When we launched on October 1st, I admit we were nowhere near ready. But a goal had been set and there was no way we were delaying again. So with little fanfare, a few tweets on Twitter and our video release we went live regardless.

At least we were up and running and I could add content. We had no banners designed for advertising, so had not advertised our products at all. Perhaps my goal had been a little unrealistic? So I really didn’t imagine we’d have much to update until we began our advertising campaign. BUT the Universe has it’s own mystique as I soon found out!

While we now have our own store of hug products , before opening we had several stores on Zazzle selling Hug bags and TShirts. We LOVE Zazzle but wanted to offer a larger selection of products and the advantage of Free Shipping. However after the launch and coming to terms with the fact that no advertsing means limited exposure and sales, imagine our surprise to find we were selling Hug Bags and T-Shirts on Zazzle on a consistent basis.

We’d always sold a few here and there but suddenly it was like a floodgate opened. We had not mentioned our Zazzle stores anywhere on or site. The reason was due to our offer of free shipping that we could not offer with our Zazzle products. But people found our hug products on Zazzle, paid shipping and started a little ripple over there. We can’t wait to experience the waterfall!

For the moment so as not to confuse our customers we’re not going to include the link to our zazzle stores (marketing suicide?), but all hug products purchased through Zazzle count towards our goal.

So we’re thrilled to announce that our 1st update on hugs sent stands at 187. We’ve got many members opening shops and creating their own products, our scrapbooking feature is a hit and we’ve received amazing emails. We’re on our way……………..We hope you stay for the ride…………

Thank You Thank You Thank You

Tags: amillionhugs.com, causes, expression, free store, goal, gratitude, HUG STORE, zazzle

Have You Seen the Movie The Secret?

Tried to put the ‘Law of Attraction’ into practice but don’t believe you’re having any success. You’re not alone. It’s easy to lose faith in the process and to have doubt. Help in attempting to live your life by design often comes with a hefty price tag. Visions of others driving around in flashy cars and showcasing their dream home, all the while telling you how easy it is, can be disheartening to say the least. Especially if everything around you is pointing to the contrary. Complete lack of finances may prevent you from participation in a mentoring program on offer from one of ‘The Teachers’ and you don’t believe you’ll get it on your own. Even if you can afford it, you’re filled with excitement and enthusiasm for the first few weeks and then life deals you a blow and back down to reality you come. Or maybe you’ve spent your money, only to discover the course is more about MLM and making someone else rich.

If any of the above relates to you, don’t worry. You really are not alone. There are so many people that no matter how they try, can just not achieve the riches and successes promised, no matter how it’s presented. And I was one of them.

I first saw the movie ‘The Secret’ on November 14th 2006 and it’s not a moment I think I’ll forget.
My husband is suddenly gone. Debts from 20 years of married life did not leave with him. I am forced to sell the house and after all bills are paid, I have just under $2,000 in the bank.
I had run a small business selling gift and novelty craft items with my sister and I moved into the back of the shop premises.
The events of the preceding months had taken it’s toll and the doors of our business had long since closed. Surrounded by dead stock, a life less than perfect, the loss of my husband, no income, no transport in an isolated town and allowing in my own self pity, I was beaten.
My only life line was my computer and the internet.

Many people in their depths of despair pray to God. I was agnostic. I neither believed in God nor disbelieved.
However, I was smart enough to know that if he did exist he was in no way to blame for the mess I had found myself in.
Nope!
That was all my doing. But in my depth of despair I cried out. Not to a God I did not believe in. But to myself. Through sobbing tears I asked myself the question we all ask at some time. “Why am I here?” I asked over and over again. Desperately needing to know. I wasn’t suicidal, but in that moment, I could totally connect with their reasoning. I was seriously at my lowest point.

Within a matter of minutes I was distracted by the familiar sound of new email arriving. I didn’t recognise the sender.
It was spam. The address was simply a jumble of numbers at a hotmail account and I went to delete it immediately.
Until I saw the subject line! “Watch this. It will change your life forever.”
Were they kidding! I laughed so hard and so hysterically I actually thought I might be having a breakdown. It lifted my mood though. I could actually see the funny side. So as I’m a curious one by nature then yes, you guessed right, I opened the email.
There was no message, no further information, just a single link that simply said “The Secret”. Now I don’t know about you, but the mere mention of the word secret is good enough for me – Of course I clicked that link.…..

The moral of this part of my story?

Don’t judge all spammers too harshly. Some of them just might have some information that may just change your life.

My heartfelt gratitude to my Spammer!

FROM CRAPPY TO HAPPY PART 2 – coming soon

Tags: amillionhugs.com, expression, get happy, gifting, gratitude, hapiness, hug, joy, Law Of Attraction, love, secret, the secret, unique

THE VOTES ARE IN!

For 2 months now we’ve run a poll for our customers, visitors and store owners, asking them to choose the % of our Million Dollar gift to charity.
We asked whether you all felt 100% should go to just one cause or be split among several causes.
Well over 1,000 of you voted and the result was a resounding “Split amongst several causes”. The funds will be gifted to all causes listed and divided according to the % of votes. You can freely add your own cause and it will be added to the list.
(We update weekly).
For example if your cause has received 35% of the votes on the day we send our Millionth Hug item, then your cause would be gifted $350,000, if it has received 2% of the total votes, it would receive $20,000 etc.

ADD OR VOTE FOR YOUR CAUSE

Add your cause or vote for your favourite. You can vote once every 24 hours.

Voting poll can be found on everypage of the site (right hand side).

Tags: amillionhugs.com, causes, charity, expression, get happy, gifting, give, gratitude, help, Verse

THAT CLASSIC LITTLE BUICK

This is one of our favourite personalized verse so we’re happy to be able to share it.   The customer that ordered this personalized verse was after something very unique for her father who is a mad Buick fan.  His favourite model being the 1946 series. The following characteristics were noted on her form:

1. In his sixties
2. Loves Buicks (especially 1946 – important)
3. Sports car mad
4. Balding
5. Retired and bored
6. Feels young in mind but not in body
7. Great sense of humour (Humerous verse thanks)
8. Married

And this was the end result.

GENEROSITY

All personalized verse is written exclusively for the client and is never offered for resale. However this verse was not only a hit with our clients Dad, but with his whole Buick car club, who all wanted one of their own. This very generous and honest customer contacted us and asked us if she could print out and share the verse with her Dad’s club mates. She intended to charge them a reasonable amount and donate it towards our “Hugguble You” requests.  Then she went one step further by suggesting we resell it on our site to help send even more hugs.

What else could we say but thank you. We chose rather than to sell it, to offer it here and allow those of you who would like a copy to donate an amount of  your choice.

If you’re on a website about A Million Hugs, then we already know the type of person you are and we trust you.  The world could do with a little more trust…

Click on image, click again to zoom, then right click and save image. Print out on quality card stock, frame and you have a perfect gift for a Buick or vintage car enthusiast.

PLEASE NOTE THE LINK TO ORDER A PERSONALIZED VERSE IS TEMPORARILY DISABLED WHILST ORDERS ARE BEING COMPLETED. SORRY! THERE’S ONLY SO MANY THAT CAN BE WRITTEN IN A DAY…

Tags: Buick, expression, personalised, Personalized, poetry, unique, Verse, vintage car

From October 1st we will be setting aside part proceeds from every Hug store gift sold and we aim to send A Million!

We’re ready to send A Million Hugs to A Million People & A Million Dollars to Charity.
FREE Store owners keep all their profits and are under no obligation to contribute, we’ll still do so on your behalf!We’ve Grown! We’ve had a facelift, expanded our own online store with more products and choices and we’ve set ourselves a goal. Our members are about to become a part of something HUGE. We’ll officially be launching our goal on the 1st October and all our members benefit with FREE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE, just in time for Christmas! Now is the perfect time to get those Christmas Photo Books and gifts done. We’ll be launching in earnest and active Free store owners can benefit greatly.

PASS THE HUGS

From the 1st October our invoice will include a Pass the Hugs Verse. A unique way to let others know about our goal.
Market stall holders:: For our stall holders who purchase for resale, copy the verse and give freely with your products as a card or scroll. A novel idea that increases sales. If you have an online store, it’s a great advertising tool.

On the 31st October we’ll do our first update and then weekly thereafter. Please help us help others. Purchase a hug gift and reach out to someone special today. Don’t let the calendar be your reminder to get in touch with family and friends. You don’t need to wait for their next birthday or that commercial holiday to express your feelings. There is no better time than NOW. It is all we have.

Imagine A Million People sending and receiving Hugs in a global movement. That’s enough positive energy to shift our Universe. Please join us. Become a part of that shift and “Be The Pebble That Causes The Ripples” in your part of the world.

Tags: amillionhugs.com, expression, family, free store, hug, HUG STORE, hugs, love, make money, pass the hugs, personalised, unique

We’re so excited to release our Hugs video and hope you all embrace it and share it with as many people that you know, who need their heart touched.
We may be a little bias – But we LOVE it.
Joy to you all and enjoy.

A MILLION HUGS

Please be patient as video loads, we think it’s worth the wait!

This video was made with the amazing services of Animoto.com.  We wish we could take the credit for it’s artistic structure, but the Animoto site manipulated the images into this end result.
All we did was upload the photo’s, add our text, place images in order, select the soundtrack and their software put it altogether, online as we waited.  It took around 20 minutes to render and was then available as a downloadable file. To say we were thrilled with the result is definitely an understatement.

Animoto.com have free and paid features on site. Practice as much as you like by creating unlimited,  free,  30 second videos before creating your feature  length.

PERFECT GIFT IDEA

We were so impressed with Animotos features that we created a video for our Mum from her Grandchildren’s favourite photo’s. We added dates, places and sentiment from the children and set it to her favourite soundtrack. We then burnt this to a DVD, created a nice cover image and presented it to her for her birthday in what else but a Grandma Hug Bag.

What a beautiful way to enhance your Hug Gift, by including a dvd of photos images and messages from the ones they love.   We can’t recommend this service enough.

Tags: amillionhugs.com, animoto, expression, family, hug, HUG STORE, hugs, love, Our Video Release & The Amazing Animoto.com, pass the hugs