Robyn

In recent months I have had a fair amount of questions regarding my online ventures, how they’re working out, IF they’re working out, how it all works, etc.

As I have had to explain myself a few times, I have the general gist of the questions down now. I have to say that I have been impressed with how everyone has been fairly open minded to it. At first I was hesitant to say much about it as I was fairly certain everyone would think I was involved with some online scam that was draining money or some such thing. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I have been doing this for over one year now and while I have not yet met my major goal of being able to totally pay for all of our home expenses with my online earnings, I have certainly met all of my intermediate  goals, and am ahead of schedule on many of my major goals.

Here is how I am currently making money online:

1. I write a lot of articles for other people, via article writing agencies. It is not super well paying, as there are people working in developing countries doing the same tasks for much less pay. In other words it is highly competitive for not that great pay. If I worked really hard I could pull in about $80 a day.  I do not do that because I am also working on my own websites.

I chose to do this because it is immediate income. I can stay home and work, be here when the kids get back from school so that I can referee all arguments, etc. I enjoy writing and I am pretty fast at it now.

Eventually I will phase out of writing for other people, and instead I will be in a position where I have other people writing for me. Can’t wait!

2. I am building Wordpress blogs and putting Google Adsense on the blogs. Every time someone clicks on one of those ads I make money. At around 20 blogs, I have about reached my current limits — I write all the articles and do all the work involved myself.  Income is increasing every month. I have hit the 12 months plus mark, which is when magic starts to happen with your sites if you have done things properly.

3. I do some affiliate marketing. Heard of Amazon?  If I advertise Amazon products on my sites and people buy those products I get a commission.  Christmas was good! I am just dabbling in this presently so it is not a major earner but every little bit helps.

Why am I doing this?

I want to make money from home. I feel it is important to base from home for the kids’ sake. If I were teaching (I do a bit of that, incidentally) I would have to spend lots of hours away from home.

I am fascinated with what I do. It’s all about statistics and math, and averages and WRITING. It is also like a big game. There are variables, there are constants and things are always changing. I love the thrill of it. I enjoy the fact that a lot of the reasons things happen are predictable but there’s that element of chance. Basically it is a composite of everything I enjoy doing.

I am constantly learning something new.  There are always new horizons, new challenges.

Hey. I just like what I do.

Reality Check

It is hard work. I really do put in the hours. I have to study and learn. I make mistakes with what I do and have to start all over again. If you think you can make money online in, what, “ONE WEEK”, “ONE DAY”, “MAKE MONEY NO WORK”, you’re probably kidding yourself.

There are people online who do this, but they try to cheat the system. They are spammers and scammers. You know all those weird comments you get in your spam folders, or your “spam” comments section on your blog.  They come from those people. They are called “black hatters”. They do all the things that give people involved in this business a bad name. They try to cheat “the system” or “game the system”.

My friends and I are “white hatters”.  Other end of the spectrum. We do things properly, follow the rules, and put in the hours.  It is just like starting any business. You have to work pretty hard at first but then it gets easier. It is a lot like any other kind of marketing actually.

I am planning on passing on more information on how I started, what has and has not worked for me, tips and ideas for anyone who is interested.  I do not expect everyone to be interested in this aspect of my life, which is why I have sectioned off my blog in the way that I have. If you do not want to read technical stuff about what I am doing you do not have to.  If you are interested in this side of things, keep checking in. I am going to post more.