5 Years Later and Still Struggling

[Punisher]

Hi Guys!

Been here on this forum five years, so this isn't a newbie post or a post about looking for the Holy Grail without doing any legwork. I am looking for a measurable way to generate $100+ a day that I can build on!

I read the downloads section daily, I read many of the other threads consistently, and I have tried many of the techniques with limited success.

I am highly rated on several writing sites, and I can make $50-$100 a day if I literally kill myself at the desk for 15 hours. Its doable, but it is not sustainable. I get sick or take a day off, no income. Besides, I am 50 years old this week and my eyes can't keep writing everyday to make a living.

I tried website flipping. made a killing in the days when Flippa was letting us sell clone sites for hundreds a piece. Those days are gone and it takes a long time to make a site that will get that type of return on a consistent basis.

In these five years I have built Amazon affiliate sites, my own affiliate sites, sold on eBay, sold on Amazon, and even sold on Bonanza too. So I find a program that looks like it can sustain, I sink weeks, months, and even years into it, and now 5 years later still barely treading water.

I don't mind reading the programs and putting in the work. I just want to find something that I can commit to 100%, see results, then increase my production and see results improve in a measurable way. I spent years building affiliate sites and funnels, and today some make pennies, some dollars, some nothing, and it is sporadic.

Rant Over! Just hoping some of the guys and girls here at BHF could just nudge me in a direction to where i could commit again and finally see results I can measure. I look at it this way, you work a job for $10 an hour, 40 hours later you know you get $400. You work an extra hour, and extra $10. I want something that will increase as my level of hard work increases, not grow, then level off, then sink, then grow.

I know there might not be a magic bullet, and i have tried many things here. I don't quit easy, I don't try things half-assed, I don't even ask for handouts. I wondering if I missed a niche or a program for someone like me who can sit at his computer for 15 hours a day and at the end of the day see something concrete. Then tomorrow build on it, etc etc...

I have seen results with many of the things here, i even wrote 15 books that are on Amazon, and they were doing great until Amazon dropped the commission from $2 a book to 10 cents a book, and I just lost the drive. I can not keep writing articles every day to pay the bills, I am burning out after 5 years of writing 7 days a week in addition to all the other things I mentioned.

Hate the thought of a 9-5 when I know there is so much opportunity here. Please don't flame me dudes, I really am just tired and looking to get excited about something that really has legs to get me out of this shitty lull i am stuck in. If you can point me to a download, a niche, or an idea, I would really be grateful. Not looking for anyone to reveal any secrets or expose your sweet spot, just a 50 year old guy who is burning out after 5 years and finally asking for help....

Thanks, appreciate any and all feedback......

 

[iBrazilian]

I've sent you a private message.

 

[Punisher]

I've sent you a private message.

I sent you a reply, thanks.

 

[Couch Monkey Media]

First thing to do is take a step back and look at a few things and list them out.

What are you good at
what are you interested in
and so on.

Looking at your post you seemed to be all over the place building sites, amazon, writing and so on.

The key is keep at it. Seems you have the drive and willingness to make it happen.

 

[buzz]

Why don't you just find 2-3 indians with perfect english skills and you just forward them your writing work. All you had to do would be to manage the jobs and making sure deadlines are met. Thats what I have done some years ago and made like $xx.xxx without writing a single article on my own. I charged $3 and paid my writers $1 per 100 words.

 

[Punisher]

First thing to do is take a step back and look at a few things and list them out.

What are you good at
what are you interested in
and so on.

Looking at your post you seemed to be all over the place building sites, amazon, writing and so on.

The key is keep at it. Seems you have the drive and willingness to make it happen.

You're right! I have tried it all! I really commit myself 100% when I think I am on to something. With Flippa, I taught myself coding etc, and was building WP sites from scratch for $20 and selling for $200 as fast as I could make them. Flippa tightened up, and that market dried up. Same thing with Amazon. I wrote 15 really good e-book, and was selling 200+ books a month easily. I was making $600 a month in passive income until they did a commission revamp and I sank to $39 a month. It isn't so much of me being all over the place as it is many of the things I think are going to sustain crash and burn around me and cause me to have to work 500% harder to make 50% less.

I am an Elite Plus writer at Iwriter, but the work is sporadic. I love writing and can do it easily, but like I said, I am getting burned out writing 15 hours a day. I thought the e-books was the answer, write once, residual income on that book, rinse, repeat. But 20 cents commission on a book kills my drive to pump out more books. I don't know of any other income streams writing related where I can make passive income on my work rather than writing, selling, and done. Appreciate the feedback...

I guess my issue is finding that one thing to keep working at that will show steady income. I know not everything is bulletproof, but to go from a $2.99 to a .020 commission has me going in wrong direction even if i pump out a book a week.

 

[Punisher]

Why don't you just find 2-3 indians with perfect english skills and you just forward them your writing work. All you had to do would be to manage the jobs and making sure deadlines are met. Thats what I have done some years ago and made like $xx.xxx without writing a single article on my own. I charged $3 and paid my writers $1 per 100 words.

Reason is that on iWriter, I am Elite Plus status. If a $80 article comes, it better be top-quality or you get dinged and dropped to Elite, then Premium, then basic. If at that level there was enough work, I'd be good. I have to write at other sites where time is the issue. You get an article on first come first serve. You need to write, submit, and then find another. The time it takes to find an Indian who isn't already making excuses he is overworked by day two is hard too. I tried that with Fiver. Wound up being easier to pump them out myself and keep all the $$$, but with writing you get paid once. Looking for something that earns while you sleep.

The writing work I get on iWriter is from regular customers. They want it in 24 hours and it has to be exceptional. The time for back and forth doesn't work with my tight deadlines. That is part of reason I am looking for something where I make $$ from the work like a passive income.

Doesn't have to be writing. I am willing to learn or try anything. Just looking for a business model that I can scale up once I see any money come in.

 

[BreaknBrix]

I have to be a bit rude to truly address what you're saying. And I'm only gonna focus on 1 thing.

You said you did amazon sites which is great. But >>>WHY did you stop? What specific problem(s) did you run into that "made you" stop? Why didn't you find solutions to those problems, fix them, then keep on grinding till you were making money?

The way I see it, there's no proper reason or excuse as to why you should have failed at amazon. Especially if you're a good writer.

With amazon, clickbank or any of that shit you work your ass off finding great keywords. I spent weeks if not months just finding really good niches to target. Then you take all the time to create the content. Then you rank that content. And ranking isn't hard because you picked good niches.

Even aside from ranking, you build a targeted funnel to drive traffic. Find targeted blogs and manually leave comments. If you know copywriting you can get traffic coming in JUST FROM comments for years.

There's absolutely no reason or excuse to fail.

So what I wanna know is not why you think you failed, but specifically what actions you stopped doing ... or what specific point you stopped working on amazon sites and WHY. What was the reason why? It had to be a problem you had. I'm guessing the problem was traffic (otherwise you wouldn't be making this thread) so plz tell us what aspect of funnel creation you gave up on? Was it building links? Was it targeted blog comments? Videos? Was it just SEO? Do you actually know SEO? Did you pick a battle that you later realized you couldn't win?... and if so why didn't you learn from that then pick a battle you could win?

I'm asking a lot of questions here but this is all much simpler than it seems. Find problem, solve problem, grind till you're making money. Thee end.

-BB

 

[gpxbiker]

Sadly it's all about adapting to the times. I had 2 other really good revenue generating sites before the company I own now. Both of them were destroyed by market conditions. They dropped by hundreds of pounds in revenue overnight. Took me a few months but had a completely different site in a completely different industry set up and earning within 3 months. This one I have now could do the same overnight - just enjoy the good times whilst they're happening and worry about the shit when it hits the fan.

It's really poor form when big networks re-structure their commissions for a much bigger (unfair) share.

I won't push my network on you but I work in an industry now where $75 per day is pretty easy for a noob (noob to the industry) but it's not very interesting work and it can be long hours and hard.

 

[Aluminium]

Reason is that on iWriter, I am Elite Plus status. If a $80 article comes, it better be top-quality or you get dinged and dropped to Elite, then Premium, then basic. If at that level there was enough work, I'd be good. I have to write at other sites where time is the issue. You get an article on first come first serve. You need to write, submit, and then find another. The time it takes to find an Indian who isn't already making excuses he is overworked by day two is hard too. I tried that with Fiver. Wound up being easier to pump them out myself and keep all the $$$, but with writing you get paid once. Looking for something that earns while you sleep.

The writing work I get on iWriter is from regular customers. They want it in 24 hours and it has to be exceptional. The time for back and forth doesn't work with my tight deadlines. That is part of reason I am looking for something where I make $$ from the work like a passive income.

Doesn't have to be writing. I am willing to learn or try anything. Just looking for a business model that I can scale up once I see any money come in.

Honestly, why not just build up an Amazon blog? Or even go the YouTube route?

There's literally 100's of different ways to go about making money on the internet, and all of those techniques are going to have specific variations (that only grows said number).

Find something you enjoy, and reach for the stars - a lot of people fail ten times over before they make any sort of profit online. Sometimes it's going to take a financial investment, whether it be big or small. Scratch that.. 99% of the time, it's going to take a financial investment.

All I'm really saying is, keep your options broad. If you want automated money, it's going to be a grind against the competition.

 

[Punisher]

I have to be a bit rude to truly address what you're saying. And I'm only gonna focus on 1 thing.

You said you did amazon sites which is great. But >>>WHY did you stop? What specific problem(s) did you run into that "made you" stop? Why didn't you find solutions to those problems, fix them, then keep on grinding till you were making money?

The way I see it, there's no proper reason or excuse as to why you should have failed at amazon. Especially if you're a good writer.

With amazon, clickbank or any of that shit you work your ass off finding great keywords. I spent weeks if not months just finding really good niches to target. Then you take all the time to create the content. Then you rank that content. And ranking isn't hard because you picked good niches.

Even aside from ranking, you build a targeted funnel to drive traffic. Find targeted blogs and manually leave comments. If you know copywriting you can get traffic coming in JUST FROM comments for years.

There's absolutely no reason or excuse to fail.

So what I wanna know is not why you think you failed, but specifically what actions you stopped doing ... or what specific point you stopped working on amazon sites and WHY. What was the reason why? It had to be a problem you had. I'm guessing the problem was traffic (otherwise you wouldn't be making this thread) so plz tell us what aspect of funnel creation you gave up on? Was it building links? Was it targeted blog comments? Videos? Was it just SEO? Do you actually know SEO? Did you pick a battle that you later realized you couldn't win?... and if so why didn't you learn from that then pick a battle you could win?

I'm asking a lot of questions here but this is all much simpler than it seems. Find problem, solve problem, grind till you're making money. Thee end.

-BB

Not rude at all, I asked for help and was hoping to get it!

The Amazon affiliate thing. So, I got a few different programs here on BHW. The first one, 123 Affiliate, was about building Blogger sites, writing unique content, linking to AZ products, making 50-100 posts and keep going. The reason I stopped, well, never really stopped, the sites are still out there. Like i said in my original post, some make $5 a day, then a penny a day, then nothing a day, then $10 a day. The niche is really untapped, gets great traffic, but once I hit 100 posts over a 6 month period, it appeared to level off. So I still add a post here an there, but in my eyes, it never grew like the author said it would. I would then just focus on something else thinking it was a bust.

One thing all you JR VPs and higher -ups need to understand, many people here, myself included, learn what we know from this website only. So if I am building AZ sites, I get my information from a program that was recommended here, by posters on this site, and by people on this site who have seen results. When it doesn't work, I don't have the answer. I knew nothing about AZ sites before the program, so I learned what I know from that program and comments on these forums. While many of the higher-ups have crazy experience and can spot warning signs a mile away, I am not sure you see it through our eyes. I only know what I am learning, so if i grab a shit program, I don't have any idea it is shit unless someone says it is shit. If 90% say it works, I try it. If I don't get results and you ask me why I stopped, my answer is basically it failed because I DONT KNOW WHY! I mean, I did what the program says, and that is my only reference point. Not calling out you guys in the know, just saying, you can can spot what is wrong in the blink of an eye. I couldn't spot it because I get my skills from the program I made us of, while you JR VPs have mad skills we wish we could have.

When you say there is no reason it should fail, why shouldn't it fail? It could be she had us use Blogger not WP. It could be she had us use her code to link to AZ, but, I don't have the answer. I know i can write, I know I wrote all unique content, maybe it was the program, maybe it was the niche, I just have no way to tell you why it failed. It definitely was NOT for lack of passion, hard work, commitment, or focus. I build 5 of those sites over a year, and today, lucky if i make $100 a month on all 5. So, to me, that's a fail, and I wander away looking for a new idea......

If I knew AZ affiliate was going to explode after two years, I'd keep at it. But thats the problem. Guys like me are left to kind of figure it out after we read the program and read posts here. Those who see results don't reveal too much, while most crash and burn and say it is trash out of frustration. So I am left to try and determine on my own, does it work and its a guarded secret, or is it shit and no one wants to admit it. I don't mind hard work, just frustrated I keep getting all-in and hitting the wall. Many of the programs I find here, download, and use, get 50/50 reviews, so I have to go all the way to see if it works, and when it doesn't, I honestly could not give you the answer because i do exaclty like the program instructs and have no idea what are the variables that negatively affect the work.

 

[Couch Monkey Media]

You're right! I have tried it all! I really commit myself 100% when I think I am on to something. With Flippa, I taught myself coding etc, and was building WP sites from scratch for $20 and selling for $200 as fast as I could make them. Flippa tightened up, and that market dried up. Same thing with Amazon. I wrote 15 really good e-book, and was selling 200+ books a month easily. I was making $600 a month in passive income until they did a commission revamp and I sank to $39 a month. It isn't so much of me being all over the place as it is many of the things I think are going to sustain crash and burn around me and cause me to have to work 500% harder to make 50% less.

I am an Elite Plus writer at Iwriter, but the work is sporadic. I love writing and can do it easily, but like I said, I am getting burned out writing 15 hours a day. I thought the e-books was the answer, write once, residual income on that book, rinse, repeat. But 20 cents commission on a book kills my drive to pump out more books. I don't know of any other income streams writing related where I can make passive income on my work rather than writing, selling, and done. Appreciate the feedback...

I guess my issue is finding that one thing to keep working at that will show steady income. I know not everything is bulletproof, but to go from a $2.99 to a .020 commission has me going in wrong direction even if i pump out a book a week.

have you looked at setting up an account on upwork for writing. writing press release, blog post, website content and so on.

as you build your rep there you get better customers and able to charge more.

 

[Punisher]

Honestly, why not just build up an Amazon blog? Or even go the YouTube route?

There's literally 100's of different ways to go about making money on the internet, and all of those techniques are going to have specific variations (that only grows said number).

Find something you enjoy, and reach for the stars - a lot of people fail ten times over before they make any sort of profit online. Sometimes it's going to take a financial investment, whether it be big or small. Scratch that.. 99% of the time, it's going to take a financial investment.

All I'm really saying is, keep your options broad. If you want automated money, it's going to be a grind against the competition.

I understand 100000%. Like you said, many people fail ten times over. So I grab an program here at BHW. I commit to it, going all the way. I invest a year of hard work, time, everything, then, it just doesn't pan out. Fiver, Flippa, AZ e-books, ...sooooo, I grab another and try again. I keep getting up after being knocked down, but at 50, just getting tired and hard to stay focused when you realize this might or might not be the route to the promised land.

My post was basically looking for a road I could travel that will, in time, get me to that $100+ a day. I just don't want to invest a year again, then in 2017 come back asking if there is something else. I want to look back in a year and see huge progress and a nice passive income.

 

[iBrazilian]

One thing all you JR VPs and higher -ups need to understand, many people here, myself included, learn what we know from this website only. So if I am building AZ sites, I get my information from a program that was recommended here, by posters on this site, and by people on this site who have seen results. When it doesn't work, I don't have the answer.

I had sent you a PM for long-term work (at least 1 year worth, around 2 times per week), paying over $200 per article. You say you're earning $50-100 day for 15 hours of work. My articles would take you 5-6 hours at most, and would either double or quadruple your earnings for that particular day. 2 days worth could in fact be an entire week's work that you do now, just in 63 less hours of work.

Truth be told, I'm not sure what you want to get out of this thread. You seem to have something you want to do already in mind, but you're just waiting for someone to confirm it so you can get started. You seem to want some "magic sauce" that makes things work or makes money, but the hard truth is that hard work and analytics/adaptation makes you money. Being on the cusp, researching and having knowledge, are all part of this. Not just following some thread on BHW like a sheep that might make a couple bucks a day.

It seems like there's always an explanation for everything. If you want to start on something new, having an extra 9-10 hours extra a few days a week (and extra income) would make that a lot easier.

 

[Punisher]

have you looked at setting up an account on upwork for writing. writing press release, blog post, website content and so on.

as you build your rep there you get better customers and able to charge more.

I do have Elite status at a few of those sites, but, even though a 1,000 word article pays $150, the work is far and between. Whenever Google does another algorithm change, the dooms day scenarios play out and people run screaming for the hills because they think content is dead. So my work dries up for a while, then picks up again.

I don't get excited anymore waking up 7 days a week looking forward to writing articles like I did even 3 years ago. I read too much on these forums about people making that true passive income, that is the Holy Grail i am really searching for.

 

[PremiumAds]

Maybe try a different approach to your set of skills?
I can see you like to write, why not focus and spend a couple of months writing a book?
Not an amazon ebook where you'll get cents but instead a book you can take to a publisher and get it out there.
You seem to very smart, I am sure you could create extra exposure to this book and make a lot of people buy it.
Then you would be making money while sleeping.

 

[Punisher]

I had sent you a PM for long-term work (at least 1 year worth, around 2 times per week), paying over $200 per article. You say you're earning $50-100 day for 15 hours of work. My articles would take you 5-6 hours at most, and would either double or quadruple your earnings for that particular day. 2 days worth could in fact be an entire week's work that you do now, just in 63 less hours of work.

Truth be told, I'm not sure what you want to get out of this thread. You seem to have something you want to do already in mind, but you're just waiting for someone to confirm it so you can get started. You seem to want some "magic sauce" that makes things work or makes money, but the hard truth is that hard work and analytics/adaptation makes you money. Being on the cusp, researching and having knowledge, are all part of this. Not just following some thread on BHW like a sheep that might make a couple bucks a day.

It seems like there's always an explanation for everything. If you want to start on something new, having an extra 9-10 hours extra a few days a week (and extra income) would make that a lot easier.

NOPE! Like I said, I don't want anything. I don't want a magic sauce or secret formula. I only want to know how to make a true passive income. I can not continue to write for my clients 7 days a week. If I miss a day, I make zero dollars. I am only looking for some advice on which path MAY help me to start earning a true passive income. It does not have to be writing, that is why I posted about all my trials and errors.

If hard work made you money, I'd be rich by now. That is NOT the answer. If you keep running East looking for a sunset, no matter how hard you run, you will never get there. THAT is how i feel today, i am running in the wrong direction.

 

[iBrazilian]

NOPE! Like I said, I don't want anything. I don't want a magic sauce or secret formula. I only want to know how to make a true passive income. I can not continue to write for my clients 7 days a week. If I miss a day, I make zero dollars. I am only looking for some advice on which path MAY help me to start earning a true passive income. It does not have to be writing, that is why I posted about all my trials and errors.

If hard work made you money, I'd be rich by now. That is NOT the answer. If you keep running East looking for a sunset, no matter how hard you run, you will never get there. THAT is how i feel today, i am running in the wrong direction.

Right, take what I said for example. I actually didn't give you advice, I gave you something better - an opportunity. If you'd have accepted, you could have cut back 15 hours of writing 7 days a week to 10-12 hours 2 days a week. You want passive income, but there's no "real" passive income. If you want to burn and churn sites, it's not passive. You have to research what niche to get into next. If you want to build a huge authority website, it's not passive. You need a steady stream of content.

Even if you get to the point where you're managing your content writers, your newsletter conversion team, etc. you still aren't making passive income. There's always some work that has to be put in, and with methods to make you truly large passive incomes you have to put a LOT of work upfront for nothing.

You're saying you don't want a magic sauce, you just want the steps. The steps are all over this forum, it's just that you can't follow guides step by step. You have to adapt and create something unique and give value to a reader that somewhere else can't.

Making money online is about having a skillset, marketing it properly, and charging an appropriate value.

 

[Punisher]

Maybe try a different approach to your set of skills?
I can see you like to write, why not focus and spend a couple of months writing a book?
Not an amazon ebook where you'll get cents but instead a book you can take to a publisher and get it out there.
You seem to very smart, I am sure you could create extra exposure to this book and make a lot of people buy it.
Then you would be making money while sleeping.

Maybe try a different approach to your set of skills?
I can see you like to write, why not focus and spend a couple of months writing a book?
Not an amazon ebook where you'll get cents but instead a book you can take to a publisher and get it out there.
You seem to very smart, I am sure you could create extra exposure to this book and make a lot of people buy it.
Then you would be making money while sleeping.

I am making SOME money while I sleep. $5 from Fiver, $10 from Amazon, maybe $3 from my e-books. So my question basically I want to focus on ONE thing, and it doesn't have to be writing. Five years ago I made over $80,000 on Flippa and i knew shit about building websites. I am just asking if you have success in one direction, and hard work and commitment WILL get you there, which direction is that because I am at that fork in the road where i want to focus on just ONE thing and ramp it up

 

[Punisher]

Right, take what I said for example. I actually didn't give you advice, I gave you something better - an opportunity. If you'd have accepted, you could have cut back 15 hours of writing 7 days a week to 10-12 hours 2 days a week. You want passive income, but there's no "real" passive income. If you want to burn and churn sites, it's not passive. You have to research what niche to get into next. If you want to build a huge authority website, it's not passive. You need a steady stream of content.

Even if you get to the point where you're managing your content writers, your newsletter conversion team, etc. you still aren't making passive income. There's always some work that has to be put in, and with methods to make you truly large passive incomes you have to put a LOT of work upfront for nothing.

You're saying you don't want a magic sauce, you just want the steps. The steps are all over this forum, it's just that you can't follow guides step by step. You have to adapt and create something unique and give value to a reader that somewhere else can't.

I don't want steps! I don't think I can be more clear about asking for help! I JUST want a direction. If something is working for someone, can you point me in that direction. Nothing more like you keep implying. Appreciate your offer for work, but like i said in my PM and my earlier message, I do not want to keep writing articles. I have enough work, I don't need to cut back 15 hours.

You said there is no real passive income, I disagree. I will find it if nothing else but for my determination. Someone on this website is making a true passive income, and when I do find that direction, I will gladly come back and tell the minions about the promised land!

Your opportunity that you offered me is nothing more than more writing work. In time, you will want to get a better rate, you will want more words, less pay, and I will be right back here in 6 months. Been writing for 30 years, I know the routine. Your opportunity sounds great today, but I was not asking for an opportunity. I appreciate the offer, but I see it leading me nowhere but back here again. I am simply going to choose one direction, and run with everything i have learned until I am making money day and night.