My Road to Nowhere

Hi BHW.
First off - thanks to BHW for this great resource. Ive only been here a couple of weeks but I already love this site.

I wouldnt blame anyone for not subscribing. Im a bit of a windbag - so excuse waffle and going off track. I like to think thats a sign of an enquiring mind, rather than Im stuck up my own anus. We are all wise in our own conceits, no? See, there I go off point already...

Im a total newbie to IM having just been a web-consumer all these years. My actionable IM knowledge is pretty much limited to what I have read or been pointed to from here

And theres the point of this journal. To prompt action in myself: maybe like confession is supposed to prompt you to change your ways. Its not that Im lazy. Im always doing something: programming, reading, writing, 3d, audio. It just goes nowhere most of the time. Rather, I dont take it anywhere. Im tired of my dilettantism. Distraction reinforces it. Besides, Im a family guy: nothing has worked out for us this last year - and I want to find new and better ways to provide. More than provide tbh.

So why "road to nowhere"? Its a catchy song, but I don't mean that negative message. Theres an old saying that if you dont know where your going, any road will get you there. I dont know the roads, I dont know where I'll end - but I have hope and will work until I find the right path. I have faith that from ways will come means

So, rather than write another newbie "how can I make $2k in a week" post, I thought i'd share my little story for the total wet behind the ears IM newbie - as I am - who wants to get something started. Handling the avalanche of information, jargon and TLA's (three letter abbreviations); learning from others; attitude, motivation; working and setting goals; assessing and developing methods and strategies; i guess the most important - setting up systems to make money!; and finally, improving on all this. Because "stars are just the beginning" (sorry - I love quotes)

Most of us have similar issues, distractions and varying levels of interest that seem to lack a common connection. But there is a common connection - you! I recommend that you take stock of your skill set, understand what you really enjoy, set your career/financial goals and then figure a way to monetize your energies and likes. The you use IM as a means to your goals not the other way around. Saying you want to make money is as meaningless as wanting to win the lottery.

You write well....I personally feel that you should try content writing...You could be making thousands every month once you are set.

Bertbaby: Thanks for you advice. The first part especially is making me reflect. I'm aiming to build on, not throw away my skill set. It isn't putting bread on the table. From where I am, IM seems a difficult but potentially good path to achieve that. I have read so many varying and different journeys here. I am only now starting to get a clearer idea of realistic financial goals from IM - from my position. I dont play lotteries. regards

Super11: Im a verbose writer (and speaker). Thats doesn't make good copy! I am reading about content writing on a thread now. I don't know about making thousands - sustainably. Ive written academic papers etc before. Writing is hard at any level. I think the future also looks bleak this way and what isnt automated will be professionalised. But it may get me started with cash for other IM. Thank you.

If you're a fan of Platonic solids, Joey Roth will appeal to you.

Im a great believer that industry begets opportunity (see Zen's journey). That is, the better you work, the more new avenues open up for you.
I also believe that to appreciate these opportunities you've got to walk away from it all every so often. Its the difference between standing under the Tour d'Eiffel and standing at the Trocadero. One of the best views in the city of light and a better prospect than offered from the top of le Tour (does that tell us anything?)

So, after a couple of family days away from my mind-meld a plan is forming. Im attacking on two fronts. First: I have been considering 'microwork' and article writing and signed up for 4 of the usual suspects. It's an interesting field. I even thought of an idea to tackle - for instance - iWriters issues. However, I'm looking for low-hanging fruit (some ready little dollars) while I learn about the industry - so long-tail projects are not in my focus now. I have an armful of iOS/Web/Offline business ideas that are 'better' anyway. My armful of ideas - and I'm sure you have many more - will just have to make do with proving Derek Sievers right for now. So:

i) I intend to spend ~6-8 hours a day doing micro-work until I have a good enough feel for the sector. I will however be looking around BHW at ways to scale that out, or rather leverage on it. You see, I have a plan so cunning you could...

ii) Heres the meat as you've waited long enough for the second part. I have a little twist on a PPD strategy that I was - frustratingly - on the other end of last week. I will expand on that after I have followed through.

good weekend y'all

I mentioned above about "learning the industry". What I should have written was learning about that sector or niche. Its sparked a couple of thoughts on approach.

Ive done programming. I still do. Im not a programmer. If I were, I'd say things like 'before you can do anything, you need to have an understanding of the problem domain.'

This is because, blessed irony, programming isnt grounded in science, but engineering. Which means its a continual fudge! Don't get me wrong - thats whats needed to make it work - anything work - and keep it working in the face of entropy. (Entropy - now thats science. CS is not science, but math. With math you're either with Plato and happily sidestep this world, or with Brouwer/Wittgenstein and it becomes bloody messy).

So what about IM? I see in some quarters it adopts a 'scientific' jargon. Not so useful, but let the charlatans talk right?
Then there's the whole movement to put systems in place. Thats engineering. Its good stuff. Implement, measure, improve. It keeps the wheels rolling. But its got the risk that we just invert the pyramid and end up working for our system.
So how much do we need to know so as not to martyr ourselves, but not to be an arse?

I think it calls for application of the fundamental scientific approach. Whats that then? Well, its nothing more than - wait for it - experimentation

Thats right (newbies)! The best way to find a working solution in a domain that you don't and can never fully understand is ....by trying things until they work, then putting them aside if they don't

The whole art to this is managing your expectations and not being scared to fail.

Heres some tips:
Don't get stuck on 'a method'
- Implement lots of throwaway experiments, especially methods you haven't tried before
- Retry them later in the light of greater experience
- Read widely
Focus on results and not the how
- Don't get hooked on tools and specs. The more time you waste looking for the 'perfect tool' the more you lose touch with your real purpose. Good enough does the job
- Learn how to use the tools you do have to their utmost before shopping around again

Be forgiving if I'm boring you. Nothing is original, as someone once said, quoting someone else. This whole journal is only a note self. So please read it in that light if you chance upon it

{There is some background to this approach though - consider the superior performance of greedy algorithms in a generalised search space).
Best

So, back on my road to nowhere. Its been awhile away, not keeping the journal as Ive not been doing any IM due to being super busy with other (very positive) committments. Ive not even had time for ZeroHedge. Amazing how the lost days add up. But, BTGOG my family is in a better position all round than we were when I started here.

This is what I have been doing online, apart from reading BHW:

i) I tried microwork/vwork. Not for me. I think I can see the game well enough now to set up something of my own though, so Im in talks to set up a JV intermediating/offering this kind of work, as I believe I can reach a constituency of thousands of bi/trilingual graduates for whom it - translation, research, data entry - might be worthwhile. Coded up an alpha web app (in Wakanda - if anyones interested).

ii) Article writing: I've written ten+ tech/programming articles (in Markdown) intended for some large online sites. Not submitted as I dont need cash so urgently anymore. Having seen the rates for quality articles on other sites, I'm thinking they would be better off on a blog of my own. Not being precious about it, and I don't expect to make any real $ out of a tiny coding/tech blog, but it will be good for the soul maybe.

iii) Set up some VM's (im on Mac) to play with SEO tools. Yeh, thats a time sink.

iv) Wrote a scraping server in Node (weapon of choice, easy to do) that I have a mind to use for cloning some web properties

v) Looked into pay as you surf - thinking I could program a solution there

vi) Reading Zens journey for inspiration and in admiration. Perhaps if I knew IM I could do something like that - but I cant program a domain i dont yet grasp (and no, you cant do xP without a pair)

vii) and most pertinently now, decided to pursue YT first as a traffic source, inspired by some of the the threads here.

Only preparation from now until the New Year as have children at home and we will be travelling soon.

My aim is to experiment with multiple methods on the similar niches, so I can reuse/repurpose content (videos) if possible: PPD/Adsense (a la SillyWalks, but with my own twist) and maybe later CPA (AWM or whoever might take me) and even Clickbank (I know nothing about CB yet, its just an idea).

In the spirit of the book "Nail it then Scale it" I will start manually then automate as much as I can.

Of course, everything will depend on trends and keywords research - so I am boning up about that.
Then I will do some video creation/sourcing to get quality vids.

I will post more later in the week, anklebiters allowing.

pace

Happy New Year BHW.
Lots of Quitting posts here - so perhaps not so happy for all then. Maybe its the winter blues.
Anyway, there's great advice in these threads (for a newbie like me anyway) in the comments of experienced BH's
My favoured definition of intelligence is from Piaget - "Intelligence is what you use when you dont have rules to tell you what to do"
I like this especially since it excludes all habituated and rote learning from the definition.
If your looking for a magic bullet in IM or anywhere - your wasting your time (the most precious resource you can ever have) - and you definitely arent demonstrating intelligence according to the def above

Here's my take on a sound newbie methodology:
1 Choose one current method you can afford, understand & execute (have time for)
2 Implement with manual methods
3 Experiment (tinker) -> document and review
4 Refine by learning from the best in your niche/domain
5 Persist until it pays a meaningful amount
6 Improve until results are consistent
7 Scale (numbers & automation, niches, traffic sources..)
go back to 6...

-> then look for other methods
Rinse & Repeat

i hope you'll be more prosperous..still studying your method. thank you so much.