Going Back To Work Sucks!

[crazyone]

Thought I would share, about one of my sites:
-I have a list of about 1,000 people in a small niche
(I know "1,000" isn't much to some of you, but its what I have)
-This is the third time I've built up this list from scratch.
-Each time I do it faster, without spending any money
-I've surveyed my list to ask what they wanted and how much they were willing to pay
-I then created the product based off the answers from my subscribers
-I created an early bird list, narrowing it down to people who really said they were really wanting it
-I opened the cart and sold one immediately
-then it stopped, no other buyers
-I still sell to this one customer to this day

I only share this to say that sometimes you can have good intentions and follow instructions and things still not turn out as planned, but that doesn't mean that someone isn't willing to purchase from you.

In my opinion, continuing to sell to this one person has taught me one thing clearly: every message that I send, every piece of marketing material, etc, is really just for one person. Even when there are multiple customers I am still only really selling to one person.

Keeping that one person happy keeps cash flowing.

So no matter how many customers you get, always remember that its really all about the one.

Trying to sell to everyone will just keep you broke.

Just my 2 cents.

This isn't my "success story" but rather a not so successful true story about one of my sites that illustrates an important point.

Just thought this might help someone. Even though I have to go back to work, doesn't mean that I don't have passive income still coming in, even if on this particular site, its only from one person.

 

[vlerian]

I never had a job before, so I can't feel your pain, sorry.

But, actually it's good for you (try being positive).
Since you "have to" keep your online business for the shake of your clients, you still have your online business. I believe it still bring some profits for you.

I hope you can pay all your expenses with the job, so you can save ALL of your online earning. Once you have enough, you can start outsource many of your online business tasks without any worries about what foods to bring to your table.

Just for the shake of example, if, let's say, you can only save $100/month, that's enough to get around 20-30 articles written. Good enough to start your authority site journey, 30 article/month is 1 new article/day for your site (there are threads about it here on adsense or white hat sub forum). Or you can wait until it reaches $500+ and maybe you can even start buying potential sites on flippa.

Of course you will face 'failed projects', but this time you don't have to risk your family. You have the job for them. Moral of the story is, NOW you can reinvest your online earning back to your online business without any damageous (eerrrr....) risks.

Good luck mate.

 

[hatblack]

$4000 a month sound good to me. How is your lifestyle dud?

 

[xboxps3wow]

dang, 4k i not enough for you? how big is your family?

 

[nudecollegegirls]

id rather die then go back to my job.

 

[BreakAllTheClocks]

Thought I would share, about one of my sites:
-I have a list of about 1,000 people in a small niche
(I know "1,000" isn't much to some of you, but its what I have)
-This is the third time I've built up this list from scratch.
-Each time I do it faster, without spending any money
-I've surveyed my list to ask what they wanted and how much they were willing to pay
-I then created the product based off the answers from my subscribers
-I created an early bird list, narrowing it down to people who really said they were really wanting it
-I opened the cart and sold one immediately
-then it stopped, no other buyers
-I still sell to this one customer to this day

Yeah, that is the problem with focus groups. Ask a room full of people how many would buy the product for $X and many will raise their hands. Then tell them they are in luck, you have the product in the next room, and watch the hands drop. Read "4-hour Workweek" and follow that product creation process.

Test real interest by advertising first, sending successful orders to a "sorry, out of stock" message(DO NOT store the CC#'s though). Product creation should come last.

And as far as the people mentioning your finances, I believe they are mostly young and perhaps use an ATM and fake mustache to withdraw from their Belize bank accounts. Everyone else self-employed in the US is going to pay payroll and income taxes. That only leaves $2k net on $3k income. Health insurance alone for a family plan is another $500-$1k per month. Doesn't leave much so I'm not sure what these guys are on about.

 

[nudecollegegirls]

$4k is def not enough

 

[Sly.Niches]

It's always good to have a backup source of income no matter how successful you are at internet marketing.

 

[crazyone]

I never had a job before, so I can't feel your pain, sorry.

But, actually it's good for you (try being positive).
Since you "have to" keep your online business for the shake of your clients, you still have your online business. I believe it still bring some profits for you.

I hope you can pay all your expenses with the job, so you can save ALL of your online earning. Once you have enough, you can start outsource many of your online business tasks without any worries about what foods to bring to your table.

Just for the shake of example, if, let's say, you can only save $100/month, that's enough to get around 20-30 articles written. Good enough to start your authority site journey, 30 article/month is 1 new article/day for your site (there are threads about it here on adsense or white hat sub forum). Or you can wait until it reaches $500+ and maybe you can even start buying potential sites on flippa.

Of course you will face 'failed projects', but this time you don't have to risk your family. You have the job for them. Moral of the story is, NOW you can reinvest your online earning back to your online business without any damageous (eerrrr....) risks.

Good luck mate.

Outsourcing is definitely something I don't do enough of. I'm getting better at it, though. Thanks for posting.

$4000 a month sound good to me. How is your lifestyle dud?

Yeah $4000 a month does sound good. That's why I set that as passive income goal. I live a moderate lifestyle. Just have the bare necessities.

dang, 4k i not enough for you? how big is your family?

When did I EVER say out of all my posts that 4k was not enough? Seriously, please reread anything I said and let me know. In fact, I mentioned that 4k would be just enough, and just enough would be all I need to not have to worry about work.

 

[crazyone]

id rather die then go back to my job.

Okay that's quite a stretch buddy. I think I prefer living! A job can be temporary, but death . . . well that's just not something I'm asking for anytime soon. I'll let God decide that.

Yeah, that is the problem with focus groups. Ask a room full of people how many would buy the product for $X and many will raise their hands. Then tell them they are in luck, you have the product in the next room, and watch the hands drop. Read "4-hour Workweek" and follow that product creation process.

Test real interest by advertising first, sending successful orders to a "sorry, out of stock" message(DO NOT store the CC#'s though). Product creation should come last.

And as far as the people mentioning your finances, I believe they are mostly young and perhaps use an ATM and fake mustache to withdraw from their Belize bank accounts. Everyone else self-employed in the US is going to pay payroll and income taxes. That only leaves $2k net on $3k income. Health insurance alone for a family plan is another $500-$1k per month. Doesn't leave much so I'm not sure what these guys are on about.

You know BreakAllTheClocks, I don't think I've ever quite heard that approach before as far as testing interest is concerned. I think I might have to try that! Thanks for sharing.

Oh and I'm glad you mentioned some of the real costs associated with running a business here in the US. Net and gross do make a difference. Thanks for sharing.

$4k is def not enough

Its all relative my friend. All relative.

It's always good to have a backup source of income no matter how successful you are at internet marketing.

Backup, yes. Full time job, no. There should really be no reason to work unless you just have to or just want to. Which boils it down to being all about choice. I'm all for that.

 

[bannedfree]

Same goes for me. I understand what you mean. I also have a job 8hrs a day and I do 3 more jobs after that on IM. And I don't even earn a lot from that. It frustrates me a lot sometimes that all of my money goes to all payables and expenses. I don't even get out a lot anymore.

But if I earned like $3K a month here in my country? that would be a huge huge earning monthly. I would be leaving the dreams with that kind of money a month on my bank account.

 

[wallofiron]

only $4000 a month.. ROFL!

I wish I made $4000 a year

 

[greentitanium]

I feel ya here OP.
I lost my job when the eco took a dive and havent been able to find another since.
I live in an area (S.MI) where if ONE job opens up and it pays more than 9 bucks 500 to 700 applications come in almost over night. and im guessing maybe 10% of the time they hire one of those applicants rather than a friend of an employee that already works there.

to get by i started making websites on the CHEAP. (i had no current portfolio)
it was the worst experience ever. i worked every waking second. if you were not trying to drum up business, you were talking to clowns on the phone or emailing them never to pay out to a dollar. then all night developing. ive always had happy clients my entire life, but making internet clients happy (specially with websites) is about impossible. i finally gave up. i would appreciate a 9-5 job again at this point just so i didnt have to put in the 14 hour days!! years vanish when you work like this!
AND JUST TO SCRAPE BY! i have my budget set so low i can live on 700 a month.
so i gave it up, i just couldnt take the working with website people any more and decided to come to this forum and try to figure SOMETHING out.
ive been reading here for MONTHS and MONTHS trying to figure out a way just to get by and have a life again!! (im on now and its a BEAUTIFUL saturday afternoon!)

i was thinking the same as someone mentioned above. maybe if you subbed out some of your stuff you could still keep part of that income ontop of your 9-5!
some 9-5's arent all that bad, but obviously most of them suck. but at least they (sometimes) provide insurance!! lol good luck op!

 

[crazyone]

Same goes for me. I understand what you mean. I also have a job 8hrs a day and I do 3 more jobs after that on IM. And I don't even earn a lot from that. It frustrates me a lot sometimes that all of my money goes to all payables and expenses. I don't even get out a lot anymore.

But if I earned like $3K a month here in my country? that would be a huge huge earning monthly. I would be leaving the dreams with that kind of money a month on my bank account.

bannedfree, I've definitely been there. You can get absorbed in IM if you don't just take a break and see what the real world is like. Fortunately, it only takes making a simple decision to just stop and enjoy yourself for things to start balancing out.

I hope for your benefit that you do get to earn $3k a month . . . even MORE! You reason you shouldn't be able to live your dreams.

That makes me think in reference to your comment . . . It's amazing that there are many places in the world that the income I make in a week could cover me months somewhere else. The only problem is that for most "jobs" relocating causes your income to go away.

Just a thought. Be encouraged my friend.

only $4000 a month.. ROFL!

I wish I made $4000 a year

wallofiron, I wish the same for you if that's what you really want. That's one thing about life: What works for you may not work for me, but you are entitled to be happy and content with whatever state you're in.

I feel ya here OP.
I lost my job when the eco took a dive and havent been able to find another since.
I live in an area (S.MI) where if ONE job opens up and it pays more than 9 bucks 500 to 700 applications come in almost over night. and im guessing maybe 10% of the time they hire one of those applicants rather than a friend of an employee that already works there.

to get by i started making websites on the CHEAP. (i had no current portfolio)
it was the worst experience ever. i worked every waking second. if you were not trying to drum up business, you were talking to clowns on the phone or emailing them never to pay out to a dollar. then all night developing. ive always had happy clients my entire life, but making internet clients happy (specially with websites) is about impossible. i finally gave up. i would appreciate a 9-5 job again at this point just so i didnt have to put in the 14 hour days!! years vanish when you work like this!
AND JUST TO SCRAPE BY! i have my budget set so low i can live on 700 a month.
so i gave it up, i just couldnt take the working with website people any more and decided to come to this forum and try to figure SOMETHING out.
ive been reading here for MONTHS and MONTHS trying to figure out a way just to get by and have a life again!! (im on now and its a BEAUTIFUL saturday afternoon!)

i was thinking the same as someone mentioned above. maybe if you subbed out some of your stuff you could still keep part of that income ontop of your 9-5!
some 9-5's arent all that bad, but obviously most of them suck. but at least they (sometimes) provide insurance!! lol good luck op!

greentitanium, that hurts to read my friend, because I can identify with you so well. I too have done plenty of web design over the years and its amazing what some people expect for so little.

But be encouraged, you now have a valuable skill that could still be useful in many ways.

Sorry about the job problems. I know many who have struggled getting work during these tough economic times, but don't lose hope, who knows what good is coming your way if you just keep looking.

 

[blackhatmikey]

imo internet marketing is harder then a 9 to 5 ..

 

[crazyone]

imo internet marketing is harder then a 9 to 5 ..

In some ways I would agree with you, but its because the burden is on you. The good and the bad. A 9 to 5 job may be easier to do, but if left unchecked, will lull you into a permanent dependence on someone else to decide your life for you.

There's more to it than just the money. Someone else will always dictate what you can do and when you can do it, as long as you're tied to a job.

 

[eNdl]

Just never give up IM. You swallowing your pride and going back to work will one day be your story and definitely encourage others. Just remember if you give up IM altogether then you will never reach your IM goals but if you persist and insist that this IM lifestyle is for you then you have no choice but to make it eventually.

Keep pressing bro!

 

[crazyone]

Just never give up IM. You swallowing your pride and going back to work will one day be your story and definitely encourage others. Just remember if you give up IM altogether then you will never reach your IM goals but if you persist and insist that this IM lifestyle is for you then you have no choice but to make it eventually.

Keep pressing bro!

No doubt bro, I will keep pressing! Although this is a humbling experience for me because so many of my friends and family look up to me, I have accepted the reality of my temporary failure.

I do hope that one day this my story will encourage others. Thanks for commenting.

 

[happymee]

4K is not enough in the US, most of Europe, Australia, Singapore, Japan, and just about any other country if you want to live a reasonable life.

I think you will find it a bit of a rest going back to work, having a job is sometimes so much easier than running IM and driving yourself non stop.

Build up the juice and come back strong, the best thing about being a programmer is you can still watch it while you work, it may force you to look at streamlining your production and outsource as people have suggested. There is a wierd thing where when you hire people they do seem to get a lot done.

A friend built all his online business with freelancers while he worked in a job. It really looks a lot less painful.

 

[crazyone]

4K is not enough in the US, most of Europe, Australia, Singapore, Japan, and just about any other country if you want to live a reasonable life.

I think you will find it a bit of a rest going back to work, having a job is sometimes so much easier than running IM and driving yourself non stop.

Build up the juice and come back strong, the best thing about being a programmer is you can still watch it while you work, it may force you to look at streamlining your production and outsource as people have suggested. There is a wierd thing where when you hire people they do seem to get a lot done.

A friend built all his online business with freelancers while he worked in a job. It really looks a lot less painful.

Thanks for sharing happymee. That's not a bad plan and something I have already started working towards. The main thing now is to make the money on the job first! I can't hire people when the money isn't coming in.

But no doubt, that is definitely in the plans. I appreciate your comments.