I have been, or can be if you click on a link and make a purchase, compensated via a cash payment, gift, or something else of value for writing this post. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.
- I work from home
- I set my own hours
- I can create a passive income
- I get to travel to different cities to attend conferences, and often never have to pay for a meal
Yet this past week, I experienced a perk like no other: I got to spend a night in the house from A Christmas Story.
I first met Brian Jones at the ShareASale Think Tank in Chicago this past May. Brian owns the house that was used for the exterior shots of the movie, A Christmas Story. He also owns the company that sells reproduction Leg Lamps and other products from the movie.
Fast forward a few weeks, and I manually built BuyLegLamps.com (at the time, they didn’t have a datafeed). I outlined the entire process of building this site in another post, An Affiliate Website Anyone Can Build
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After exchanging emails with Brian (about the program, and getting a datafeed set-up), I mentioned that I was going to be in Cleveland, and wanted to get together. He’s still in San Diego, but offered to let me and my family spend a night in the house!
A Christmas Story House isn’t a typical bed & breakfast. Only a handful of people have spent the night (if you want to spend a night, watch for auctions on eBay, but be prepared to drop about $5k).
My daughter wasn’t too excited about it at first (she started crying, screaming “NO!” at me, then kicked me in the shin, twice) but she was OK after calming down a little.
After the movie, we all went up to bed. I slept in Ralphie’s bed, and my other daughter slept in Randy’s bed, while the rest of the family slept upstairs in the guest suite.
The next morning, I even got to meet “Randy” from the movie, Ian Petrella! (I’m not sure he was too excited about meeting me, as I think we woke him up to hand over the keys)
If my accountant asks, this wasn’t a vacation… I was procuring content. The dozens of photos I took and video tour of the house will be some nice, unique content for BuyLegLamps.com.
Thanks to Brian for hooking me up on this unforgettable experience!
Comments
Liz Gazer
That’s one of my all-time fave Christmas movies and that was a great story, Eric! Not *everyone* can say they slept in the “A Christmas Story” house. What a great way to “procure content” for your site! And what a great example of how it pays to think outside the box, as an affiliate.
Joe Magennis
I’m assuming you would have informed us if one of the kids had uttered the queen-mother of dirty words …
Eric Nagel
I had to explain to my 8-year-old what “Oh Fudge” was. “Eff dash dash dash”
She got it after a while
Morgan Nagel
Dad you are so funny and now that i am 9 i understand it. Thank you dad so much for the trip!!!