Jul 24 2009
It’s Time to Start Treating This Like a Business
The other day my internet buddy Lis wrote a post on her blog called Online Income: One Simple Secret to Success and mentioned me in it. The one simple step? Treating your online income making efforts like a business. She mentioned me in the post because in June she made more than me and I’m someone who has been at this for a lot longer than her. Her point was that I’m not treating this like a business and she’s right.
One of my problems is that I’ve never been motivated by money, certainly not just for the sake of having it and definitely not if it comes at the expense of my time. What motivates me most is having the time and the means to to do what I want to do when I want to do it. Obviously this takes money but since I left my job and started travelling in January 2008 there hasn’t been anything I have wanted to do that I didn’t because I didn’t have the money. Because I’ve been travelling in cheap countries and doing long stints of volunteer work in exchange for accommodation and food along the way, earning $1000-$1500 a month with the occasional $2000 month has been plenty. So while I would obviously like to, I haven’t really gone out of my way too much to try to earn more.
Each earnings update post I’ve written for the past two years nearly I almost always say I’m happy with the amount I’ve earned but still list off a bunch of other things I should be doing or plan to do to increase that amount. I haven’t done most of those things though, party due to not being completely motivated, partly due to bad net connections for long periods of time, partly due to laziness and mostly due to being happy with the status quo.
Well now,for the first time, I am in a situation when I’m not able to do what I want to do because I haven’t got the money for it and I don’t like it one bit. I would love to spend a month or so living in New York and, while I could pull it off, it would leave me in a really bad place financially. So without being able to count on much more than $1000 in income, it would be a risky move. Plus I have a bunch of annoying expenses this month like driver’s license and passport renewals, jabs for Africa and I need to get my camera repaired so I’m thinking that renting a place in NYC and living it up for a month would be a bad move at this stage. So now, finally, I’m starting to get motivated.
In a comment response Nomadic Matt says something along the lines of needing to reassess where I am after six months and I think I’m at that point now. I need to reassess, see what’s working and what’s not and, most importantly I think, put into action all of those plans and ideas I’ve been putting off for the past year. Actually, that’s not true, I don’t need to but this time I want to.
Lis is right that you need to treat your internet stuff as a business in order to earn an income that will replace what you might have earned offline. Am I willing to give the travelling a rest for the next six months to concentrate on my business? Well… no, not just yet. But I am going to put in a hell of an effort for the next two or three months and see where that gets me.
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I have been reading your website whenever I have had the chance since first finding it a few months ago. I have to say I love it and I really like the way I can relate to what you are saying through the way you come across in your writing.
I am a single mother that has been travelling for the past 14 months with my eight year old daughter and I have wanted to utilise my experience in blogging and internet publishing to help fund my travels, however, since we have stuck to our budget and the need for extra income has not been a pressing issue, plus a lot of laziness, lack of motivation (like you I am not motivated by money) I haven´t done anything much. Also, despite my best intentions, a serious lack of regular internet access has hindered me. I rely on wifi access at where ever we are staying as my daughter does not have the patience, or can be expected to hang around while I spend a few hours a day working on my websites at an internet cafe.
We planned to travel for a year, now we are over that and have no desire to return to England just yet, developing and monetizing my online presence has become more of a pressing issue. The motivation to keep on travelling is also my motivator to really get my head down and get things moving with my blog and other websites.
I agree cold heartedly that you need to treat it like a business, but you should also have fun doing it, otherwise what is the point?
we should all form a competitition over the matter…see who can out perform the other, in a friendly sense of course…and obviously the playing field is most likely not even, and the markets are different..so i have no idea how that would work out
but you should set out a goal, to overtake Lis’s Lead, in the end- you both win
Hi Kirsty thanks for writing this and commenting on my blog too - I thought maybe you were at a bit of turning point - personally I can’t think of anything worse than being broke in NYC.
Sorry this is going to be long. I started travelling when I was 7 - I don’t recall a time I didn’t want to travel - I did school/degree/job but I always wanted to travel so I did job/travel/job/travel up until I met my partner at age 37. He’s 10 years older and we fitted the travel into 6 weeks stints (he had some leave accumulated before he met me!).
I was in corporate IT - but I hated my job(s) - several I contracted - but at the end I couldn’t find anything I could even be bothered applying for - I used to be sad all of Sunday waiting to go back to work on Monday. My weight and my blood pressure went up, a friend died at 52, long story short we rented out the house, put the crap in storage and drove around Australia in 2007 camping for 6+ months. Oh I was going to start my Internet empire on the side! Fran said it all subsitute daughter for partner - weeks of no access to the Internet, not laptops allowed - love outback Australia but you can’t run a business there!
I never went back to corporate IT - I have been playing around online and with various part-time jobs until Jan 09. Then I got serious - deadly serious - I thought of my options - they were all bad! I want a lifestyle of freedom - freedom of location, freedom to travel, freedom for my partner to retire (hes 57 now, I’m 47). I want a sustainable lifestyle - if I want to fly to Ireland to see my brother and his family I want to be able to do that and not worry about the cost.
Though it doesn’t sound like it on my blog - its not the money that motivates me - its what it can buy me and that is time and travel.
Drafternoon its not a competition - I can’t live on the $1200 I made last month - though if I moved to Thailand I possibly could - but I don’t want to HAVE to live in developing nation - though I probably end up doing that by choice LOL. If I had $4000/month we could live almost anywhere. Kirsty’s mileage will vary.
I work stupid hours at the moment - my office is the lounge couch so no I don’t ever stop working when I am home - its a completely unbalanced lifestyle - but the name of my blog - Passive Income - isn’t a joke - its just you have to work hard in the beginning to get paid long-term.
Congrats on your decision. I’ve been broke in NYC before and it does get old since most things in NYC cost a lot of money. You can really make progress by putting some things on hold in the short term and doing a little more for the long term.
I’m always interested to read your earning reports, and I’ll be particularly interested to read them in upcoming months. I hope you’ll be sharing with us exactly what your treating-it-like-a-business strategies are!
@Lissie, I know the feeling about not being able to stop working because your laptop + couch = office! I work for an agency as well as freelance, and I have to force myself to close the computer and walk away come 5:00 so I don’t get so caught up in twitter/blogging/etc. that hours pass without my notice.
@Fran Thanks for the comment. I think having some sort of pressure, like in your case not wanting to return to England, is good for motivation, at least for me. I travelled with a friend for awhile who doesn’t really have any hobbies that are solo pursuits so I could never seem to sneak away to do work so being able to find time to work with an 8 year old is impressive!
@Drafternoon I am actually a pretty competetive person although I’ve mellowed. I like a bit of friendly competition and I think it would motivate me. I love this work so it will always be fun. Even the things I don’t like to do the most (hunting for affiliate programs, writing about dull topics), I still sort of like doing, just not for long periods of time. I love everything about this industry so am looking forward to getting back into things.
@Lissie Being broke in NY is fine with me! I can always find something to keep me entertained. But I’m not actually broke at all, I just would be a bit screwed if I came back in September and rented a place to myself like I want to. It sounds like you reached that point of motivation that I haven’t really experienced a need for. Even in London at my regular job, I liked it and I loved living in London. I haven’t reached a point where I’ve had to have aserious talk with myself because I didn’t like how things were. I have always liked how things were and are in my life and like them even more now that I’m working for myself. I would like things even more with a bit more money coming in each month, but I’m not in a do or die situation and am happy as is. BUT I do want to kick things into gear a bit… I think I need something big to aim for to motivate me though and an apartment in NYC I guess would be the sort of thing to do it.
@Liz When I figure out what my strategies are, you will all be the first to know! haha As of right now… I’m not really sure. Right now I’m going to get my Africa site live (being worked on now), I’m also working on my NYC city guide (same as http://www.stuckinlondon.com) a lot right now which should keep me busy the whole time I’m here as I want to make it good. So so far my only strategy is more sites. That and adding affiliate programs. I’m open for suggestions!
Good luck Kirsty, I’m really starting to approach it as a business too although I don’t have as much as you to build on, I think I’ll be looking at doing it in a different way though. I sort of feel like my job is starting to look shaky, plus I really don’t enjoy it anymore.
I’ve also taken the step of finding a mentor and I’m no longer afraid to invest, after all how can you build a business without investment, maybe it can be done but it would be slow progress.
Anyways, good following you.
I think those of us in this business for keeps all arrive at the same place your in now during different times at different levels, I have been there and focused for a while and saw the results, now I’m back in the same place just at a different level I have been stuck around the $500 -$750 level now for around 18 months and that was just fine, as things have changed so have my needs and my goals. For me it boils down to giving up free time to grow my own business their is no way around it the payback is more free time though
I agree with Lissie (AGAIN!). My laptop and I never ever part and even when Im off exploring it’s become hard for me to disconnect right now. I work all day. But thats because right now I’m still laying the foundations for passive income and little work. By the end of the year, I should have developed enough sites and enough income where I can step away and never look back. But it takes time and you need to constantly change what you are doing.
I have changed things 3 times and each change has made me more efficient and profitable.
If you just keep the status quo, NYC will always be a dream ….as would flying to Ireland…
Interesting to read of the motivations and requirements to make it good in the online market. Maybe there’s a trade off in wanting to write with focus against the time required to make the site earn an income. I wouldn’t know for I haven’t tried my hand at it, yet.
Hi Kirsty. I completely relate to your situation.
I am now stuck since almost 2 years at a 200$ monthly…
Certainly I think I put efforts in doing stuff but not consistently enough and also I expect to see results too quickly after an effort spike… and if I don’t see any change, I get de-motivated till the next spike.
I have to reassess all this game too.
I think you could also argue that you need to treat this as a hobby, because doesn’t it need to be enjoyable work and something you have a passion for?
Maybe Kirsty you just need to stay put for a little while in a place that has decent internet connection and try and get a lot done. Having your own info product is still one of the best ways to make money online IMO.
I agree that staying put somewhere and working on it 9 to 5 is a good idea. Being online is important in order to research, marketing etc - it can sometimes be a big distraction but you need it there.
The turning point for me was when I lived in one place for 9 months, Auckland where I had some people help me as well on the content side of things. Kinda goes against the Nomad thing but to be able to travel for half the year and work on your sites pretty much the other half has still got to be better than going back to the corporate world.
My big fear is that, going back to the 9-5. My friends in Bristol are always going on about what a great lifestyle it is to work for yourself online after some initial scepticism, and I even employ one part time now since she was made down to a four day week.
So the motivation for you Kirsty is to look back at what you have achieved since leaving London. It’s pretty much the same for me.
Its reassuring to hear all of your stories, thanks! I feel like the common trend is that, well, to see results you have to put in the hard work. Seeing Matt and Lissie do so well and me staying in the same spot sort of had me worried but I hadn’t really taken into account how much work they’ve put into things over the past year or so compared to me. It’s so encouraging to see their hard work pay off and has motivated me and I think is a good thing to keep in mind… it’s nice to see people’s hard work pay off.
I’ve got the opposite way but I relaly haven’t put much work in over the past year. Well I have, but not quality work. I have been working hard on this blog and I’ve seen things progress. Unfortunately this isn’t really about making money so, while I love blogging on Nerdy Nomad, I can’t relaly spend all of my free time either on here or playing around with stats and Facebook etc which is sort of what I’ve been doing except for a few exceptions where I’ve built some new small sites.
I’m getting a good amount done here in NY with my great work space and net connection and Mike, I think you’re right that staying put for awhile will help. I think I will stay put at home in Canada for awhile, disasters pending, of course (cuz I would want to volunteer with Hands On). I am setting out ‘to do’ lists the previous night and am also thinking about some mid and longer term goals including thinking about personal branding, social media and my own products.
As always, lots of ideas and now it’s time to execute them.
@nomadicmatt I would be interested in reading about what your changes were and how they made you progress. Is this thre sort of thing you might write about on your new anti-cubicle site?
Hi Kirsty,
Found your blog through Lissie’s blog. Love the travel theme as I’m fantasizing about doing some crazy traveling in 2010.
This caught me eye:
“But I am going to put in a hell of an effort for the next two or three months and see where that gets me.”
I’ve relatively new to internet marketing myself but 2 or 3 months putting in real effort aimed at producing income can go a long way. And even if 3 months of work only get a few dollars, it’s easy to see where you are going with it and what a little (or a lot!) of leverage can do now that the foundation is in place.
I wish you the best in your efforts and I’ve subscribed to your blog so I hope to catch an update in a few months on your income.
Cheers!
-Ben
Congrats you have took right decision. I will try to follow your strategy in business.
I thinks that when you have ideal traffic on your blog. Then why should not milk it. It will a good resource of make money on line.
[…] Positioning myself as an expert in this niche by adding a blog, keeping the site updated and getting myself out there using social media is something I will be working on once I get back to Canada in a couple of weeks and it will be a major part of my ‘I need to start treating this like a business‘ plan. It will be a huge challenge but I think I am already in a very good position with the site I have and I’m looking forward to seeing where I can go with this. […]
Kristy, I read this when you first posted it, and it’s been in my mind constantly as I work to set up a variety of web sites. There’s a lot of constant work, and you have to keep plugging away at it. Thanks for writing about this, it’s been a real help and inspiration.