Introduction: Where Luxury, Spirituality, and Winning Collide

Have you ever dreamed of prizes arriving at your door, of going on shopping sprees without spending a penny, or embarking on adventures you only hoped for? What if we told you that the secret to this isn't just a lucky lottery ticket, but a powerful blend of mindset and marketing strategy?

This isn't just about luck; it's about a method. A method perfected by the legendary Helene Hadsell, who won over 5,000 contests in her lifetime, and is now carried forward by experts like Carolyn Wilman, the "Contest Queen." In a recent episode of Luxury Unplugged, host Neeti Kwani sat down with Carolyn to unravel how the principles of winning sweepstakes can be directly applied to creating viral content marketing campaigns. The answer to "How easy is winning the lottery?" might just lie in your mindset and your marketing plan.

Sweepstakes vs. Lottery: A Game of Strategy vs. Chance

First, let's clear the air. What we're talking about isn't the traditional lottery.

• Lottery: You pay a consideration (money) for a minuscule chance at a prize.

• Sweepstakes/Giveaways: You enter for free. The "consideration" is removed, making the odds significantly better.

As Carolyn Wilman explains, the lingo changes—Sweepstakes in the US, Contests in Canada and India, Competitions in the UK—but the core is the same: everybody likes to win something. This universal truth is the golden key for marketers.

The Helene Hadsell Method: It’s Not Luck, It’s Law of Attraction

Helene Hadsell didn't just win by chance; she won by design. Her famous "Spec It, Select It, Project It, Expect It, Collect It" method is a masterclass in applied Law of Attraction.

Carolyn Wilman, who was chosen by Hadsell herself to carry on her legacy, breaks down the crucial, often-missed step:

1. Select It: Be specific. Don't just say "I want more money." Say "I want $10,000 by December."

2. Project It: Visualize it. Use a vision board, journal, or 3x5 cards. Make it real in your mind's eye.

3. Expect It: This is the magic. This isn't desire; it's knowing. You must feel it in your core, as if it's already done. This is where meditation and practices like the Silva Method, which Hadsell used, come into play.

Carolyn shares a powerful testimonial: while recording the audiobook for Hadsell's The Name It & Claim It Game, she read a story about a woman manifesting a free cruise to the Bahamas. Weeks later, a friend offered her a free cruise with a stop in the Bahamas under nearly identical circumstances. She didn't just hope; she knew, and she collected.

The Nugget: "You have to think like a winner and feel like a winner before you are a winner," says Wilman. "If you don't think you're going to win, then you're not."

From Winning Prizes to Winning Customers: The Viral Marketing Link

So, how does this translate to viral content marketing? The connection is profound.

1. The Power of Storytelling:
Carolyn points out a universal truth: "If you watch the videos that go viral the most, there's always a story behind them." People connect with real people and authentic stories. Helene Hadsell wrapped complex spiritual principles in engaging stories of her wins, making them accessible. Your brand should do the same.

• Actionable Tip: What's the story behind your business? Why are you running a giveaway? Tell that story authentically. You don't need a professional studio; a phone and a genuine message can capture more hearts than a polished ad.

2. Giveaways as a Marketing Strategy (Not an Afterthought):
Many businesses see giveaways as a costly, one-off tactic. Carolyn debunks this.

• Actionable Tip: A giveaway doesn't have to be expensive. A hairdresser can give away a monthly haircut. A restaurant can offer a free lunch. The cost is minimal, but the engagement and goodwill are massive. Integrate giveaways into your broader marketing plan alongside educational content and nurturing posts.

3. The "Personal Touch" for Virality:
As a sweepstakes marketer, Carolyn's success doesn't come from just posting on social media. It comes from community. She has built relationships with sweepstakes site owners worldwide. A personal message from her gets a new giveaway immediate traction.

• Actionable Tip: Build a community. Engage personally. Whether it's through Facebook Groups, WhatsApp communities, or industry networks, the personal touch can make your content go further than any algorithm hack.

Practical Tips to Start Your Winning Streak

• For Aspiring Winners: Use sweepstakes aggregate sites to save time. Spend about an hour a day. Start with "single entry" giveaways for even odds. Most importantly, set up a dedicated email address just for entering.

• For Marketers: Be consistent. "The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step," says Wilman. Viral fame is rare; steady, consistent teaching and engagement are what build a loyal audience. Be unapologetically you—your unique energy is what will capture people.

Conclusion: Winning is a Vibration

Winning the lottery in the traditional sense is a game of desperate chance. But "winning" in life, in business, and in marketing is a game of focused energy.

Helene Hadsell's legacy, as carried by Carolyn Wilman, teaches us that ease comes from alignment. When you Spec It (define your goal—a prize or a customer), Project It (create content around it), Expect It (live in the vibration of already having achieved it), you will Collect It.

The question isn't "How easy is winning the lottery?" The real question is, "How easily can you align your mindset and strategy to attract what you desire?" The answer, it turns out, is very easy indeed. You just have to know you're going to win.

 

Transcript:

Neeti Kwani: So, welcome viewers to the world of Luxury Unplugged, where luxury meets spirituality. If you are passionate about entrepreneurship, creativity, and maintaining a sane mind, you found your tribe at Luxury Unplugged. We are dedicated to exploring the world of luxury living, and we are putting out extravagant experiences to the hidden gems that make life truly exceptional.

As the author of bestselling book, Live Your Dreams, I, Neeti Kwani, am also the host for Luxury Unplugged. And every week on Tuesdays, we are bringing you incredible stories of successful entrepreneurs and artists. Today we have with us Carolyn Wilman. She is specializing in sweepstakes marketing and she helps companies create exciting getaways, virally engaging the audiences. And she has been teaching others on how to find, organize, and enter and win sweepstakes. She is an author of many books and, not to mention, not to forget, How to Win Cash, Cars, Trips, and More. So let's explore with her today how to get into that space and the mindset, which is the intersection point for the right marketing, the right viral content, and winning the sweepstakes. Over to you, Carolyn.

Carolyn Wilman: Thank you for having me. Well, let me just explain sweepstakes. So it's actually lingo because the hobby itself is the same all over the world, except different countries use different words. So the United States they call them sweepstakes. Canada they call them contests. And in like Australia and the UK, they call them competitions. Actually, India also calls them contests. Yes, it's it's a it's just a word. It basically, they all say giveaway. They're all just giveaway.

And there's a reason that some of them call them different things; one of them is a legal reason. But to me, it's the whole William Shakespeare quote, "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Everybody likes to win something, and it doesn't matter what it's called if you can get into the fun of whatever it is. So, to my mind, when you're winning a contest or sweepstakes or a getaway, it's basically it's an exchange. It's a lottery that you have won, perhaps, which is like hitting the jackpot.

Neeti Kwani: Yes.

Carolyn Wilman: So, lottery by definition means you pay a consideration for a chance at a prize. And a sweepstakes and a contest have one of those removed. So a contest, by legal definition, has the chance removed; it's usually judged. Think of the, in the United States, they'll have a state fair where you pay to enter your pie-baking contest and then they're judged, so you can win a prize. So there's still consideration. Or a photography contest or something where you have to pay to enter. And then the sweepstakes has the consideration removed. So it's basically you enter for a chance at a prize and there's no fee, which is why I like it better than the lottery because you don't pay to enter.

Neeti Kwani: Right, right, right. And you can win, and the odds of winning are way better. And then you can win stuff sometimes money can't buy, and this is where the luxury comes in.

Carolyn Wilman: True. You know, I win things. So you can win things that will replace money in your budget. So I just won a six-month supply of shampoo. Well, that's great because now the money that I would spend on shampoo, because, you know, I do wash my hair, I don't have to spend that money there; now I have it for other things. Then you can win things that maybe are not in your budget, like a brand new car or a trip. So if you have a small travel budget, it's now much bigger. And then there's things that money can't buy, like the time I hung out with Sting or Michael Bublé, or, when I was married, my ex got to be a judge in the Miss Hawaiian Tropic bikini contest. Like, that is not happening every day.

Neeti Kwani: Absolutely, absolutely. So one thing that stands out from what I have read about your books and your stuff that you've been doing is that, you know, the questions that you've put out, which are like, you know, if prizes are frequently delivered to your front door, or perhaps you're on a shopping spree without even spending a penny, and the adventures that you can just hope to go on. So what is the secret recipe for being that Contest Queen? What is that nugget that you'd like to give to our audiences for winning those lotteries and those contests?

Carolyn Wilman: Well, first, I'm not the only one. There are hundreds of people or thousands all over the world that like to do this as a hobby, and there's lots of winners. So many so that every year there's an annual convention and we all gather and we learn from one another and we help each other win. It's all boats rise with the tide, which I love. It's the funnest community; I'm just saying, I'm a little biased.

And we have speakers who teach. I, you know, I usually speak at the conventions; I'm one of the speakers. And I teach; like last year I taught TikTok, the year before was Instagram, because it's always changing so we need the updates on what's going on. And then there's prizes. And this year is in Las Vegas; next year it's going to be in Little Rock, Arkansas. So it moves around and we get to travel to a new place or some place we love and hang out with friends. I've actually made friends for life from this hobby, which is a prize that I did not expect when I started entering.

But part of it is you have to be positive. This is where the spirituality side comes in. You have to think like a winner and feel like a winner before you are a winner. If you don't think you're going to win, then you're not. Right? Like, you have to, you know, why? If you don't think you're going to win, why are you wasting your energy? Because it's you. You manifest what you get.

I have to chuckle at my friend Tom Cavanagh; he owns "I Win Contests." And he thinks the spirituality stuff is a bit of hocus-pocus. And he did a video one time where he goes, "This manifesting stuff? No. How I win my prizes is I focus on what I want, and I enter, and then I win it." And I'm like, "That is what manifesting is." He just knows he's going to win that prize; he's going to enter all the giveaways to get that prize, and he's going to get it, whether it comes from this one or this one or this one.

It's really funny how he does it; he just lives in the vibration of winning, which is what Helen Hadel did. That's why she won so much. And I do it. Mine has reduced a little bit because I have split my energy and I'm not entering as much because I am publishing a lot this year, and so my energy is going a lot into publishing and only a little bit into contests. And as you can imagine, the number of prizes I win correlates to the amount of energy I'm putting out. So I'm not winning as much, but I never stop winning.

So that is the biggest nugget I think, out of winning any kind of giveaways and getaways, is that you have to first of all feel deserving of it. You have to be the winner in your head before you enter any sort of contest.

Neeti Kwani: But then when you do that, there are so many things that are there, you know, like what are the time-saving tips, probably, because this can take the entire day. What could be? And how to spot a scam, you know, for instance.

Carolyn Wilman: Well, let's start with the time. Most people think all these big winners spend all day entering. And if you interview all the big winners, they will all tell you they spend about an hour a day. And people are like, "How can you win so much in an hour?" One of the secrets is to use a sweepstakes site or a sweepstakes aggregate, where they've already pulled in all the giveaways to one site. So you don't have to go hunting around the internet for them; you are going to one place and you're entering.

Now, if you're new to the hobby, one of the things I suggest is you do all the single-entry giveaways to start, because they're what I call "one and done." You enter it once and you forget about it because everyone has even odds; everyone can only enter once. You don't have to remember to come back every day.

Neeti Kwani: True.

Carolyn Wilman: And then a lot of the aggregates have features that help you come back. So you can add it to your favorites and then come back every day and remember to enter it again so that your odds of winning increase. And they have the tools right there; you don't even have to learn anything or install software or anything; you just, it's right on the site. A lot of the sites have these features to help you win built right into them.

And then the other thing I do is I tell people to turn on... there's a scientific term for this... the reticular activator. So for example, if you decided you wanted to go buy a new car and the car you wanted was like a little red Honda, suddenly you would spot every single Honda, especially the red ones, out there because you've turned on that activator. It's the same with the word "win." I can spot the word "win" at 100 paces.

Neeti Kwani: That's interesting. How you could apply possibly law of attraction to actually winning such kind of getaways and sweepstakes.

Carolyn Wilman: So, right. Yeah, because I'm tuned into it. Correct. Again, that's part of the vibration of winning. Once you're in that mode, you're... that's it. It's just become... I've been doing it so long now, it's second nature to me.

Neeti Kwani: Right. That's what happens over time, right?

Carolyn Wilman: So you have this book, Words for Winning. Tell us something about that. Is that also based upon winning in general?

Carolyn Wilman: No, actually what happened was I started the Contest Queen business teaching others how to win sweepstakes. And then I had a lot of companies approach me about helping viral market their sweepstakes. But I was a marketer; that's, I went to school, I graduated with business marketing major, so I was already a marketer. And then so I started helping companies, and it didn't really fit into Contest Queen, so I created a new company called Idea Majesty. That's my marketing company.

But I knew, and you'll know this in spirituality, sometimes you just know something, I knew when I made that company there was another company. And I thought, "Oh no." And when I started publishing other people's works, like Helen Hadel, I realized they don't fit either business; I need another company. And that's where Words for Winning comes, because that's where I republish; I publish my own stuff there and I republish everybody else's work. So I've got Helen's done, and this year I'm working on Tag Powell's and Judith Powell's work.

So that's where Words for Winning came in, because I couldn't come up with another, like, queen or royal name. But I'm teaching you how to win in life and sweepstakes, so I figured Words for Winning, because it's all books, fit. So I have... I teach people how to win sweepstakes as Contest Queen, I help companies viral those sweepstakes at Idea Majesty, and I teach other people a positive mindset in Words for Winning. Just 'cause, you know, I'm not busy.

Neeti Kwani: Right. So when you talk about making a sweepstakes viral or engaging people in that particular way, that they are absolutely gripped by whatever you're putting out, what is the nugget that you'd like to share on that in terms of making the content viral?

Carolyn Wilman: In terms of... it's not always easy. I've only had a couple of videos go viral on social media. Most of the time it's just steady, consistent teaching. Because the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. So if you just keep posting and being consistent and teaching, you are going to reach the people that you need to reach. That's the way I look at it.

And if you're a small company and you want to run a giveaway, it doesn't have to cost a lot. I sometimes have very simple rules. Say, on an Instagram post one time, I was cleaning out my office and I had all these lucky things that I had won at conventions. And I thought, "I don't... I don't need this stuff." So I collected it all together, I made like five piles, I took pictures, and I gave it all away on Instagram with very simple rules. And then I just mailed it to the winners. And I used a comment picker, a random comment picker on the internet, to randomly pick the winners so it was fair. And that's all it cost me was the cost of shipping and a little bit of my time to run the giveaway.

So if a small business thinks that they can't afford to run giveaways as part of their marketing, they're wrong. It can be very inexpensive. If you're a hairdresser, you can give away a haircut a month. If you're a restaurant, you could give away meals, you know, lunch for your office. All the kinds of things that fit with whatever you're doing.

Neeti Kwani: To, you know, that would make that work. Right. So it doesn't need to be expensive, and anybody could be doing that. And potentially it is a better way of marketing once in a while, once in a month types. Yes. To make it a regular practice, would you say it should be part of your marketing plan?

Carolyn Wilman: There's a lot of marketing, great marketing teachers out there that show you how to do social media, and so a giveaway should be part of your plan, not an afterthought. And what I want people to think of is, you know, they'll see companies doing giveaways and they think, "Oh, that's how I'm going to do better in my business." No, don't randomly just do one because everyone else is doing one. You know, you need posts that talk about sales, you need nurturing, you need education and things like that, and then throw in a giveaway. You know, have a marketing plan and giveaways should be part of the plan, but they shouldn't be an afterthought in that plan.

Neeti Kwani: Or a lot of companies don't even have a plan.

Carolyn Wilman: That's true. That's even worse.

Neeti Kwani: Yeah. But then if you want to go ahead with your viral content, I think a strategy in place, especially with a giveaway, would do wonders for you if you have it as a regular.

Carolyn Wilman: That's just my mind to it. Right. That, and storytelling is a great one. You know, if you have... like, you'll notice if you watch the videos that go viral the most, there's always a story behind them.

Neeti Kwani: True. Because people want to know about real people and the stories behind them.

Carolyn Wilman: So if you have a story behind your business or why you're giving something away, people want to hear that. People would love to see you. It doesn't have to be professional. Some people just use their phone, you know, they just prop their phone up in their office, you know, turn to the camera and just tell their story. And that's it. And it doesn't have to be perfect; it doesn't have to be super edited. Just be yourself. People, that energy that you exude, what makes you uniquely you, is what will capture people on the internet.

Neeti Kwani: So right. We said, because on our channel we are always talking about becoming the best version of yourself just to attract everything that you want, whatever your dream life is. So it automatically sort of comes into place with every guest that we have on our podcast, even when we have not discussed anything beforehand, it just comes out like that.

Carolyn Wilman: Right. Because you need to be... I've heard creators talk about this, and I think it's such a good saying, you have to be unapologetically you. I ended up going down this path as the Contest Queen, and it kind of pulled me. And the universe leaves clues. That's the other thing; you have to look for those clues.

When I had started entering sweeps as a hobby in 2001, and then I had my daughter, so I was a stay-at-home mom for a while. And when I was ready to go back to work, I was trying to decide, "Do I go for these jobs? What am I looking for? I have to find daycare." I'm trying to, I'm trying to figure it all out. And we had gone on a winning streak and several people had said to me, "You should write a book." I thought, "Well, that's crazy. I don't know anything about book writing."

And one of the big prizes that we won was a trip to Bob Blumer's house. And he was a chef that had several books and he even had a TV show. And he was telling me the story that he was actually an artist who used to do frugal dinners with all of his art friends, and then he wrote a cookbook about it and did all the art for it, and it became a bestseller. And he, and then he ended up getting this TV show and he got the whole thing sponsored. I'm like, "This is..." And he had zero experience. He just kept following what was in front of him. And I thought, "Okay."

And then he said to me that he where he creates is in front of this butcher block that was in his kitchen. And I thought, "That's a very profound thing to say to strangers." And he said, "Yeah, the center of my universe is in front of this butcher block." And I went, "Oh." He said it twice. That's... I got to remember that.

So later I went and I was talking to a girlfriend about it, and she said, "Well, what's the center of your universe?" And I thought, "Contesting." And I'm like, "What the heck am I supposed to do with that?" I thought, "Okay, the universe just gave me a puzzle piece. I'm going to hang on to this puzzle piece 'cause I have no idea where it fits in this picture. I'm just going to hold this piece and figure it out." I was smart enough not to throw it away.

Then we had the questions about the books. And then I started... so I started doing research. And somebody said to me, "Why would you give all your secrets away?" That is a very good question. I was going back to have coffee with the same girlfriend, and I went a different route than I normally do. When I pass the church, on the service announcement board—now, darn it, this was before everyone had cell phones with cameras and I didn't think to go back and take a picture—but it's burned in my memory. On this church announcement board it said, "You can't lose helping others win." And I went, "That's a sign for me." Like, people say, "Oh, God, give me a sign." I had a literal sign from God in front of a church.

And I thought, "Oh." So I knew right then; I didn't even have to ask her, I already knew I was writing the book. I'm like, "All right, I'm going down this path. I don't know where it's leading me, but I got a couple of clues now. I'm going down."

Neeti Kwani: Wow.

Carolyn Wilman: And it wasn't... it is not an easy road. Like, I read The One Minute Millionaire by Mark Victor Hansen and he says, "Write a book in 30 days and make a million dollars." Well, it took me 20 months and I'm still waiting to make a million dollars.

Neeti Kwani: It's going to happen.

Carolyn Wilman: Just as Helen Hadel says, "There is no failure, just results." But my point is, I kept going. And then I wrote another one, and then I wrote another one. And then she asked me to maintain her legacy because, I realize, I think she realized at that point... and you want to know how you know it's your path... I had her on a podcast in 2008, before it was cool to have podcasts. And off air, I asked her if I could come visit, and she said no. I'm like, "All right." So a couple days later she phones me back and she said, "Your guides are so loud, you better come." And if you have a destined path, like you have, probably you've talked about this, what's meant for you will not pass you by. So I was meant to go meet her. Like, that was like written in stone.

So I went and spent four days with her. And while I was there, she said, "You have to teach 'Manuevers for Wishcraft' 'cause no one else is going to do it." And I think she asked me because I was already an author; I had already written two books by then. So she was an author; she knew I could do it. I understood the contest world, which was what her first book was about. I understood spirituality because I loved all that stuff; I've been reading about it since I was 18, every type of book you can imagine. So she knew I understood that world. And I was entrepreneurial, which is something she wasn't. And I was also techie, which is another thing she wasn't. Like, when I got the final books of hers to update and edit and republish, she had been editing with the space bar and the return key.

Neeti Kwani: Oh, no.

Carolyn Wilman: I had to move chapters; I had to shift parts; I had to fix...

Neeti Kwani: Right. Because now technology has come to a point where, you know, you can easily do that. And then she wasn't... I think she could have done it at the time, but she didn't; she didn't understand it.

Carolyn Wilman: Right.

Neeti Kwani: So I have to come to you on this point that you mentioned about talking on different aspects of social media platforms right now that you talk about in your forums and your seminars. So what do you think is the right... is the current wave right now? Is it Facebook or WhatsApp or...?

Carolyn Wilman: I think it... well, okay, first of all, it depends on what you're doing and who your market is.

Neeti Kwani: True.

Carolyn Wilman: Okay? So you have to look at what your business does. Instagram is very good. TikTok is very good. Again, it depends. So for your business, for example, I would say probably Instagram is number one, and then TikTok would be number two, Facebook would be number three. If you're focusing solely on business-to-business, you're going to want LinkedIn. If you're, you know, a B2C, business-to-consumer, and you're a restaurant, you're going to basically want to be on, you know, Instagram.

Neeti Kwani: Instagram, yes. And TikTok with all the tags for the local area so people in the area will find you.

Carolyn Wilman: Things like that. You have to look at what you are. But I have done... I love TikTok. I have done very well in TikTok. I have grown more in TikTok than any other platform. And I think it's because of how fast it is. And I'm a talker; I always got trouble in school. Every single report card says, "Carolyn talks too much." Guess what? That's what I get to do for a living now.

Neeti Kwani: Right. Set up my camera and I just yap.

Carolyn Wilman: Sometimes I'll be in my office here doing this kind of thing, and I get so excited. George, my boyfriend, he goes, "I can hear you in the living room. Who are you yelling at the computer? They can hear you."

Neeti Kwani: Absolutely. So I think, um, the way the technology is moving, I think even WhatsApp is really picking up in terms of, uh, if you want a personalized community experience. What do you think about that?

Carolyn Wilman: Yeah, so I have... I have some Facebook groups and I have some WhatsApp groups that I'm a part of. I don't actually run any WhatsApp groups, but I'm also in the process of taking the Silva method. I'm in the instructor training program, which is, if you remember, Helen Hadel worked with Jose Silva, and then Tag Powell, who I'm publishing his books this year, he was a Silva instructor. So it just made sense for me to go down that path to learn the world that they both lived in for so many years. And oh my gosh, I just had a brain hiccup. Where was I going with that?

So I have Facebook groups, two of them. But I am so busy because I have three companies, so I have social media for each one. It's not always easy to keep up because I have all of them for all of them. And basically Idea Majesty right now is... I say she's sleeping a little bit; she's taking a break because I'm doing all this other stuff.

And, um, but as part of the Silva training, I am in the instructor group and the grad group, and it is fantastic to connect to other people.

Neeti Kwani: So, tell us something about your experience as a sweepstakes marketer with some of the companies that you work with, in terms of like what really happened and the behind-the-scenes sort of a thing, if any.

Carolyn Wilman: Well, one of the things that makes me successful as a sweepstakes marketer is the way I'm able to viral a sweepstakes. Now, it's not necessarily having a post get millions of views; that rarely happens in the sweepstakes world. What I tend to do to get the company the entries that they're looking for... So, one company runs a sweepstakes; what they're looking for is the number of entries and engagement in their sweepstakes.

Most of the time they are a website-based giveaway, so you have to go to a certain URL and enter, fill out a form. Side tip for anybody interested in entering sweepstakes: set up an email address just for entering. That's a key tip. So you keep your hobby separate from everything else.

And then I take that URL, and I, as a marketer, ask for what they call assets: so images, text, you know, anything that they're using, all their handles so I can connect to them. And then I take that and I share it. I blog it, and I put it in a newsletter, special newsletter blast, and I put it on my socials. But that's not where they get most of their entries.

They get most of their entries because I am friends with every sweepstakes site owner all over the world. And I message them personally and I say, "Hey, this company's hired me; here's a brand new sweepstakes." And I usually like it pre-launch, because I can get it out on the first day, which is one of the keys to winning a sweepstakes is to get as many entries in as you can.

Neeti Kwani: Well, unless it's single entry. You want to be in on the first day.

Carolyn Wilman: Right through to the end. If it's a daily, especially if it's a daily, because if I enter from the beginning and you start entering halfway through, I'm going to have twice as many entries as you. So my odds of winning have gone up. Doesn't mean you can't win; it just means it's harder for you to win, 'cause I know people that have entered dailies once and they won. So it can happen, but it's harder overall.

And so that's where they get the amount of entries that they're looking for in that giveaway. But again, it's better for me to get it before you launch it. I have been successful partway through, but it's not as easy.

Neeti Kwani: True. So I guess the personal touch does play a role in terms of the behind-the-scenes sort of thing.

Carolyn Wilman: Right. And that's where being part of that sweepstakes community... like I say, I go to the conventions. Well, like I'm going to one in March; it's just 100 people; it's a Spring Banquet. The Contest Queen, Tom Cavanagh from "I Win Contests," and Christine... why is her last name popping out of my head?... from SweepSheet is going to be there. And we, you know, we're friends; we go, we've been out for dinner; we hang out; we visit each other's houses when we're in the area, not as often, not very often, but you know. So it's... I don't know, it's a lot of fun.

And so when I send her an email and say, "Hey, there's a new sweepstakes for your site," she opens it. So companies can sometimes do this themselves, but their email might not get open; some of the sites charge; they don't know if they've been vetted. But they know that if I send them one, I've already read the rules, I've checked it out, it's... you know, I've made companies change their rules before I would promote it because they weren't following proper guidelines. There's actually laws that companies have to follow when running sweepstakes.

Neeti Kwani: Right. And I wonder how many companies follow those laws, especially outside of US. I mean, are you working with companies outside of US?

Carolyn Wilman: Yeah, sometimes. Like, I'm Canadian. Actually, most of my clients are American.

Neeti Kwani: Okay.

Carolyn Wilman: The hobby is the biggest... like, if you look at the global hobby, it's the biggest in the United States. I'd say the UK probably comes in second. India, I'm not sure where it falls in, just because of the population and contesting. Everybody likes to win. In India it's huge in India, but I don't have stats; that's the only thing I can't seem to get, which is a little frustrating.

Yeah. But, you know, I run virtual contest club meetings twice a month, and we have one woman, she joins us from Australia. And I was call her my time traveler because whenever we have a meeting, it's always tomorrow there. So I'm like, "And here's Caroline" — her name's Caroline — I'm like, "Hey, Caroline's here from the future! It's already..." You know, if we're having a meeting on a Monday night, it's already Tuesday morning there. "Can you tell us what's going on in the future, Caroline?"

Neeti Kwani: That's very interesting. All right. I mean, I've had my set of questions that I had for you, and especially I'm intrigued by Helen Hadel's books also, and I think they'll prove a lot of value if you could elaborate a bit on them before we wrap this conversation.

Carolyn Wilman: Oh, well, what's interesting is if you read her books, she wasn't destined to write her first book, The Name It & Claim It Game. There's even a passage in there where she says her guides appeared and said, "This isn't what you're supposed to be writing about." And she said, "I know." And she kept writing. And the reason she did that is, you have to remember, when she wrote this book, it's 52 years old now when she wrote it, and it was published in '71. So she, you know, when you write a book you're writing it for a few years beforehand, like it's not instant. So she was writing it in the '60s, and the mindset was completely different than it is now.

So she had... she wanted to talk about all her, what I, you know, we love saying the "woo-woo" stuff, the spirituality. She couldn't introduce that to people that way, so she wrapped it in the sweepstakes stories. And I have edited that book I can't even tell you how many times. And even when I was doing the Audible book, where I had to read it out loud... oh, boy. Talk about speaking your manifestations into existence. Some of the stuff she said hit me so different. I highly recommend anybody that's reading a spirituality, motivational, inspirational book, read it out loud to yourself. You will hear things in that book that you would not have picked up on if you just read it with your eyes. It's unbelievable.

And I, when I was doing the Audible book, there's a story in there about a woman who went on a cruise to the Bahamas and how she manifested it by just focusing on the end result. And then I went and did the Silva method 'cause I was part of the assisting team, co-assisting, as part of my instructor training. And then on the... there's a lot of meditating happening. And then on Saturday I get a text from a friend; she goes, "Uh, do you want to go on a cruise?" I'm like, "Uh, thanks, but there's no budget," because I'm paying my producer, you know, my sound engineer to do the Audible book. And she says, "No, it's... Mike can't go" — her boyfriend — "and the ticket will expire," which is almost identical to the story. "Do you want to come? You just have to get to Miami." I'm like, "Uh, yeah, I'll be in Miami." And one of the stops was the Bahamas. And I'm like, "What?" I read it out loud on a Wednesday, and by Thursday, by Saturday, I was going on a free cruise. Six weeks later I'm in the Bahamas.

Neeti Kwani: It is crazy.

Carolyn Wilman: I highly recommend you read those books out loud.

So you have to really carefully read The Name It & Claim It Game because she put a lot of spiritual lessons in there that you don't necessarily pick up because you're reading about a story about how she won a trip to a dude ranch. If you really read it again, you're going to pick out all the little spiritual lessons that she was teaching.

Then, once she was comfortable, and decades later — so this came out, the first edition came out in 1971 — she did not write In Contact With Other Realms till 2001. Like, a huge time jump before she felt comfortable talking about all her "woo-woo," crazy, spiritual, metaphysical experiences, where, you know, she was levitating, she had thought forms going on, she, like, she went invisible with Paul Twitchell. Like, she did all kinds of crazy and fun things in that book: how she could see in the fourth dimension. So she didn't feel, even in herself, comfortable until, like, what is that, 40... 30? How's my math? 30 years later?

Neeti Kwani: Yeah, writing about... that's a big jump.

Carolyn Wilman: Right. But then the way she... she talks about all these books, the way she's talking about it, it seems very easy, very simple. But it is easy; that's the problem. Like, she... she even read other teachers. Like, she liked Florence Scovel Shinn, who was over 120 years ago. Florence is talking how simple it is. Neville Goddard talking about how simple it is. Wallace Wattles talking about how simple it is. These processes aren't new. She just gave a new name to hers: Spec It, Select It, Project It, Expect It, Collect It, because she liked her word play. But she didn't even have "Spec It" in her first book, because she was using the basic "Ask, Believe, Receive" principles.

The problem is with that, I have figured out, is we don't do any of the believing. We do the asking and we're ready to receive, but we don't do the middle part. And she broke the middle part into two. This is interesting. So "Select It" is specific. So if you say, "I want more money," and I toss you a quarter — this is a great Jack Canfield story — I toss you a quarter and you go, "What's that?" and I go, "More money," and you're like, "I want more than that." No, be specific. "I want $10,000 by this, you know..."

Then "Project It" is up here: the visualization. See it in your mind's eye; put it on a vision board; journal it; something. All it's all mental. She used to like doing 3x5 cards and writing, you know, like she did one where she wanted a microwave, a trip to Hawaii, some cash, and a car. And she just had one word. So if it's your business, you can put, you know, like, "$5,000 a month," you know, "expanded patio this year," you know, whatever, you know, whatever your goals are, you can make them short.

Then this is the part that again people trip on: "Expect It" is here. Well, I'm too short. It's okay, I'll do it here. It's more the solar plexus, but you know... that's the problem with Zoom. I'm also a Toastmaster, and we used to do stand-up speeches and we've had to learn to do all our hand gestures up here instead of the full-body hand gestures because nobody can see.

So... she was also a Toastmaster, which I find interesting, that she never stopped learning. That's what's interesting.

But "Expected" is down here. You have to feel it as if it's already done. The knowing. She called it the difference between desire and knowing. You know something? Everybody's had this in their life where they have an instant hit, intuitive hit, and they sometimes go, "Well, that's just illogical," and brush it off. And later what happens? They go, "I was right. I knew that." Right? "Knew" that's the key word.

So the idea is, when you're doing the meditation — this is why the Silva method, why she liked it so much, and why Silva is still around since he was teaching it 60 years ago — was it works because you are meditating and you're going inward and you're getting into that knowing state. That's where all the magic — Joe, uh, Joe Vitale calls it "the magic and the miracles" — that's where the magic and miracles happen is when it's all inside, which is where a lot of people struggle.

And then the "Collect It," and you also have to be prepared it doesn't look like you thought. How many times have something happened, you're like, "Oh, I want to, you know, whatever," and it shows up and you're like, "I didn't think it was going to come from over there; I was expecting it over here."

Neeti Kwani: True, true. "Wow, that's a surprise." Or it doesn't 100% look like what you want.

Carolyn Wilman: Those are some beautiful, beautiful nuggets. And I think Helen Hadel did it really well, and perhaps you are doing some wonderful works over there. And do let us know about all your books that you're going to be working on this year, so that we can talk about it.

Carolyn Wilman: Yeah, I'll come back. Just stay tuned at Words for Winning, because every time I come up with a new edition... So I'm working on the Spanish edition right now of In Contact With Other Realms, and I'm working on the Audible version of A Man Called Friday, and I'm working on the first Tag Powell book, which is called Money In You. That's... everybody wants to know about money, so...

Neeti Kwani: Okay, I better do that one first.

Carolyn Wilman: Right, right.

Neeti Kwani: So lovely, lovely talking to you, Carolyn.

Carolyn Wilman: Oh, thank you for having me. I love sharing all of the fun and excitement of winning in life.

Neeti Kwani: Yes. Thank you so much for your time today. And I think that your insights have offered valuable perspectives to the Luxury Unplugged audiences. And there's some loads of, you know, thoughts, food for thoughts for, you know, so many aspects that you've talked about.

Carolyn Wilman: Oh, thank you so much for having me on as a guest.

Neeti Kwani: All right. Thank you.