you're lucky when you win sweepstakes and giveaways, you can win, and I categorize this in three ways, things that assist your budget,

Bobbi:
Yeah.

Carolyn Wilman:
things that aren't in your budget, and then things money couldn't buy. So assisting your budget would be things like gas gift cards, grocery gift cards, shopping sprees. gift back skits with beauty products, tickets to a concert so then now you don't have to pay to go to the concert. So these are things that you can now take your budget money and put it elsewhere because it's been replaced by something you won for free. Then there's things that might not be in your budget. You might not be able to afford a new car

Bobbi:
Mm-hmm.

Carolyn Wilman:
or a vacation or have a very small budget for vacation, but now you win a vacation so now the budget's just expanded because it can be added to. Because it's always a cheap trip, not a free trip. I mean, you still have to get yourself to the airport and buy your souvenirs

Bobbi:
I,

Carolyn Wilman:
and

Bobbi:
yeah.

Carolyn Wilman:
tips and things that aren't included in a prize win. And I've extended a lot of my prize win holidays because I'm like, well, they've already flown me there and paid for most of the hotel. It's nothing to add a couple of nights

Bobbi:
Yeah.

Carolyn Wilman:
and some meals at that point. And so it can help your budget in that way with things that just. you would never have the money for. And then there's things you can't buy. Like I had the opportunity to meet Sting and Michael Buble and my husband got to race around the car, a pace car on the Indy track. Well, when is he gonna get into a race car? Never. He actually got to even be a judge in the Miss Hawaiian Tropics Bikini Contest. That never happens in your everyday life. So.

Bobbi:
Yes.

Carolyn Wilman:
I know, unfortunately, I've been dating George for five years and the pandemic's been most of it. So he hasn't, I haven't had an opportunity to win him any really crazy good prizes like that. And the meet and greets all kind of died off, sadly. They're slowly coming back, but it's not the same yet. But you can still win tons of amazing things. Last year, I had the best year I've had in a while, I won a Booking.com gift card. And so I took my sister and her husband and George. And so my brother-in-law and George and myself, we all went to Mexico for a week at an all-inclusive. I mean, that's definitely not in my budget. And then I went on a trip to a music festival and then I was going for the trifecta. You know, we call it a hockey, they call it a hat trick. I was going for the hat trick and I did not win a third trip, but I did win a hundred inch TV. And as I was telling you off air, our house is so small. This TV wouldn't fit in the living room. It was so big. We actually had to put it in the garage. We have a huge workshop slash garage slash storage out back. And it's actually so big. It's bigger than some of the war homes in our town.

Bobbi:
Come on.

Carolyn Wilman:
So it fit in there. And so he has the best man cave ever

Bobbi:
Yes,

Carolyn Wilman:
with

Bobbi:
I can

Carolyn Wilman:
this

Bobbi:
imagine.

Carolyn Wilman:
television in there.

Bobbi:
Wow, so tell me how many times a week would you be entering competitions?

Carolyn Wilman:
You know, actually this year it's been down. So this is the wonderful thing about the hobby. Companies have been running promotions like this for well over 125 years. I have marketing books talking about companies using sweepstakes as a marketing strategy well before the 1900s, like 1900. And so it's been a really good marketing strategy for more than a century. This year I have not been entering like I want to because I started a third company and I'm writing five more books in different formats published by the end of the year. So my entry time has almost dissipated but I try and do a little bit every day. If I had my optimal entry time and this is what most sweepers do, oh and I will describe a sweeper, a compter and a contester after. There's lingo. It's an hour to two hours a day and it might sound like a lot, but how much time do people spend watching TV or scrolling on TikTok?

Bobbi:
Exactly. Yeah.

Carolyn Wilman:
My favorite thing is I have a little Chromebook and actually for Christmas, God love George, he got me this little tray with a bar, like a special for the computer, so with a bar so it doesn't slide on. and I can sit there now while we watch a movie and I'll just sit there and enter all my sweepstakes. Because the same, you know, you're watching a movie, it's nothing to click through and enter some giveaways. And so by the time the movie's done, I've entered all my giveaways for the day.

Bobbi:
It's perfect.

Carolyn Wilman:
And so you can enter an hour to two hours a day is the optimal, it seems to be the sweet spot for giveaways. But... That said, it only takes one to win. And for me, for someone who's been hardly entering, I just won George a round of golf for four. And then, you know, and that's not inexpensive. And we went to a concert and I'm waiting on another prize pack. So even my infrequent contesting is still netting me prizes.

Bobbi:
Wow, that's incredible. So I think someone who's listening might think, okay, this is exciting me if it's only one to two hours a day. And I was thinking as you were speaking, I thought, wow, how long do I scroll through reels of stupid stuff on Facebook? And it doesn't give me anything, except it's turning me into a zombie, but I could actually be taking that time that I'm scrolling through useless reels. and putting it towards this. So the question is, we're all excited. What's the first, second, third step we take if we are new to the whole idea of doing this each day or making it a part of our day?

Carolyn Wilman:
Okay, so the first thing I tell people to is set up an email address just for entering sweepstakes. It keeps everything separate. And I've had, I set up an email address years ago and it's perfect. So I don't just use it for sweepstakes. I use it for any online subscription. If I sign up for something, so it doesn't get mixed in with any other email. So if I, there's, you know, we, Sweepstakers are consumers too. There's certain sites I like to get their emails and things. It all goes into one. It really kind of contains all that online stuff into one space, which is great. It doesn't mix in with work or personal email. It just contains it. The second thing I recommend people do is use an aggregate. Now, people say what's an aggregate? They aggregate all legitimate sweepstakes in one site. Now when I started, there wasn't any resources online to say, hey, go here, do this, do that. So that's why I started Contest Queen. I wanted to make it easy for people to find, organize, enter, and win, as you said in the intro. So finding is key, because you'll see them all the time. You'll see them on advertisements, you'll see them on a billboard, you'll see them on the grocery store, maybe a box has a promo on it. And you're, you know. Those are all legitimate because companies aren't going to spend millions of dollars advertising if they aren't real

Bobbi:
Yeah.

Carolyn Wilman:
But That's just one where the other ones that you're going to enter for the other you know hour and so I made a list of all the aggregates that Combine all these sweepstakes into one spot and there's different formats some are like blogs some are like forums some are newsletters and I tell people, go poke around my site and find the format you like. Because they all say, well, what do you enter? And I'm like, doesn't matter what I enter. It matters what you like. Because when you're having fun, that's when you're going to win.

Bobbi:
Yes.

Carolyn Wilman:
And so I tell people, go try different styles and see what works for you. And it makes it so much easier. Then the third thing is read the rules. It's funny, because I always make it my third tip. But I always say it's my number one tip. Because it's the thing people do the least.

Bobbi:
And what do we have to look out for in relation to the terms and the

Carolyn Wilman:
Okay.

Bobbi:
conditions and the rules?

Carolyn Wilman:
Well, the reason you want to read the rules is because if you don't follow them, you will just disqualify yourself. Then you're wasting your time and sponsors time. So what you're looking for is eligibility. Is it open to me? Because you might find one like you're in Ohio, but you might find this great sweepstakes, but it's only open to New York. Well, you can't enter. You're not eligible. So you could, if you entered and they called you and found out you were in another state, they would instantly disqualify you. So there's no point in entering. So you wanna find out, are you eligible to enter? Is it open to your city, state, like all the sports ones in our area are only open to a distance range around where the team plays.

Bobbi:
Let's see.

Carolyn Wilman:
So if you're in that range, you can win tickets. If you're

Bobbi:
Okay.

Carolyn Wilman:
not, then you can't. So you need to know, are you eligible? When does it start and when does it finish? Frequency. Is it single entry? Is it daily? Now see, that's important. That's where the organized part comes in. Because if it's daily, you want to remember to go back and enter so you can use bookmarks. I teach people how to organize all the sweepstakes in Roboform, which is my absolute favorite software program. It started out as a password keeper, which it is. It's amazing for that. I don't know how I'd run my businesses without it. However, I also use it for sweepstakes. And so I organize them in folders, just like a lot of people do in the browser. So being organized is also key, but that way, if it's a daily, I put it in there and then I remember it makes it easy for me to remember to go back. So

Bobbi:
Mm-hmm.

Carolyn Wilman:
again, it's frequency, eligibility, and then maximizing your entries. And then also what are some of the other clauses? Like you're going to find a lot more, what they call in the marketing world, consumer generated media, CGM. or user generated UCG, user generated media, UGM. And those are where they say, hey, make a TikTok doing something and then enter using this hashtag, tag us and use this hashtag. And so do I have to do something? And I've actually won some of those because people don't like to do anything. People are lazy.

Bobbi:
Yes,

Carolyn Wilman:
So the more

Bobbi:
I want

Carolyn Wilman:
obstacles

Bobbi:
to win without

Carolyn Wilman:
to entry,

Bobbi:
investment.

Carolyn Wilman:
right, the more obstacles to entry there are,

Bobbi:
Yeah.

Carolyn Wilman:
the better your odds of winning. So

Bobbi:
Wrong.

Carolyn Wilman:
the more hurdles people have to jump, the better it is for you. Cause if you're the one willing to jump them, I had a friend last year and we have clubs. There's club, I run an online sweepstakes club cause I was so sad during the pandemic. I couldn't go see my friends. I just start, I had zoom. I was using Zoom three years before everybody else, because I was using it to teach my classes.

Bobbi:
Yeah.

Carolyn Wilman:
And so I started this online Zoom online club and we talked after and she wanted to enter this TikTok, but she was like, I don't know. And I'm like, you have to do it. No one's gonna enter. And so she did it. And she said it was so hard and she struggled and she didn't know how to use the filter. And she finally got it and she won $10,000.

Bobbi:
Wow.

Carolyn Wilman:
because she did what other people didn't want to do.

Bobbi:
So the key is to invest some time because you have more chances of winning if you need to set aside some time and apply yourself and actually do something. And as you said, most people are lazy. So guys, you know, this might be your chance to win.

Carolyn Wilman:
It really is. And, but sometimes, I mean, all my best wins last year, all the big ones I had were just me doing online entries. Well, the booking.com one was a short window entry. Again, how long is it open for? This was only open during the Super Bowl.

Bobbi:
Right.

Carolyn Wilman:
They changed it this year. Dang. But last year, the year before, it was only open during the Super Bowl. So basically it was open for six hours. And you had to take a picture of a commercial and then post it on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. And so for four and a half hours, I sat there furiously taking pictures of the TV while the commercials were on. And then while the football players were playing, I was furiously entering on all three platforms to maximize my odds of being selected as a winner. And, Then a couple days later I was notified I won and that was really good. But the other one was a random draw. I was trying to win the instant prizes because they had some really good little instant prizes and I was like, I want one of those. And then out of the blue I won one of the grand prizes. I was like, I wasn't even expecting that. That was just a regular sweepstakes entry. And the last one was a blog comment that won. So they're all three different styles. So that's why it's important to enter all different ways.

Bobbi:
Yeah,

Carolyn Wilman:
because

Bobbi:
and it's-

Carolyn Wilman:
again that maximizes your odds of winning.

Bobbi:
Yeah, the question I need to ask you, where do people go? Is there, are there websites where it's competition website where you can go through and see what sort of competition you want to enter? Otherwise, how do we, I mean we might be at the grocery store and they have a big sign saying enter here and we fill out a little, a little form, but if we want to do the online stuff, where are you going to sit with your fancy thing that George when you're entering them, where are you actually going to find all these competitions?

Carolyn Wilman:
Okay, that was what the sweepstakes aggregates are, and I have a list on my website, contestqueen.com.

Bobbi:
Right.

Carolyn Wilman:
But, and I use, I live in Canada, and most of my friends, sweeper friends are American. So actually, in Canada, we enter contests, so we're contesters. In America, they enter sweepstakes, so they're Americans or sweepers. And then in the UK and Australia, it's competition, so they're compers. But it's actually

Bobbi:
right?

Carolyn Wilman:
all the same thing. They just have different lingo.

Bobbi:
Oh, I didn't realize that. I didn't realize that. So another thing I was recently scammed. I would like to ask you, what should people be looking out for when they come across competitions to determine that they are legit and they should be investing time in filling out the form or doing whatever they need to do to enter.

Carolyn Wilman:
Well, this is where reading the rules is really important. And there's some companies, so there's real sweepstakes. Then there's ones that kind of skirt the whole giveaway thing. And then there's the write-out scams. The ones that are legitimate, they do give away the prize, but are kind of skirting the law,

Bobbi:
Yeah.

Carolyn Wilman:
will say in the rules that they will sell your data. They're upfront about it. And so this is why I tell people, always read the rules and look for it. So I had in one of my classes, I had somebody say, what about this big magazines giveaways? They have tons of them on their website. So I said, well, let's go and look. And I started looking at them and they had trips and cash and stuff, good prizes. And I opened it up and you don't have to subscribe to enter, completely legitimate, full rules. because that's another giveaway when it's a scam. They don't have official rules.

Bobbi:
I say.

Carolyn Wilman:
And I looked and right on the entry form, they are extremely upfront about selling your data.

Bobbi:
Okay.

Carolyn Wilman:
They say, yes, we will sell your information. And people are entering without reading that at all. They just check the little box and off they go.

Bobbi:
Hmm?

Carolyn Wilman:
And I'm like, oh, yeah, I wouldn't enter any of these. No, they're gonna sell your stuff.

Bobbi:
Yep.

Carolyn Wilman:
not worth it. There's companies spend literally billions of dollars. The last stat I had and that was pre-pandemic and I think it's gone up since then was four billion dollars a year in the United States running giveaways. There's a lot of legitimate giveaways. You don't have to worry about those ones. And then outright scams. I mean it happens Instagram seems to be the worst with the bots. So you find a giveaway and you enter it. And the thing is with the algorithms on these social media sites, because I enter, so I have my business accounts, but then I have a personal one just for entering.

Bobbi:
Yeah.

Carolyn Wilman:
That's another tip thrown in there on the side. I have my sweepstakes account and on Instagram because I enter so many giveaways, it's all my feed. It my feed, the algorithm is in my favor. Now it just feeds me the guys. And so, and then I have a circle is giveaway friends that I tag all the time.

Bobbi:
Yeah.

Carolyn Wilman:
And so you'll enter a giveaway on Instagram and you will immediately be followed. It's so bad. Immediately be followed by another company that has stolen their picture, made the name almost identical with

Bobbi:
wrong

Carolyn Wilman:
a double letter or an underscore or a dot or something just to make it a little off. And then they'll send you a thing where they'll say, congratulations, you won our competition. and they use a lot of emojis to make it look exciting and then they'll say click here and just give us your credit card and we'll send you your prize. I'm like no, block, block. Immediately. And you'll see this in a lot of rules on the social media ones. I feel sad for all these companies. And actually when I run company, when I run giveaways for companies, I have to put it in the clause too and it basically says beware of fake accounts. We're not gonna ask you for money. The tags and DMs will only come from us.

Bobbi:
Right,

Carolyn Wilman:
Like,

Bobbi:
well that's all

Carolyn Wilman:
yeah.

Bobbi:
really good information. So to find the aggregate, as you said that's the term you use, people can go to contestqueen.com and find these one-stop shops for entering competitions.

Carolyn Wilman:
Yeah, now the site is eight years old, so you have to kind of do a little digging under resources. After my new book website is built, I'm going to be re-hauling Contest Queen to make the list right on the front, like right off the front page.

Bobbi:
That's

Carolyn Wilman:
You

Bobbi:
fantastic.

Carolyn Wilman:
know, it's like a home remodel. You look around and you

Bobbi:
Talk

Carolyn Wilman:
go,

Bobbi:
for tonight.

Carolyn Wilman:
I think it's a little dated. It's time to renovate. So that's what we're basically

Bobbi:
Look, this has just been such a fantastic opportunity to find out the right ways, the do's and don'ts of entering competitions. Before we go, I would love to ask you what is the best prize you've ever won and what is the worst prize you've ever won?

Carolyn Wilman:
Well, I can't think of a worse prize.

Bobbi:
Because of the fries?

Carolyn Wilman:
Well, I don't really have anything bad. Like, you know, sometimes I'll be entering for a big prize and you'll win a secondary prize. Like I don't really need another cooler

Bobbi:
Yeah.

Carolyn Wilman:
or another t-shirt or another hat.

Bobbi:
Yes.

Carolyn Wilman:
But they're not really bad. I share them with people all the time, you know, or sometimes you win something and you think, Oh, why did I enter that? Like one time I won a vacation in New Mexico, but it didn't include airfare. I'm like, why would I enter that? How did I miss that in the rules? Like in the rules, it will definitely say transportation is

Bobbi:
Yes.

Carolyn Wilman:
not included.

Bobbi:
Just

Carolyn Wilman:
How

Bobbi:
a second.

Carolyn Wilman:
I missed that clause, I don't know. But then I was looking at it and it was so nice. I said to my husband, I think we should go.

Bobbi:
Right.

Carolyn Wilman:
And so then we cashed in our air miles and went, and it was like one of the best vacations. I'm like, oh, I'm so glad I took this. So it wasn't, you know, it wasn't

Bobbi:
Yeah.

Carolyn Wilman:
all bad, but you have to be careful. But my favorite prize

Bobbi:
Yeah.

Carolyn Wilman:
was a weekend we spent in London and we got to go to the set of Hogwarts. And this was when they were still filming the movies. Now it's public, right?

Bobbi:
Yeah.

Carolyn Wilman:
But it was, it was, it was still film set at the time. And so we got to go to London for the weekend. That was fun. What did you do this weekend? I went to London.

Bobbi:
I know you would have won Facebook that weekend with your pictures just and your status just popping over to London for the weekend guys.

Carolyn Wilman:
You know what? It was really, I think Facebook, I don't even think Facebook was around when I

Bobbi:
Alright,

Carolyn Wilman:
won that.

Bobbi:
okay.

Carolyn Wilman:
Like, it's been crazy how social media has changed so many things. Like, I'm going in two weeks, I'm so excited, to the annual National Sweepstakes Convention. And this year it's in Phoenix. Next year it'll be in Vegas.

Bobbi:
Yes.

Carolyn Wilman:
And I think the year after that it's going to a city in Texas. So it moves around.

Bobbi:
Oh, wow.

Carolyn Wilman:
But I hired an assistant because I just... it got to me too much and she said, and you need to start filming B-roll. And I'm like, what is that? She told me just basically your entire life is now content.

Bobbi:
Yeah, yeah,

Carolyn Wilman:
And

Bobbi:
yeah.

Carolyn Wilman:
so she's like, you gotta practice. I'm like, all right. So at this convention, I'm just gonna be filming like everything. Everything, we'll see how it goes. She goes, everything, like you eating, you winning a prize, everything.

Bobbi:
Oh my god, imagine what you could come up with. Oh, this has been such a fun conversation and I really appreciate you joining us. I'm going to put all the links to your resources website and anything else that you want to include on the episode description. But thank you. This has been great. I'm sure there is much more that we could have gone into

Carolyn Wilman:
Oh.

Bobbi:
and I'm sure we will be connecting another time too. talk about something else because you're so much fun. You're so entertaining and I love the energy that you bring to the podcast. Thanks Carolyn so much.

Carolyn Wilman:
Oh, thanks for having me. It's so fun. I love sharing my tips. And I have one last tip for everybody.

Bobbi:
plate.

Carolyn Wilman:
You also have to thank your winner before you are. So you can't sit there and enter and think, I don't know why I'm wasting my time. I'm not gonna win. No, you're not.

Bobbi:
Wow.

Carolyn Wilman:
You have to think, I wonder which one of these prizes is gonna show up in my mailbox or be delivered to me

Bobbi:
So it's just the law

Carolyn Wilman:
or

Bobbi:
of

Carolyn Wilman:
I'm gonna

Bobbi:
attraction.

Carolyn Wilman:
go to.

Bobbi:
It's the law of attraction you're working with. Have

Carolyn Wilman:
Right.

Bobbi:
that mindset. Think like you've already got that prize with you. And then I think the key to manifestation is we don't get what we think about, we get how we feel about what we think about. So if you have that joy, excitement, possibility about you and picture you having that prize with you right now. That's really got to change the game for a lot of people who enter competitions for sure, because as you said, it's what you do and you're winning all the time.

Carolyn Wilman:
Yeah, even when, and that's the thing, even when I'm not entering as much as I would like,

Bobbi:
Yep.

Carolyn Wilman:
I still win.

Bobbi:
Yeah.

Carolyn Wilman:
So I know that it's what I might, the energy I'm putting out there.

Bobbi:
for

Carolyn Wilman:
I

Bobbi:
sure.

Carolyn Wilman:
have a friend who does not believe in the law of attraction and he wins so much and I go, but this is how you just live. And he's like, no, I don't. And I'm like, yes, you do.

Bobbi:
Yeah, it's gotta be

Carolyn Wilman:
That's

Bobbi:
last

Carolyn Wilman:
his

Bobbi:
year.

Carolyn Wilman:
whole, that's his whole being. And he doesn't understand it.

Bobbi:
So he's obviously doing something right. So your life must be like getting a fun Amazon package most days, but you don't actually have to pay for it. You just have to invest a little bit of time into.

Carolyn Wilman:
Oh my gosh, it's so fun. And you know, I started doing this before my daughter was born. So she just thinks that's what people's lives do. You just win stuff. Like one time she said to me, when was the last time we paid for a movie, mom? I'm like, I don't know.

Bobbi:
now.

Carolyn Wilman:
Like we've won so many movie gift cards or tickets to movies that.

Bobbi:
Yeah, well that's great.

Carolyn Wilman:
Um,

Bobbi:
I really,

Carolyn Wilman:
we

Bobbi:
really...

Carolyn Wilman:
didn't, we haven't paid for anything. It's, it's so fun. It's such a great hobby.

Bobbi:
certainly is and it's one that pays dividends. So Carolyn, thank you so much and to everyone else listening, I appreciate you connecting with us today on Fly Mom Fly. Until next time.