16 Days To www.TheLifesWay.com 5th Birthday Celebrations #5YearsofTheLifesWay #27Dec2017 #Dreams

Hi Friends,

No matter what it takes to finish this series of posts I started way back in December 2017, I will get them done. It's the story of my life and experiments with blogging and PR companies from many brands. I feel alone in the market today but I will shine one day as and when the time is right. Meanwhile, I have started my youtube channel using the smartphone I bought recently and will start posting the videos where I will be in them too. Also, I got 1 Million views on Google Maps - Local Guides program making me MASTER PHOTOGRAPHER on their badge and ranking system. I feel delighted as I focused on the same since July 2017 on and off and in November/December, I upped the game using the photographs that were lying in my hard disk to go online and help Google Maps. It's not that hard to get to that status but I feel happy to be there. Follow me on instagram @araijain 

Secondly, I have decided to start rather than wait for the right time etc. or resources or the perfect stuff to write. It's always my stigma and gives me huge delays in my posts on any of the social media channels. You need to always go ahead and post what is right at the moment instead of delaying it to the future. Thirdly, I will stop the subscription to the automated tweets systems in March 2018, I have been using for the last 2 years. It will impact me hugely but I am not using it to the best of its abilities and thinking about the content I want to create in the coming months, it won't serve me the purpose. 

I will continue to finish all the tasks which are pending on me from various brands for many of the smartphones and laptops - I got to review and for which I still have to write the right stuff. It has been delayed due to don't know what kind of work or small stuff which has been attached to my life. I have to clear it from my desk and mind asap. Also, I have now worked on a plan to review the devices which will give a 360-degree view of the device from all features perspective. I am working towards all this in this new year 2018 and I hope to achieve the good work in the coming years with a dream to reach Mobile World Congress in 2020.

15 Days                                                                                                                                        17 Days

Cheers!!!

 

Contact me at thelifesway@gmail.com to collaborate on paid/sponsored campaigns. #TheLifesWay #PhotoYatra! Check my influence and book me via https://webfluential.com/TheLifesWay

17 Days To www.TheLifesWay.com 5th Birthday Celebrations #5YearsofTheLifesWay #27Dec2017 #Patience

Hi Friends,

Though it's way beyond the 5th birthday of The Life's Way (27th December in 2017), as there was no internet connection available for more than a month, I could not do any of the blog posts for so long. Patience is a virtue which is definitely needed by all. I have waited long enough for everything in my life. Unless and until I deserved the same, I was never granted the same by the universe, but things changed with The Life's Way bringing great luck in my life. My first big win was a laptop from HP for a post which I wrote with all my heart. When my friends read it before I posted the same, they were cracking jokes about me but I knew that post has winner written all over as those were the songs I loved. 

The Life's Way has patiently waited for all the great things in life to come and pampered a lot of PR companies by posting for free and some has used the same to their advantages. It's ok to be getting used but once or twice they shall realize that we all need money to run the day to day business. If I am not getting sponsored posts and campaigns, I won't be doing free posts too. Even posting press releases takes a lot of time along with photos and captions and handles to be shared etc like I share. It takes me at least 1 hour per post even when all the content is written in the press release as you need to read it and then check for images and then post labels, twitter links, website URLs etc. I am sacrificing important parts of my life to post something on my social media channels so I need to get Return on my time in terms of money or kind. 

But it's good in the end, once you realize that the other person is taking advantage of you and then you stop doing his/her work, then after a while they will realize the importance you bring to the table. I am waiting for those right moment patiently. Even if it happens in a long long time, it's fine by me and if it happens sooner that I will be happy. Also, another change is that I will stop asking for gadgets to be sponsored as I will buy what is the best in the market as compared to used/old/reviewed units sent to keep rather I will ask directly for money to be paid into my bank account. Why waste time on things I don't want in my life and spend my energy keeping them unused at my home?

16 Days                                                                                                                                      18 Days

Cheers!!!

Contact me at thelifesway@gmail.com to collaborate on paid/sponsored campaigns. No FREE posts! #TheLifesWay #PhotoYatra! Check my influence and book me via https://webfluential.com/TheLifesWay

18 Days To www.TheLifesWay.com 5th Birthday Celebrations #5YearsofTheLifesWay #27Dec2017 #Contentment

Hi Friends, 

#Contentment

The Life's Way is very happy to celebrate its 5th birthday this holiday season and far from the crowd, it is going to be a private affair with myself having some whoopie moments. We have come so far and next round of things will be classy and entrepreneurial. Being content is no easy feat to achieve but let's try that for 2018. Whatever the case may be, let's focus on creating unique personal content and share with the world. Sponsorships will come once I have achieved that status of niche and unique and not get lost in one of the pages in world wide web. I love what I do so it's just a paradigm shift of the ideas to implement on all my social media channels. 

I have been trying to start the minimalism practices and recently wrote an article on the same in one of the UK-SA collaboration magazine named Anytime Anywhere Magazine where Passion People Places is the motto. I will work on getting sponsorship for the Travel and Technology pages I write in this magazine. Check it out if you can find an issue at airports, hotels and Gautrain stations. It will be awesome to work on this new initiative in 2018 as we create something unique every month and the team is simply excellent. All the team members are working very hard and smart to make it a great magazine comparable with Bar Coded magazines. 

Generally, in life, you have to work hard to achieve the status of contentment and it's a daily practice which needs continuous efforts just like minimalism. The Life's Way has achieved a lot and is happy with the results as the amount of time invested is also limited and lost to do the posts for free stuff looking PR companies but now onwards whatever time is saved will be to work on creating unique and lovely content and then sharing on all my social media channels. Also, each social media channel needs some time and efforts to create a unique design and posts, so in 2018 each will be allocated time and respect. Opportunities might come from any channels but myself being an opportunistic blogger, I will be there to grab them. 

Cheers!!!

Contact me at thelifesway@gmail.com to sponsor your products and services #TheLifesWay #PhotoYatra! Check my influence and book me via https://webfluential.com/TheLifesWay

19 Days To www.TheLifesWay.com 5th Birthday Celebrations #5YearsofTheLifesWay #27Dec2017 #Thankfulness

Hi Friends,

#Thankfulness 

As the number of days towards my 5th birthday is nearing less and less, I am more and more grateful and thankful to the Universe for giving me this idea to start my blog. It's been a journey full of ups and downs which I loved and totally thank Universe for the same. The biggest year for The Life's Way blog was the year 2015 when I won #MissionSamsung Blogger Grand Finale and that year I received a 65inch Curved Samsung TV for the same. I simply adore the TV and have stopped going to cinemas for regular movies. This serves as a window into the house of the stars as I watch full HD content from the luxury of my home. 

The year 2016 has been fruitful too in terms of goodies received from Huawei in their launch events and also won the Samsung A5 smartphone from Fanta South Africa. Other than that I received a personalized UE Roll 2 Bluetooth speaker from Logitech which I really loved listening to. Also, I got Go Budds Bluetooth earphones from DJ Fresh which is an awesome little device to carry around your neck. 2016 also brought a lot of small gifts from power banks to pen drives; from bags to caps. 

The Year 2017 has been good so far as I won myself a wonderful ESL Maxnomic 2.0 Gaming Chair from Kwese Gamer at the rAge Expo. This year rAge Expo was wonderful for me as I also won the Adata 1TB portable HDD for my keeping my photographs safe. After been a part of Canon Roadshows for more than 4 years, my daughter won the Selphy Printer this time and she was really happy. Other than that there were some Gift Vouchers which also came my way as a part of goodies bag from several brands or the online contests won. On my birthday this year, my friend from TechSmart Magazine Robin Leigh gifted me Sony Xperia Ear which I have fallen in love with. Sony gave a good gift this time when they launched their new devices locally and I totally loved the Extra Bass headphones in Red color. 

I can't thank enough The Life's Way for opening up a platform where I can win things or receive them in a goodies bag. I am Thankful for all the social media channels and my presence on them allows me to participate in all the lovely contests throughout the year. Looking forward to a great 2018 where I will start my Youtube channel and trying to earn a living out of The Life's Way!

Cheers!!!

Contact me at thelifesway@gmail.com to sponsor your products and services #TheLifesWay #PhotoYatra! Check my influence and book me via https://webfluential.com/TheLifesWay

20 Days To www.TheLifesWay.com 5th Birthday Celebrations #5YearsofTheLifesWay #27Dec2017 #Modesty

Hi Friends, 

#Modesty

Modesty is not the virtue one should possess these days in the world of social media. It's the least respected virtue in the world wide web. The more loud you are the more your followers will increase. People love gossips and the more you give them the more they love you for the same. I have stayed modest for most of the time and do my own work when I am invited to any events. But now I see that the PR companies are biased towards those who show off and just say stuff to say it. I will bring that element of Charm back in The Life's Way as it was worn off beacuse of the expectations burden set by my mind. 

Whenver in my life I have felt proud and acted proud, I have been shown the floor by the Universe. I don't want to do it as my experience of being proud has always been bad. It's always been my principle to stay humble and stay grounded and connected to your roots. But I can bring in my charm to create some great opportunities which can bring a lot of benefit to my blog and other social media channels. It's confusing me a lot to go one way and getting dragged the other when I talk about modesty. But as a Salesman of my blog and other social media channels, I have to be proud of my achievement whatsoever and sell my product at the value it deserves in the market. There shall be no undersell of the same as it requires time and efforts to complete the tasks and it brings a lot of benefit to the brand and PR companies. 

20 days and my blog will complete 5 years and believe me in those years, I have been granted a lot by the Almighty Lord and Universe. I am happy too for all the experiences and stuff I have received in my life but not so happy about the brands which have used me for free. But I am sure in the future that I create so much value for myself and The Life's Way that people will have to pay twice the amount I was asking earlier to get them covered on my social media channels. That's a wish I would like to fulfill in 2018 with my hard work and focussed approach on all my channels. Also, I am looking forward to start my Youtube channel and let's see how it goes and what I have to say on the same. 

Cheers!!!

Contact me at thelifesway@gmail.com to sponsor your products and services #TheLifesWay #PhotoYatra! Check my influence and book me via https://webfluential.com/TheLifesWay

21 Days To www.TheLifesWay.com 5th Birthday Celebrations #5YearsofTheLifesWay #27Dec2017 #Wonderful

Hi Friends, 

#Wonderful

The Life's Way has received some genuine appreciations from many of the brands and PR companies. Just received one of the compliments from one of the managers saying that her job is easy because I have been posting her press releases and it gets shared so much on all my social media channels. I have done all that for that brand for free and I thanked her but I do need money to survive and invest back in my blog. The topic is Wonderful as I am amazed by the power of social media and blog. It can help you create your own entrepreneurial adventures and you can earn from the same. So many in this trade has become big celebrities or authors or TV artists now. They are well respected because they followed their heart and creating content which is liked by everyone else and people love to see the passionate living. 

I love some of the posts I have written myself to earn myself a status of amazement what my mind can create. I have created and weaved many stories in my mind and on my blog several times. I have also won several twitter and facebook contests because of my story creating mind. I know what to write to win the same and rest depends on the luck. If someone luckier than you are participating then you won't win else if your content is great, you will definitely win the same. My mind is tuned to work towards winning in contests automatically. I have benefitted myself several times as I catch all the keywords related to contests etc whereas other people don't see them. 

Blogging has given me so many trips, invites, goodies that it keeps me amazed at what is in store for me next? I always have to keep on creating new dreams as then only I can fulfill them. Whatever I think I need in my life, my blog or my other social media channels help it get fulfilled automatically after a time gap. I am so grateful to Universe for the same too as I totally believe in Law of Attraction principle. On the 5th anniversary month of The Life's Way, I dream of fulfilling all my unfulfilled dreams which have given me sleepless nights till now. I will create a stronger aura for them to also come to me sooner than later. I thank everyone who has worked with me in the past and will work with me in the new years as I continue to soar high in the sky.

Cheers!!!

Contact me at thelifesway@gmail.com to sponsor your products and services #TheLifesWay #PhotoYatra! Check my influence and book me via https://webfluential.com/TheLifesWay

22 Days To www.TheLifesWay.com 5th Birthday Celebrations #5YearsofTheLifesWay #27Dec2017 #Tenacious

Hi Friends,

#Tenacious

Blogging is not an easy task as it always needs time and resource to fulfill the ongoing requirements of the niche segment you work in. Even if you are posting Press releases then also it takes at least some time to match the look and feel of your blog. I always need photos in all my posts so it takes a lot of time to post the same even. Also, if the same press release is on all other blogs too then you are not differentiating and also it's a favor to the brand and to maintain the relationship you have to do the same. 

Tenacity is a virtue which needs a lot of effort to carry on without getting demotivated. I really have evolved from the time when I was devoting my 100% on The Life's Way but as it has happened a lot of PR companies have benefitted without my personal benefits. So it's getting back to basics and only post what you want to do and write about. It might bring you fewer followers and readers but if your content is authentic then the brands will come after you sooner or later. Also, the second best part will be the less expectation you will have from the brand or the PR company as you do only what you are paid for. I don't want to fall into the trap of getting more pageviews by wasting my time on the brands which don't value me. I have sent them multiple requests so many times but not got any response so now onwards I will only do what I want to do for those brands and that won't be free at all. 

It needs certain thought daily and gives unfulfilled expectations if you are not able to do it. I get irritated by myself if I am unable to complete the tasks I set myself for. It gets reflected in my daily life and what for? for some free looking PR companies and for stuff which I never wanted in the first place or some invite where I have to buy the cold drinks myself. There have been instances that I only could drink water or bought coca-cola by giving my own personal money after spending on petrol and parking too without any goodies bag too at the end. This is such a waste of time if you think that I could have invested that time playing some games with my daughter or teaching her mathematics. I will totally avoid such events from now onwards and that's the first resolution to take in 2018!

Cheers!!!

Contact me at thelifesway@gmail.com to sponsor your products and services #TheLifesWay #PhotoYatra! Check my influence and book me via https://webfluential.com/TheLifesWay

23 Days To www.TheLifesWay.com 5th Birthday Celebrations #5YearsofTheLifesWay #27Dec2017 #Unique

Hi Friends, 

#Unique

Blogging is an art and once you are addicted to the same, you are totally under its control. You have to keep thinking about creating something unique and different from what you have read in the market. When you are unique in your art, then the world respects you else you are just one of the run on the mill kind and the world forgets you. I don't say that I am unique but I am searching for that niche and trying to reach there. Once I have reached there then I will say that I have arrived. 

5 Years of The Life's Way has given me so many things and invites that I could have never got in my life otherwise. The year 2013 when I was in India till October end, I got a trip to Mumbai to meet all the Bollywood stars at Blackberry Men Sharp Nights and my daughter went to see M.A.D Rob on Pogo TV when I won the HP Print Art contest for one of her creations. It was a dream come true for her. I bought my first tablet from USA - Google Nexus 7 and somehow I received an Apple iPad cover and that day I thought now cover has come and iPad is not far away too. Within a month of receiving cover from Hitachi, I got the Apple iPad Mini from Hyundai Motors. I won an HP sleekbook in one of the contests, received iPod Shuffle in another contest and also got Kingdom of Dreams Platinum Passes for 8 persons. It was a dream come true too as my parents and we watched both the shows live on stage for free. It was an awesome year if I consider the influx of gifts and goodies in a single year till date.

Keisha and Aashish Rai at The Big Hole in Kimberley

2014 I was completely in South Africa and the first contest I won here was Incredible Connection Selfie contest and received some LED light and Chinese headphones. The best thing I won was the #MissionSamsung Community Challenge and got the NX300 Camera as my prize. I also went on my first Capetown trip with Samsung for Note 4 launch event. I also won another ZAR 2500 Sandton City Gift Voucher in a Selfie contest by then Nokia. I won a lot of stuff or received from many brands as goodies bag which I truly treasured. I even won the Beacon Chocolate contest to get myself ZAR600 cash prize which I invested back in buying more chocolate. I also bought my first DSLR from Nikon D7000 after a long long journey. It was awesome to enhance my photography with this beast I loved to pet.

Overall, The Life's Way has been providing for me whatever I have desired in my life. It could come from the blog or any other social media channel but the inflow has always been there. I consider myself unique in that way as I can create a pipeline wherever I want, whenever I want, in any country I want. I have to again create a pipeline for my 5th Birthday anniversary of my love, my life and my passion - The Life's Way.

Cheers!!!

Contact me at thelifesway@gmail.com to sponsor your products and services #TheLifesWay #PhotoYatra!

24 Days To www.TheLifesWay.com 5th Birthday Celebrations #5YearsofTheLifesWay #27Dec2017 #Luck

Hi Friends, 

#Luck

We have learned and heard that Luck favors the brave but is it true? Do you believe in the same or you have a different opinion on the same? I always thought the other one to be luckier than me. Never I respected my luck as I never thought about being grateful for everything I had in my childhood. I always focussed on what I don't have and others have it. That's a bad position to stay in all your life but with time as your mind grows and you become aware of your surroundings, you seem to realize that all fingers are not made same. You have your own struggles in life, ups and downs are all part of life and you have to start living with the same. You always have to be grateful for what you have and what you are going to get.

This feeling of the other being Lucky more than yourself doesn't go easily and always hits us again and again. It hits me daily when I see the facebook wall or the Instagram feed as I find the people working with the brands I want to work with and gets invited to all the events. They get all the gadgets to keep and also gets flown to foreign countries for the gadgets launches. Is this my perception that they are lucky or is it that they produce great content? Are they more passionate than me or what's their winning attitude that keeps them on the top? I ask this question to myself again and again but always leave at that they are more luckier as they are passionately creating the right content and well connected. 

Aashish Rai in Kimberley, Northern Cape

Luck is no one's prerogative but it's all about the attitude that you have in your life. I used to win so many twitter contests daily but no one knows how many I participate in without winning. The more you play the more are your chances of winning. So the same logic can be applied to Luck meaning the more you go out and work with creating great content, more and more brands will come back to you. I consider myself Lucky that I thought of starting #TheLifesWay 5 years back and this platform has been able to provide me with a sense of achievement. I have created some great content and worked on several campaigns for a lot of brands and I have always given my 100% to the same.  The Life's Way continues to provide me to stay in the top of my game in the Social Media World of Influence. 

Cheers!!!

Contact me at thelifesway@gmail.com to blog, share and influence about your products and services on all my Social Media channels #TheLifesWay #PhotoYatra!

25 Days To www.TheLifesWay.com 5th Birthday Celebrations #5YearsofTheLifesWay #27Dec2017 #Technology

Hi Friends, 

#Technology 

I have always been attached to technology and it was my luck or dream that I went into completing Electronics Engineering. I was always in love with the camera and when I got a camera phone gifted by my brother, I took unlimited photos till the memory was full. During those times, VGA camera was the highest and then later Nokia had some 1.3MP camera installed. Later, I got Nokia N8 which had the 3.2MP camera and it was awesome to take photos using the same. At that time, the main camera I was using had only 5 MP sensor. Camera in future phones crossed 40MP in Nokia 1020 and it was amazing to use the same phone for a review period. I went to the launch event of the same in India and it was simply awesome. 

I loved my HTC phones always and I bought one after Google's Nexus One made by HTC died due to the broken power button. It was a common issue on that phone which I only came to know after mines got broken. I had to spend a lot of money to buy HTC One M7 but I fell in love with the same immediately. I had a choice at that time to buy Samsung Galaxy Note 2 as it was cheaper and was coming with exchange offer in India which would have saved me enough money to buy another mid-range smartphone. But when I used my Bose Earphones on HTC One M7 on a demo unit at the retail store, the audio impact was the difference between Samsung and HTC device. I went and bought HTC One M7 and after coming here to South Africa took a lot of pictures here.

HTC's PR Company gifted me HTC One M8 (old review unit) way back in 2015 and I am still using the same but now it's time to upgrade once again. In my 5th year of The Life's Way, I would buy if not sponsored the smartphone soon. I use my smartphone to take photos, post them on Instagram, I tweet a lot and also sometimes I write a whole blog post on the smartphone using Swype keyboard. I still remember I have written some chapters when I collaborated with another bloggers to write a novel using the flow method used in Swype keyboard app.

I have bought a lot of technology in my life but never learned to recycle the same. It was still with me but now as I am nearing the second half of my life, I am giving it all away to the poor and needy in India. My mom has already distributed all the 13 old Nokia phones models I had. I am reducing my lifestyle to follow minimalism and use only one device at a time for the purpose I want it to. I want to reduce all the electronics clutter I have in the new year and that's a resolution for 2018.

Cheers!!!

Contact me at thelifesway@gmail.com to blog, share and influence about your products and services on all my Social Media channels #TheLifesWay #PhotoYatra!

26 Days To www.TheLifesWay.com 5th Birthday Celebrations #5YearsofTheLifesWay #27Dec2017 #Opportunities

Hi Friends,

#Opportunities

4 Years Ago when I came to South Africa I had to first sort out the internet connection and it was a month before I could post the first post. My Indiblogger rating fell after a long while and I needed it to go back to the original levels. I had to start once again to get in touch with a lot of brands using the channel I know best. I contacted all of them using Twitter and Sony Pictures was the one who got in touch with me and put me on the media list for Sterkinekor. I watched every picture they showcased every Tuesday and Thursday and then reviewed them too. I made a lot of friends at the movies and it was really fun to visit the same every week. I was not able to do it this year as I could not leave my office at the media screening times.

There is always a possibility to create opportunities and venture into something new which you have never done before. It has happened to me many times in my life and I am an opportunistic blogger. I calculate the returns on anything I do immediately and then see if that thing is worth the time I spend. It has given me a lot of benefits in terms of monetary benefits which bought me things I always wanted to buy. My whole benefits from my blog go back into paying for the domain and buying things like photography equipment. I love photography and used to win many photo contests on Facebook for many brands. I used to always see and remember the photos I have taken so as to fit the same for the right contest entry and it made me sure that I win the prize. Though it was never anything big, it was worth enjoying.

Opportunities have always brought me the strong willpower to work and win the game. I might be lacking in my game only due to work tensions or laziness but when I have thought about something, I have always worked to win it. Sometimes the world takes advantage of you where you live in false hope that something will happen if you do this for them or they will develop the soft corner for you but its a vicious circle. Get paid for your time and get away with the same and leave all emotions out so that there are no unfulfilled expectations at your end. If I get sponsorships for any place to go and attend, then I make sure I return the value in terms of my social media content sharing on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Cheers!!!

Contact me at thelifesway@gmail.com to blog, share and influence about your products and services on all my Social Media channels #TheLifesWay #PhotoYatra!