Newbie Advice please

Mike_Gozna

Hi all, hope everyone is winning plenty.
I am very new to comping and am, i think making what is probably a common newbie mistake and entering every competition i come across in a disorganised manner. I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice on a good organised way to comp. Which sites to use or not to use, and a way of not entering the same comps twice. It just seems a bit of a maze at the moment, so any help would be much appreciated. Do you have a set routine that you follow or some other way to organise your comping. Please share if you feel able.
Thank You in advance. Mike G. :beer:

sleepyjones

Best advice for a newbie ... give up now, it's not worth it :rotfl:

I don't have a set routine and I don't use any other sites, so can't really offer any advice. I just use this site and green tick everything I enter so I know I have and don't re-enter.

I would assume most comps get posted on here anyway (but again, I don't use any other sites so I don't really know), but for me, I think going to other sites just confuses everything and you will need to keep a spreadsheet or something of the things you enter, to me it just sounds like you'd spend more time checking your notes to see if you've already entered than you actually would entering competitions.

At least for a while, I would stick to one site (this one), green tick or red X the comps so you you know which ones you've looked at and in a month or so when you're getting the hang of it maybe look at moving onto other sites ... that'd be my advice.

If you do a Search for "Newbie" on the forum you'll find a lot of posts from fellow "Newbie"'s over the years, maybe have a read through some of them and see what kinda stuff they were asking about and what their replies were. Might give you some insight.

Mike_Gozna

Thanks very much for your prompt reply, i will spend some time reading through the posts as you suggest.

pinkladyvenus

I found reading through advice posted at top of comp board, entitled new compers please read helpful. (if you haven't already done so.) especially the bit about how to arrange comps via date order. I find after a while you work out which comp you feel are worth entering I avoid magazine daily's because I can not comit to entering them every day.

I also stick to only entering comps posted on the comp board to avoid duplicating entries. .

Defoe

While I mark those I enter with green ticks and those I don't with red ticks, I don't log them in any other way. I don't enter social media entries (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) and find I can just about keep up. I try to enter when comps are posted rather than on the closing date but have to do the latter if I am away for a few weeks until I can "catch up". Like others I only use this site and win fairly regularly.

Main lessons from me are - don't expect to win anything; don't comp on holiday - you need time off!; thank the original poster and help others; treat comping as a hobby and enjoy!

Oh, and get a dedicated PAYG phone and e mail address to keep your comping stuff apart from your day to day phone/e mail.