Stalking Your Mentors Plus More Giveaway Winners!

One fun benefit of having a blog, is that sometimes you get to run giveaways. And the most common method of picking winners is to use the Random Number Generator.

But I hate the horrid random number generator. Because I DO have favorite folks who comment here, and I'm intrigued by many of the new folks who stop by, and I always hope the RNG will align with my preferences and pick someone I'd love to see win! Very often, though, it doesn't.

Evil Random Number Generator!

On the other hand, I also love the Random Number Generator.  Because what happens if you don't use one? Well, you have to pick a winner yourself, and own up to that choice, and then picture all the other deserving folks who didn't win and it's all your fault 'cause it was you who didn't pick them.

That's why I  generally take the wussy way out and use the RNG. (Although this week I have to say I'm quite pleased with where it landed; and don't worry, I will eventually tell you who won the Jungle Gym XT and the Life Coaching package).

But as it happens, there is a life coach/self-improvement blogger I've been following enthusiastically, Tim Brownson, who is running a giveaway for life coach mentoring on his blog.  And he not using random number generator.  So despite the fact there are already hundreds of gazillions of contenders, I'm throwing my hat in the ring.  The guy is wicked smart, funny, inspirational, publishes useful self-improvement ebooks (some for free) and uses lots of swear words.  What's not to like?

Why am I mentioning this?  Well, Tim is just as much of a google-whore as I am, and he wants lots of potential coaches to know about his offer.   Plus, I'm sure he wouldn't mind a few new blog readers, coaching clients and ebook buyers hearing about him as well.  He's a very amusing blogger, so feel free to click on one of the links above and perhaps Tim will notice and it will help my chances of scoring his help for free.

And if you didn't win the life coaching part of the Cranky Fitness giveaway, and are interested in some life or wellness coaching, and don't want any from me despite my already affordable life coaching rates plus the limited time Cranky Fitness 50% off discount good until March 1... then Tim would make an excellent choice!  His wisdom and extra years of experience will no doubt more than make up for rather large price difference between us. And his ebooks are excellent and often either free or cheap!

Hey Tim, Lookin' Good!

OK, so enough self-promotion and mentor-stalking, let's find out won the Cranky Fitness Big Weird Giveaway, shall we?

TRX-knockoff suspension trainer

The winner is Sinner Ella De'Ville! Whose giveaway comment btw, was particularly hilarious. This doesn't usually make a difference to the RNG but apparently it was in a whimsical mood this morning.

And who won the Life Coaching Package?

Runs With Blisters!

Congrats, winners, and please email me before the end of the day Friday to claim your prize. I'm at Crabbby McSlacker @ gmail.com.

And thanks to everyone who commented at either post, I love your comments and really appreciate them.

Resolution Renovation... Plus Big Weird Giveaway!

Photo: Hypervocal.com 

Did you make some hopeful New Year's Resolutions a few weeks back? Or, if you're not the resolution sort, have you set some worthy "self-improvement" goals?

Awesome!

So.... how's that going?

Perhaps you're exceeding your wildest dreams of success.  Or maybe you're pretty well on track to be one of the meager 12% who actually keep New Years Resolutions.  If so, way to go!

But if you've already abandoned ship on your promises to yourself, or are in danger of doing so soon--don't give up just yet.  Some simple suggestions may help you get right back on track again. Or at least they'll remind you that you have plenty company in resolution-related lameness. It's not just you!

So you can either go directly to some tips on Fixing Broken New Years Resolutions, or hang out here a bit longer and find out about the rather odd double-giveaway (plus Big Discount) we have going this week...with no need for a pesky U.S. mailing address like most giveaways!

First, The Weird Prizes:

1. A Handy Portable Exercise Gizmo! 

And yes, it's a slightly-used but not-smelly-or-gross-or-anything demonstration model of a Jungle Gym XT suspension training system that would otherwise cost about a hundred bucks.  I already had a TRX when I did the review, so I haven't needed to use it myself.  I will clean and disinfect the handles and clumsily cram the thingy back into its undersized box with the accompanying DVD and mail it to one randomly chosen winner--and again, since it's coming from me personally, international folks can enter too!

2.  A package of 4 free Life Coaching sessions (plus an hour long intake) valued at $275 by a Life and Wellness coach we just happen to know!

 Hey There!

One winner will be randomly chosen, and again, you don't need to live in the U.S.  Sessions can be by cell phone, video skype call, or email, and would begin starting in March, to enable the winner a chance to fill out a form and sign a long-ass coaching contract, as well as to give the Coach a chance to skip town in late February for a family vacation.

I've been meaning to offer a 2012 coaching giveaway to Cranky Fitness readers, because they make the most awesome clients, and post-resolution season seemed as good a time as any!

3. Limited time 50% off life coaching discount:

For folks who sign up, get their forms in, and pay for a package before March 1, the Cranky Fitness 25% off discount of regular Life Coaching Rates will be increased to 50% off. (After March 1 it's back to 25% off, which is still a pretty darn good deal if you google around and compare prices. Which is sometimes a challenge because many coaches won't tell you upfront how much it's gonna cost!)

And if you get excited about the discount, sign up and pay and it turns out you win the giveaway?  No worries, your fee will be refunded to you.

Giveaway Instructions:

To enter the drawing for the suspension trainer, just leave a comment here on this post about anything in hell you feel like talking about.

To enter the drawing for the free life coaching, go to the Broken New Years Resolution post over at LiveaLittleCoaching.com and leave a comment there saying something vaguely related to resolutions or self-improvement goals. Note: if you want to leave a comment there but don't want any life coaching, you can always politely decline should you win! No need to explain exactly how unwelcome you'd find the prospect of winning in the comment itself unless you just can't help it.

Important Deadline: Drawings for both prizes will take place in about a week, and you'll have until the end of the day Friday February 17th to claim your prize.

Good luck, and hope you all are kicking resolution ass!

Life Coaching Update

So in my last blog post, I revealed my plans to bake a cupcake the size of Manhattan start up a life and wellness coaching practice. I also confessed that I intended to start using Cranky Fitness to shamelessly pimp for my Life Coaching website at livealittlecoaching.com. Oh yeah, and I mentioned that I might need a few beta (i.e., "practice") clients if anyone wanted some free coaching.

Well, holy cow, I'm psyched! Not only did I get to reconnect with some favorite & much-loved Cranky Fitness commenters, who offered support and encouragement, but I also got a TON of folks volunteering to be guinea pigs.

First, the bad news: I've got way more volunteers than I can handle, so I'm closing off the freebie thing now. So sorry! I know for many folks there wasn't near enough time to see the post and respond. But sadly, if you haven't already emailed me and received an email in return, I'm afraid I can't accommodate any more. (I got roughly 5 times more inquiries than I expected or that I can handle at one time, so I'm going to have to get to the first round of folks on a rolling basis).

What's the the not-so-bad news? Well, if you're interested, I'm starting a wait list for people who might be interested in Cheapish Life Coaching. The cost will be 75% off the prices listed in the life coaching rates page of the website, and will be locked in for at least 8 sessions, if you're interested in that many.  And if you decide you want more than 8, the rates may stay the same or may go up a bit over time, but they won't change dramatically all at once. It's also possible that some of the original freebie clients will drop out or not be good match for my services, in which case there may be a few more free slots coming up for those on the wait list.  And there's even a kind of a "silver lining" aspect of the wait list:  by the time I get to you, I'll have had a chance to iron out potential bugs in the coaching process, get some feedback from the first round of clients, and I'll be approximately 75% less likely to be a clueless ass.

You can contact me via my email address for Cranky Fitness (lower right sidebar) , or by using the link provided on the "get started" page over at my  Life and Wellness Coaching website. (The reason I'm being coy is to avoid spambots; I promise it's not some sort of tricky client screening device).

Thanks again everyone for all the encouragement, help, and general awesomeness!