How To Win Contests, Sweepstakes and a TON of Free Stuff.

Many of my friends and family are constantly amazed at the number of cool things I’ve won over the past couple of years.

Here’s a small list of some of the prizes I won in a two-year period:

  • An all-expenses paid trip to the Switzerland, spending money, airfare, music festival tickets, transportation
  • 20” Apple iMac Computer
  • Apple iPod
  • 46” LCD TV
  • Home Theater System
  • Sydney Crosby Autographed Hockey Jersey
  • Two Microsoft Xbox 360s  + a handfuls of games
  • Concert Tickets
  • Japanese Action Figures?
  • DVD Box Sets
  • Nintendo Wii
  • Two Dell Laptops
  • Flip Mino HD Camera

Some make the mistake of saying I’m very lucky. I think luck had nothing to do with it and you can do the exact same thing.

Here’s how I did it:

Every morning when I  arrived at my office I did three things:

1) Made coffee

2) Caught up on reading hundreds of blogs

3) Entered 20-30 online contests

That was it. Some people can’t imagine the time I must have spent to enter that many contests each day but it really only took me about 15 minutes. I was able to do this at the same time I was catching up on blogs and sipping on my morning coffee.

Tools Required:

The two pieces of software are tools that allow you to store your identity and contact information. Once stored the software will allow you to press a single button and auto-fill various forms…like……..contest entry forms!

Ta-da!

They are also very handy for password management and even if you don’t plan on entering contests I’d recommend getting one of these programs.

This automates the process of having to enter your name and contact details by hand and cuts down the time required by about 98%. Occasionally you’ll need to fill out a security code or correct some details that the software entered incorrectly, but overall these are the best tools out there for this.

Next you’ll need to go somewhere and get a list of current contests.

There are various websites that get updated  daily with lists of the newest online contests and giveaways.

For Canadians:  Use this site – www.contestcanada.net (this is the website I used 99% of the time but there are others)

For Americans: try this site: www.contestgirl.com

Very quickly I’d  go down the list and open all the new daily contests in Firefox tabs. (skipping anything that didn’t really interest me like a years supply of poodle shampoo)

Then it was simply a matter of jumping from one tab to the next and hitting a single button to input all of my contact information.

That’s it. That was the method I used to win all of the prizes listed above.

As I already mentioned above some would say I’m extremely lucky. My brother watched in awe as I won all the time so he started following my exact same routine.

You know what happened? A few months later the phone started to ring. Then FedEx would show up with boxes.

His list is equally impressive.

Surely there must be hundreds of thousands of people entering all those contests right?

In some cases I’m sure the odds of winning are very  low, but in others I’m willing to bet the odds are very good.

I spoke to a friend this past summer who actually worked with a contest management company for many years.  He explained that the employees would get used to seeing the same winners names over and over again. He was not shocked at all that I’d been winning so much stuff.

He said that most people would be surprised at just how good their odds are for winning various prizes. He continued to explain that many times the response rate for contest entries was extremely low even for the biggest companies with the most expensive and lavish prizes.

I’m not sure why I stopped entering contests but after making this blog and looking back at what I won in two years I think I’m getting back into it.

Strolling through the Swiss Alps

  • John Kane

    I too LOVE Roboform and life would be hell without it for sure.

    I won a few low $ lottos but, that is it. Oh, and a 42″ plasma.

    One prize I “SHOULD” have won but did not is simple, I did not enter!

    Short story, when Janis Joplin was alive the local radio station was giving a restored Mercedes Benz. I forget which but it has gullwing doors.
    The task was to be first to send in the correct answer to “where in Milwaukee is the car”.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-GFqhCq2HA

    It was in a garage 2 blocks from my house. The garage housed repeater equipment for the station. It had windows that were normally clear. This time they were blocked. I was 16 and said “That is too easy. It can't be there”. Well that is where it was. I guessed WEEKS before anyone else guessed AND sent in the answer.
    My butt now has deep scars from me and my friends countless boot kicks :)
    Oh, well it at least is good emphasis to your post.
    Thanks much for those links! I will be “Gettin' Busy” asap.

  • Dan Cornies

    Very Interesting!

    Do you receive a lot of spam emails and calls from telemarketers because of putting your information out so much?

  • http://noahfleming Noah Fleming

    Hey Dan!
    Thanks so much for commenting.

    Yeah, you're absolutely right. You can get bombarded with spam and crappy emails especially if you're entering at the type of volume.

    The trick is to simply set up a Gmail account or other dummy account to use for entering. The only thing is, you do have to watch because some contests will send the winning notification by email.

    I just about missed a Dell Laptop because I didn't see the email till about 22 days later.

    You can get creative with gMail and do things like setting up rules. Have it flag every email with certain words like “winner, prize, redemption, won” etc. I never got this fancy, but a lot of people do.

    Hope you're fantastic.

    Noah

  • http://rklfinancial.com/ Shaun Somers

    Hey Noah,

    Thanks for posting this cool tip. Knowing about Roboform makes this exciting. Quick Q about it though, how do I get it to stop entering “1-” in front of my phone number. I find myself having to manually edit a lot of pages. Also, is just using Firefox somehow a better method? I've been perusing other entries in your blog and you've got a lot of great stuff!
    Regards,

    Shaun

  • http://noahfleming Noah Fleming

    Thanks Shaun.

    Hope you are doing well.
    To be perfectly honest, I use 1password on a mac so I dont know Roboform too well. I'm sure however though it's a simple adjustment you just need to find and make.

    I know with 1password on the mac it took a bunch of playing around before it got just write and even then it's not perfect.

    There will be pages where the software on either platform won't work and then you need decide if it's worth your time or not.

    I am convinced however people can win with enough volume of entering :-)

  • http://damionflynn.com/ Damion Flynn

    If I am not mistaken – doesn't the Google Toolbar have a feature for filling forms as well?

  • http://noahfleming Noah Fleming

    Hey Damion

    Thanks for responding.
    It very well may. Being a Mac guy I've just used 1password with moderate success.

    I am sure there are ways to get even deeper into speeding up the process.

    I want to know when you win something!

  • http://damionflynn.com/ Damion Flynn

    I checked out the sites but not really done anything with it. I have been staying pretty busy lately and spending 30 minutes or so clicking on contests is not my idea of what I should be doing in down time, lol

    Now, that being said, I did register for a few things when I followed your link originally so if by some chance I win – I will let you know :-)

  • http://www.planetb.ca/ Jamie

    awesome dude. just entered like 50 contests myself. lol!

  • http://noahfleming Noah Fleming

    The trick is not to burn out :-)

    I burnt out even doing them while enjoying my coffee and haven't entered a thing in about a year.
    If you can keep up a steady pace every day and enter a whack (or even once a week and catch up)

    You WILL start to win stuff.

    I've had many people ask me if this post was B.S. or if I did really win all this stuff? It's 100% true.

    Cheers!
    Noah

  • Pingback: How to Get Lucky | Noah Fleming

  • Gavin.

    After a week of spending 15-30 mins a night entering contests as per Noah's tips, I got my first win yesterday, a book!

    Thanks Noah!

  • http://noahfleming.com/ Noah Fleming

    That didn't take long!

    Congrats! It's a great start.

  • http://noahfleming.com/ Noah Fleming

    Just a quick update.

    I recently really wanted to attend a conference in Toronto.

    I entered one contest where I had to say in 25 words why I awanted to attend: I won.

    I entered another contests for the same event where I had to write a small little blurb on a question: I won

    I entered anothr random draw contest with another company: I won.

    I ended up with 6 tickets to an event where I had none.
    Maybe the odds were stacked as it's a niche event and not a lot of people are attending or were maybe interested in attempting to win.

    Either way, pretty crazy.

  • http://twitter.com/mzkriztelle mzkriztelle

    I really liked this blog entry. I hope I can win some prizes too. :)
    The picture posted above in this blog entry, what is the namebrand and model of the camera you used to take the picture?
    It’s a beautiful picture :)
    Thank you and I hope to hear from you soon!

  • http://yofreesamples.com/ Freebies

    Online contests are a great way of winning free deals. Though an all expenses trip to Switzerland sounds like the greatest things to happen.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Patti-Scanlon/100000147393951 Patti Scanlon

    I win stuff too! My win list is endless and it’s a lot of fun. I like your blog and you’re cute too. Kind of look like Gerard Butler. Congrats on the new baby she is beautiful and love her name.

  • http://noahfleming.com/ Noah Fleming

    Hmm. Thanks Patti.. Maybe if I grow out the 5 o’clock shadow a bit more!
    Good luck!

  • Chavez243

    It’s spring and cyber-luv is in the air!

  • Noah Fleming

    :-)

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Patti-Scanlon/100000147393951 Patti Scanlon

    lol Chavez, well I wasn’t flirting with Noah, I’m 53 years old, so I’m pretty sure I’m old enough to be his mother.

  • Noah Fleming

    Thanks Patti :-) Let me know what you win.

  • patti scanlon

    Noah, have you won anything recently? Recently won a 2011 Yamaha Zuma scooter and an ipad.

  • http://noahfleming.com/ Noah Fleming

    Patti!
    Thank is amazing.

    Thanks for telling me.

    Crazy.

    No. I haven’t won anything lately. Baby has kept me too busy to enter.

    Congrats! The scooter is a fantastic prize!

  • http://twitter.com/AakashRaut Aakash Raut

    Thank you for this motivational blog entry… I have recently been looking into this type of thing (I need some way to earn money from home, during this time period!) – I hadn’t even thought of an organized prize-entry system, until looking up some info on the web, the other night.  This blog entry is one of those that I came across.

    I am glad that there are aggregators available, since so much changes daily – And with all else going on, how can we keep track of it all?!  :-)

    I’m also glad that there are helpful overviews, like this.  Thanks again!

  • Noah Fleming

    My pleasure :-)