Mona Lisa Million: Monday 6 September 2010

Hi, Welcome to Monday on the Mona Lisa Million Project!

I set this project up to help other people and part of that was using some of the income to make donations to charities and good causes. In the nearly seven months since I launched this project I haven’t been able to build sufficient momentum to bring in an income. There are quite a few reasons for that and perhaps I’ll look at those at some other times. What I will say now, is that I’m making the effort to change that.

Part of the change has been to redesign the site to give an immediate snapshot of what we’re doing here no matter which page a visitor lands on.

I’ve also moved to a formatted daily post which gives me a structure to work to and a way to highlight sponsors both old and new. Hopefully I’ve done it in a way that keeps the daily posts fresh and interesting whilst giving plenty of ‘air play’ to sponsors.

The icing on the cake would be to actually have some funds to donate to good causes but as I’ve decided to hold off selling the sections of the Mona Lisa until I’ve given all the existing sponsors a good outing, it leaves the project a bit flat and kind of half baked.

I’ve decided that I’m going to put up $100 of my own money to be donated to a good cause at the end of September. One hundred dollars might not sound like a great deal, but given that when I started this project I couldn’t even justify buying a new pair of walking boots, I can assure you that $100 is a great deal to me.

So how can I afford to do this now? I can’t really, but having recently made the decision to go back to work having spent two years as a stay at home dad, I figure I’ll offset the donation through future earnings.

Another reason for doing this is to show how serious I am about this project. Put your money where your mouth is… as they say.

Later in the week I’ll publish a post asking you to nominate causes you’d like to see benefit from the donation and then I’ll rig up some kind of vote so that everyone who comes to this site has a chance to influence where the money goes.

I’m really excited to be doing this and I look forward to seeing how it pans out.

So leaving that bit of excitement to one side, let’s get on with on with the exciting business of the day.

The exciting business of the day is bringing you an update of the project and introducing the latest site to be added to the Mona Lisa… The Art Of Wise Living – read more about this site below.

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What is the Mona Lisa Million Project?

The aim of the project is to create something worth talking about. To that end the goal of the the Mona Lisa Million Project is to raise a cool One Million Dollars! That’s pretty spectacular in its own right but it’s even more remarkable because 25% of the income will be donated to good causes every month.

How will the money be raised? Well, that’s also worth talking about because the money will be raised by selling the most famous painting in the world, the Mona Lisa, to people who want some absolutely cracking promotion for their website or online business.

This is a unique project offering real value to sponsors. It’s not just ownership of a piece of the Mona Lisa, it’s also the in-post mentions as I update the progress of the project on the blog along with the opportunity to have a featured post dedicated solely to you, your site, service or product. Get More Information Here!

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MONA LISA MILLION STATS

Total Sections: 956
Active : 47
Reserved: 9
Available: 900

Needed to reach $1,000,000: $999,998
Hey! you gotta start somewhere!

Donated to good causes so far: $0
It’s early days yet!! Hang on in there

Top Sponsor: $1.04 but the sponsor hasn’t yet taken up the option – GRID REF: R4/20 SITE: N/A TWITTER: N/A FACEBOOK: N/A

Most Sections Owned (By Site): N/A (yet)

Most voted for page: Feature not yet available

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AVAILABILITY ON THE MONA LISA

The allocation of new sections is still on hold. I want to make sure the existing sponsors get plenty of exposure before I turn my attention to new business. But keep checking in or alternatively subscribe via RSS or Email and get this directly to your reader or inbox.

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JUST ADDED TO THE MONA LISA

The Art Of Wise Living

Aja Trinidad is talented, friendly and ever so helpful. Offering her services as a Life Coach Aja can help you deal with issues that prevent you from meeting your potential. Perhaps you feel that your life sucks? Well, Aja will show you that changing the way you think about your life can rid you of that limiting and potentially damaging belief.

You can read more about Aja’s own journey to a happy and fulfilling life and get plenty of sound advice by reading the blog.

Aja, welcome to the project!

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OTHER RECENT ADDITIONS

GizmoDad – Gizmo and gadget news and reviews from a dad’s perspective.

Are you Receiving Me? – A Briton living in Holland who sometimes feels nostalgic for the old country.

C’est la Vie – a 20-something, geocaching cat lover, living in South Africa.

What Will Julia Do Next? – A retired headteacher who proudly declares that she’s “Retired but not retiring”

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TODAY’S FEATURED POST

Everyone who has a section of the Mona Lisa has the opportunity to submit a featured post. This is a post dedicated solely to them, their site, product or service. It can be in the form of a bio, a promo, a guest post, an interview or anything else that gets their message out there.

Today’s featured post:

The Jungle Of Life

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REVISITED

This is an opportunity to revisit some of the earlier sites to take up residence on the Mona Lisa. I haven’t mentioned the sites by name but if you like the sound of the post title click through and have a look.

Wanting & Missing

Handbags and Gladrags – Why Do Women Need So Much Stuff?

Helping your Children learn to read and learn to love to read

The Anxiety Is Back

fancy one-cup

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GOOD CAUSES

As mentioned in the intro above, I’ll be donating $100 at the end of the month to a good cause nominated by the readers. I’ll bring you more on how to nominate a charity or good cause later in the week. Once the nominations have been made I’ll arrange for you to vote for the cause you’d like to see get the money.

This is where the project starts to meet its potential. Helping you get some publicity for your website and helping those less fortunate by donating money.

I hope you’ll stick around and help me!

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WHO’S SAYING WHAT?

When I saw this I cracked a huge smile. I wondered who this wonderful Tara was to go to the trouble of saying she found the site (Are You Receiving Me?) on the Mona Lisa Project. It turns out it was the fabulous Tara Cain the brains and the beauty behind Sticky Fingers. I must just mention that Tara is so cool she gets her kids jobs as toy reviewers!

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SUBSCRIPTIONS

Like it or not big numbers hold sway with people, and whilst it would be nice to pretend I don’t care whether I have one or one thousand subscribers, it’s not true, I do care. I care because numbers are important to the success of this project. The more social proof people see, the more likely they are to subscribe because they instantly feel there’s something worth subscribing to. And there’s the point… I wouldn’t ask you to do this if there wasn’t something worth subscribing to.

Perhaps you could help by subscribing or asking a friend to subscribe. All help greatly appreciated.

Help me build the subscriber count – Subscribe via RSS or Email and get updates automatically.

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SHARE IT

The more you share this site and the blog, the more people will come and see what we’re up to.

They’ll see the great sites on the Mona Lisa, they’ll see the great sites in the sidebars, they’ll see the great things you say in the comments… and they’ll more than likely follow the links back to your sites!

It would be particularly helpful if you could Stumble, Digg or Tweet but there are a range of sharing options below for your convenience.

Thanks for reading
Dave

Picture Credit

Tagged as: giving away $100, the art of wise living