Josh Elledge - Chief Executive Angel
Hi! I’m Josh Elledge, the Chief Executive Angel of SavingsAngel.com and welcome to the SavingsAngel show! I’m podcasting to you on a chilly afternoon in Orlando, Florida.
I am an extremely busy consumer expert, money-saving advocate, syndicated newspaper columnist, and the guy that turns digital entrepreneurs into media celebrities with UpMyInfluence.com. I love what I do and can’t wait to get going on today’s episode.
In order to help you save more, earn more and live more abundantly on today’s show I’ll be covering:
- Earn Even More Money By Freelancing
- Eco-Friendly Cleaning With Dropps
- Holiday Savings and Fun at Gatorland
LINKS FROM THE PODCAST:
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Earn Even More Money By Freelancing
Need to earn some extra Christmas money – or pay off some gifts? This year has thrown all of us for a loop, and many of us have experienced unforeseen changes in our careers. For better or worse, many of us may be looking for ways to make extra cash or supplement our incomes. Freelancing is one of the easiest ways to earn money, especially in the age of remote work. Check out some of our tips below on how to land an awesome position as a freelancer.
Job Boards
Check online job boards and sites, first and foremost. Try to focus on sites that can tailor your searches to freelance jobs.
There are many job boards and freelance websites for all types of jobs, expertises, and experience levels. Get an itinerary of your remote working skills and spruce up your resume. You might have enough administrative experience to work as a virtual assistant or data entry specialist.
Perhaps you have video or audio editing experience, a penchant for writing, or a skill in proofreading. Whatever your skill set, put it on your resume and send it to all the potential employers you’re considering. Job boards are great places to network, meet employers, and also to meet other freelancers who can point you in the direction of work.
Social Media Networking
Never underestimate the power of social media and networking. Join a Facebook group that’s just for virtual assistants. Job opportunities can be posted on pages like this often, and you can score some great opportunities with awesome companies this way.
You can also make some awesome friends and connections this way, too. This can help you broaden your skill set and help you acquire new skills through chatting with more experienced freelancers in your niche.
Remember, employers can be in these groups, too, so keep your posts on the account you use professional and safe for work.
Broaden Your Skill Sets
Invest in yourself. If you find you want to earn a little more an hour or take on a new client that is offering a fresh opportunity, be willing to learn new skill sets. There are hundreds of inexpensive, short online courses available out there for just about any type of freelance contractor.
Want to add more to your virtual assistant resume? Take a course in the evenings to sharpen up your skills and make yourself more marketable.
Remember, when you prove yourself as an asset to a team by always furthering your knowledge and skillbase, you create better job retention for yourself and more job opportunities in the future.
Be Open-Minded
Always keep in mind that one job may bring another opportunity through networking or growth within the company. Even if a gig doesn’t work out, leave on good terms and be courteous. Don’t burn bridges if you don’t have to.
Be willing to further your education to be more marketable and be selective but open to new clients and opportunities. You never know when a side gig can become your dream job, full of opportunities for growth and education.
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Eco-Friendly Cleaning With Dropps
Essentials are expensive, let’s face it.They’re called “essentials” for a reason; we can’t not buy essentials, and we certainly can’t cut corners, especially when it comes to cleaning. Well, Savings Angel friends, I’m here to tell you that there is a way to save on your detergents without sacrificing quality, have them shipped to your door in carbon-neutral packaging, and they are environmentally sustainable, too. That’s right, I’m talking about Dropps.
Their detergent pods are only 19 to 20 cents per load, and Dropps has designed all different types of detergents for all of your household cleaning needs. And guess what? Consumers love them — they’ve got over ten thousand 5-star reviews online, including my own review! Their cleaning formulas are made of powerful and sustainable plant-based ingredients that make for totally personalized cleaning solutions. They’re also really simple to order — you can subscribe and save even more if you use their auto-ship options and again, everything comes straight to your door through carbon-neutral shipping.
Dropps seriously has some of the best detergent pods on the market and they easily go head-to-head with the leading brands. I just tried out their Home for the Holidays seasonally scented fabric softener and wow, they leave our clothes luxuriously soft and now we smell like a Christmas forest.
I also am a huge fan of their wool dryer balls. I’ve mentioned these before — they’re awesome. Honestly, I think these do an even better job than those flimsy dryer sheets that you just have to throw away after one use. The dryer balls de-wrinkle your clothes in the dryer, shorten drying time, and last for ten thousand loads! That’s certainly worth the investment. The best part is that these are inexpensive and totally eco-friendly, especially compared to disposable dryer sheets.
Dropps has totally won me over and changed how I clean my everyday items, from laundry to dishes. They have detergent pods and products for every need. They’ve got stain and odor fighting laundry detergent pods, laundry pods designed to protect sensitive skin, dishwasher pods of all kinds, and more.
- Their dishwasher pods clean and shine glassware better than the leading brands, and they’re less expensive and more environmentally friendly.
- Dropps laundry pods are designed for sensitive skin — they’re safe and gentle for those with skin allergies or conditions like eczema or psoriasis.
- They can also help prevent skin rashes, redness, and irritation, as well as prevent build up from allergens like dust mites, pollen, mold, and pet dander.
- Their stain and odor focused laundry pods are made with a gentle yet powerful plant-based formula for washing natural fibers & delicate items like intimates, wool, and cashmere. They also allow you to wash expensive dry clean only items at home.
- They keep your fabrics smelling naturally clean and fresh as you use them. They can even remove the toughest stains — things like mud, dirt, pizza, pasta, coffee, or even chocolate.
Dropps delivers powerful cleaning from nature, with plant and mineral-based formulas, to your door in low waste cardboard packaging – instead of plastic containers that end up in our oceans and landfills. Sign up for auto-shipments to save big (you can pause, skip, or cancel anytime). Visit Dropps dot com slash SAVINGS ANGEL and use code SAVINGSANGEL for 25 percent off your first order. www.Dropps.com/SAVINGSANGEL
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Holiday Savings and Fun at Gatorland
Listen to this episode to hear more about Gatorland's Holiday events and deals!
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Transcription of Today's Episode
Hi there, I'm Josh Elledge, Chief Executive Angel at SavingsAngel.com and welcome to this Savings Angel show. Now, I'm podcasting to you on a lovely, brisk, wintery day in Orlando, Florida. Now I'm an extremely busy consumer expert, money-saving advocate, syndicated newspaper columnist, and that guy that helps consultants go from six-figures to seven-figure rock stars, and upmyinfluence.com if you know someone who sells to business owners, I can help them that's what I do. Now, I love what I do and can't wait to get going on today's episode.
So in order to help you save more, earn more, and live more abundantly on today's show, I'm going to be covering how you could earn even more money by freelancing. Yeah, you've probably paid off Christmas, I can help you with that. We're gonna talk about some laundry hacks. And then finally, I'm going to share some holiday savings and post-holiday savings and fun over at Gatorland. We're going to go on-site in front of a bunch of alligators. And we'll see how this interview goes – all that more. So let's get going.
If you need to pay off some gifts from Christmas, Well, listen, this year is thrown all of us for a loop. And many of us have experienced unforeseen changes in our careers. And then yes, of course, Christmas. So all of these things for better for worse, many of us may be looking for ways to make extra cash or supplement our incomes. Now freelancing is one of the easiest ways to earn money, especially in the age of remote work, you can check out some of our favorite tips here, I'm about to share with you on how to land an awesome position as a freelancer. I can tell you right now, my other company upmyinfluence.com, we are actively hiring. So if you're a friend of the show, come on over to upmyinfluence.com scroll down to the very bottom where it says we're hiring. And you'll see exactly what roles we are looking for. We're looking for project managers, account managers, people who have any experience at all with podcasting, we are actively looking for great people who want to work from home, have some great flexibility. And you know, and be able to fit that around their normal lifestyle. So we provide, you know, again, the big thing that we do over UpMyInfluence is we love supporting you and all the things that you do, and giving you a great role a job that works around your schedule, love to chat with you get you connected with our Director of Operations, Alissa, she is a rock star, she pretty much runs the company. I'm just the song and dance guy over there. Alright, so let me go through some other tips now that I have put my own plug out there for some great relationships. And that first one is online job boards. Try to focus on sites that can tailor your searches to freelance jobs. Now, there are many job boards and freelance websites for all kinds of job expertise and experience levels. Just get an itinerary of your remote working schedule skills and spruce up your resume. Spruce up- Listen, I'm going to recommend you dust off, your LinkedIn profile.
Because that's going to be helpful. Employers love to check LinkedIn, when we get people that apply with us. That's what we do, we just search them on LinkedIn, see what we can find out there. And you know that it's really helpful from an employer standpoint to kind of see what you're sharing with the world professionally. Now, you also may have enough administrative experience, just in terms of like what you can do to work as a virtual assistant or data entry specialist. Those are two very, very easy positions to get in my experience, like from what I see if you're willing to do that kind of work. Maybe you have video or audio editing experience, a pension for writing or a skill in proofreading, um, those are all things that are in high demand. Whatever your skillset, put it on your resume and send it to all the potential employers you're considering. Job boards are great places to network, meet employers, and also to meet other freelancers who could point you in the direction of work. How about social media networking, never underestimate the power of social media and just good old fashioned networking. Put it out there. Join a Facebook group that's just for virtual assistants. Job opportunities can be posted on pages like this often, and you can score some great opportunities with awesome companies this way. As a matter of fact, for our existing team members who have connections through groups, we have them, we have them post in. So just in Facebook groups, it's a great way for us to connect with amazing, amazing team members. Now, you can also make some awesome friends and connections this way. This can help you broaden your skillset, help you acquire new skills, you can learn what's in demand, you could chat with other people more experienced freelancers in your niche. Remember, employers can be in these groups too. So keep your posts on the account that you use professional and safe for work. And this goes for public posts on Facebook. And your profile too. It's all fair game, when you're engaging with potential employers through Facebook. So just a little bit of a heads up on that.
This is up to you. But you might want to like you know, if look, again, look at the privacy of your posts. And anything that you consider could be controversial. Like if you really got into the politics or stuff like that, you might want to go and switch those to just members only or friends only. So that way, you know, I just don't want you to get judged for whatever. So just a little heads up, I'm looking out for you. All right. Next, invest in yourself. If you find you want to earn a little bit more an hour, or take on a new client that's offering a fresh opportunity, be willing to learn new skill sets, there are hundreds of inexpensive short online courses available out there for just about any type of freelance contractor. If you want to add more to your virtual assistant resume, take a course in the evenings to sharpen up your skills and make yourself more marketable. Our social media manager for UpMyInfluence. She's constantly taking courses and, and watching videos and learning new skills. And that makes her more valuable to us. And also for other roles that she and other contractors that are other contracts that she works at the same time as working for us. I remember when you prove yourself as an asset to a team, by always furthering your knowledge and skill base, you create better job retention for yourself and more job opportunities in the future. Employers love to see people that love to geek out on what they do.
Finally, be open-minded. Always keep in mind that one job may bring another opportunity through networking or growth within the company. Even if a gig doesn't work out, leave — this is so important. Leave on good terms and be courteous, do not burn bridges. You never know where your next great opportunity may come from. If you leave an employer on good terms, and try to give him a few weeks heads up if he can, you know, 30 days I think is you know really helpful whenever you can do that. Just don't make it weird when you leave. Because they may be able to send you other work, you know, so just keep that in mind. Here you know, again, the key term is just networking and growing your connections in a way when it comes to your professional skills, be willing to further your education to be more marketable, and be selective but open to new clients and opportunities. You never know when a side gig can become your dream job full of opportunities for growth and education. I love the amazing women and men that I get to work with both at SavingsAngel and UpMyInfluence, I love being able to work virtually with them. I love that they have young kids or pets or other life responsibilities. You know, again, they you know, with more of a virtual Freelancer position, there's a lot of benefits to it. It's you know, it's a different bag, you got to be able to work independently and you know, for some people you know, we've just learned it's a little bit you know, it's it's a new type of of environment that you got to get used to listening — hit me up. Like I said, you know, if you think that you might be interested in working with us over at UpMyInfluence, go check us out again just go to upmuinfluence.com. So scroll down to ‘we're hiring.' And you can see our list of available positions that we're looking to fill right now – UpMyInfluence.om is a really fast-growing company. We're just leveraging the power of generosity to connect people that need to get connected. So anyway, hopefully this was really, really helpful for you. I want you to make all the money that you want to make great opportunities out there. Please share this episode with a friend to who also is saying you know, I could really use some extra money this and there are lots of great opportunities out there and I just hope and pray that you find yours.
So essentials are expensive. Let's face it, they add up. Okay? They're called essentials for a reason. We can't not buy. Oh shoot, I just hit my I'm like recording this. No, no, you don't have to edit this. I just hit my tile on my phone. All my all my stuff started ringing It's okay. editor, you can leave that in. We're I'm just gonna be real with my people here. Anyway, what was I talking about? Yeah, essentials. They're expensive. And that's why they're called essentials for a reason. You cannot not buy essentials. And you can't cut corners, especially when it comes to things like cleaning. Want to keep things clean right now. Well, SavingsAngel friends, I'm here to tell you that there is a way to save on your detergents without sacrificing quality, have them shipped to your door. I'm into it. In carbon neutral packaging. They are environmentally sustainable. And I'm talking about Dropps. I'm gonna hook you up with a coupon code. You're ready, because I know. You know, you're like, Okay, cool. All right, you're gonna tell me all about this stuff. But can you hook me up with savings? Josh? Yeah, I'm the SavingsAngel. That's what I do. So I'm going to tell you this right now. And then I'm going to tell you all the reasons why I'm digging on Dropps. But it's drops calm as dropps.com/savingsangel, and use the code savingsangel, all one word, and you get 25% off your first order, definitely just try one order. Try this stuff out, use what you love. If you don't love something, you don't have to keep using it. You know, but we have been testing all this stuff. And I've been using Dropps, like I bought them on my own. A year ago, I think about a year year and a half ago. And, and we love it, we dig it. So they're detergent pods, they're about 19-20 cents per load drops is designed all different types of detergents. So because consumers love them, they have 10,005 star reviews online, including my own review, their cleaning formulas are made from plants. And this is what's so cool. They're made from powerful and sustainable, plant-based ingredients that make for totally personalized cleaning solutions, not scary chemicals, right? Some of that stuff. Like do you do this, like when you're like cleaning with stuff and you're like, oh, kids don't breathe that right? Because you're like, I don't know what they put in here. So that's why I like Dropps cuz it's like all like simple plant-based stuff. Okay. really super simple to order they've got Subscribe and Save, you can save money auto-ship. And again, everything comes in carbon-neutral shipping. So Dropps seriously has some of the best detergent pods on the planet. It's what Mrs. SavingsAngel and I do, they easily go head to head with all the leading top-shelf brands just tried out their home for the holiday seasonally scented fabric softener, and wow. Again, luxuriously soft, and smells like a Christmas forest. Now I'm also a huge fan of their wool dryer balls. I've mentioned these before, they're awesome. I think that they do a better job than the flimsy dryer sheets. And they again, it's not loaded in stinky perfumes, it's just a much more natural kind of experience. So that's why I'm kind of a big fan. So they do de-wrinkle your clothes in the dryer, they shorten the drying time, and they last for 10,000 loads. And so that's certainly worth the investment. Try it out. It's a nice little laundry hack. You can use wool balls. Instead of those heavily perfumed, dryer sheets. They're inexpensive, totally eco-friendly, especially again compared to those stinky, disposable dryer sheets. Dropps has totally won me over and changed how I clean my everyday items from laundry to dishes. They have detergent, pods and products for every need. They've got stain odor-fighting laundry detergent pods, laundry pods designed to protect sensitive skin, dishwasher pods of all kinds and more. So their dishwasher pods clean and tried glassware better than the leading brands. They're less expensive, more environmentally friendly. What else do you need here? Right Dropps laundry pods. Again, I like the sensitive skin stuff. They're safe and gentle for those with skin allergies and conditions like eczema psoriasis. If you are flaring up right now, this is an easy substitute. You can test to see if this will help you out. Because Dropps will help you prevent skin rashes redness and irritation as well as prevent build up from allergens like dust mites, pollen, mold and pet dander. And then they're staying in odor focused laundry pods. They're made with gentle yet powerful plant-based formulas for washing natural fibers and delicate items like intimates wool and cashmere. And they also allow you to wash expensive, dry clean only items at home. So they're going to listen – They're gonna keep your fabrics smelling naturally clean and fresh is use them and they can even remove the toughest stains like mud, dirt, pizza, pasta, coffee, chocolate, I'm trying to think of like everything that we've experienced in the SavingsAngel home here. Now Dropps brings you powerful cleaning from nature with plant and mineral-based formulas to your door, low waste cardboard packaging instead of plastic containers that end up in our oceans and landfills. None of that I'm a big fan of. That that's my reality right now to auto shipments make it super easy. You could pause, skip, cancel anytime go to dropps.com/savingsangel, all one word, lots of savings. One Angel that's me. Use the code, savingsangel all one word, and that'll give you 25% off your first order. That is the biggest savings. I looked around this the biggest savings that I've seen you can get so don't forget that one. Thank you Dropps.com sponsoring this segment.
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Josh:
So we are at Gator land in Orlando. How long has been Gatorland been here?
Mark:
Started in 1949. Going 71 years now and going strong. Before so much else in Orlando, there was Gatorland and institution. The locals love Gatorland.
Josh:
And so Mark McHugh, you're the CEO and president. We got some gators going on behind us. Look at – Wow. Oh my gosh. What was that? What's that one's name?
Mark:
Craftsman. Craftsman come from — Yeah. His head is shaped like a shovel. So we got the name Craftsman. There's Bogey back behind him. Scuba Steve, Predator.
Savannah:
And then all those little girls back there. They're the Karens.
Josh:
Well, she's the Wrangler. The wrangler is here. This is Savannah. So for those, we need to describe what Savannah is doing. Savannah is feeding the gators but then she's like, patting them on the nose and she's calling them by name. And they're responding.
Mark:
Yeah, they know their names. Isn't that amazing? We do this every day. It's called the adventure hour up here. Yeah, we'll bring big gators up. People can come in and feed them safely here. And that's what she's done. It's why they all know their names and I gotta keep an eye on Savannah. You know, she loves them so much. She gets up in there and rubs him and calls him her friends. And they got a great relationship, though. But each one has its own little personality. And we got to learn that.
Josh:
So for someone who has not been to Gatorland, can you kind of just give us an overview of what they would expect when they come here?
Mark:
You expect real Florida. That's what we are. You know, we've got a sense of humor in this kind of country kind of corny. I like tell everybody that, you know, we're kind of like everyone's father, we think we're funnier than we really are. But we got our own sense of humor, having a good old Florida country time. If you want to experience real Florida, this is the place to do alligators. We've got three shows train ride, an aviary with birds towards is all kinds of animal interactions. It's just a great day for the family. Yeah,
Josh:
So for those — is that — someone hissing? Oh, I thought there was someone hissing.
Savannah:
It is! Sometimes they get hissed off.
Mark:
He got hissed off, yeah.
Josh:
So um, you know, so Gatorland has, you know, it's part zoo. There's also you have, you have zip lines, you got trains. What else in terms of adventure do you have?
Mark:
Well, we – we've – about 10 years ago, we decided to start becoming more of an adventure-oriented Park. So that's when we developed our zip line, which has been rated number one in Orlando for several years. In fact, they will travel rated top in the United States. Yeah, great zip line over alligators and crocodiles. Hang on. It's a good time. Few years ago, we started a swamp buggy ride, oh, it's a great ride runs off out through the back portion of our property goes through a pond full of alligators and crocodiles. We've got all kinds of animal experiences, I can come and feed these guys. So lots of adventure, lots of fun, anything the family wants to do.
Josh:
So obviously one thing that, you know, moms or dads or whoever's planning a trip out to Gatorland, they want to know, well, Mark, Is it safe? You know, I know we need to keep our social distancing. And, you know, I don't want to come and catch COVID and I you know, certainly, I mean, I think if there's one place you want to come and stay safe and keep your social distancing would be when you're around gators, but could you kind of explain what the park has done to accommodate?
Mark:
Yes, safety stays six feet from the alligators, for sure. Yeah, man. Thanks. So this, actually we implemented a wide range of COVID related safety protocols back in the spring when we opened up in May. And the Orange County approved us they've had a taskforce come out here twice, giving us glowing reviews and full compliance on what we're doing. We got mass policy for everybody that comes in all of our employees. We temperature check our employees every day. We got social distancing throughout the apart we are constantly cleaning hard surfaces countertops, credit card key pads after every interaction. At the end of the day we do a full disinfection of the entire park. We're 110 acres total lots of outdoor space very very safe and great way and very clean. Great way to spend a weekend out here with our hometown coming up here in December
Josh:
yeah and you're nearly nearly always outdoors in some fashion so it's a it's a great park for that sort of thing. So you've mentioned Ho Ho Ho Downs right? Did I say enough ‘ho's'? What's going on at the park with special offers are going on with special events are going on?
Mark:
Well, this is our first year to really do a Christmas special here in the park. We've decorated the park for years but we have actually interactive characters going on in the park. We've brought in some live music. And all of this is designed to give the local something to do on the weekends we're doing on weekends here in December. Safe way to bring the family out, we've got Gator-claus coming in here on an airboat being pulled by alligators we've got a snowman village and snowman don't do well in Florida. So they're all trying to keep from melting out here. We've got a trailer park gingerbread house, Edie you know only in Florida and all kinds of activities for the family and it's fun and it's interactive and it's safe.
Josh:
So Mark in terms of like special offers discounts tickets pricing, what would you recommend for someone's like, Okay, I think this sounds like something we might you know, get the family out. Maybe they got some days off for Christmas. Where do they go for tickets and what would they expect in terms of pricing?
Mark:
Well, Gatorland.com is the best place for all the information you want. You can book your experiences out here, your zip line. All of the things that we do, and we're running a special right now for Florida residents man is the best deal in town half price off for Florida residents, which is 14.99 for adults. 9.99 for kids, man it's the best deal in town. You can't beat it just great place to bring the whole family.
Josh:
Yeah, excellent. All right, so Gatorland.com. Well, thank you guys. I can't remember all your names. There was Bogey, there was
Savannah:
Craftsman, Predator, Thrasher, Karen
Josh:
I kid you not I am like literally about 10 to 12 feet away from — There's got to be about 40 feet All — right, here we go. All right, you're ready. Okay, so I don't know how well this translates to audio but I'm actually putting on a surgical glove right now. And then I got a big giant — What kind of meat is this?
Savannah:
Top Sirloin. So COVID closed a lot of places. Yeah. And one of the things that's happened is restaurants haven't been serving the amount of meat ordered or have so all that means going out here so we got selection for these alligators ever.
Josh:
Yeah, who wants top sirloin?
Savannah: Craftsman.
Mark:
Yeah, you got to worry about it when the guys behind you going “Get closer.”
Josh:
Gatorland.com Mark McHugh, thank you so much.
What was I talking about?
