Time can pass by very quickly. And if you are as busy as I have been over the past month, you can observe the paradox of a lot happening in what seems like a very short space of time.
But I suppose that is to be expected when you quit your job and dedicate a large proportion of your life to a fledgling online business. My online endeavours have been promoted from a secondary focus to my sole means of income. I am fully exposed – and for the most part, I am loving it.
Goals and Priorities
If jumping in at the deep end (as I have done) teaches you one thing, it is that your goals and priorities are going to shift on an almost daily basis. What you think is right for your business today, may not be the case tomorrow. The genius idea of yesterday may seem laughable today.
There is only one way you can handle such a dynamic environment – just go with it. It is better to look at goals laid down with the best of intentions and chuckle, rather than pull your hair out worrying about what you did or didn’t achieve.
As I have said before, goals are incredibly useful, but must always be flexible. I am growing into my new role as every day passes, and my priorities and aspirations will move with that growth. I will continue to set goals so that I have direction – but I must always remember that my direction may change.
Looking Back
In my December 2011 Income Report, I was “extremely confident about achieving the vast majority (if not all) of the micro-goals” that I set for the month. I was sat firmly on the fence with regards to my freelance writing income, as I did not know how long it would take me to find new clients. Finally, I assumed that January would be a very slow month for niche site earnings, due to the time it takes to develop new sites.
So with the above in mind, let’s take a look at what happened!
Freelance Writing
I discovered something very quickly this month – time is money. Yep; that old nugget. But the cliche rings true.
Call me lazy, but I do not want to dedicate 16 hours a day to my business. I didn’t quit my job to lose my social life and become a recluse. Whilst I am driven towards becoming highly successful, I would rather do it slowly but steadily than dedicate my life to it.
With that in mind, time management has become extremely important to me – as has my hourly rate. I have in fact taken a big step back with regards to freelance writing and have not committed myself to any additional permanent work. I do not want to commit myself to anything until I can see that it will fit in with my income-generation plans. The size of my safety net (i.e. the amount of money I have in savings) allows me to do this.
Although time is precious to me, I am not rushing into making any big decisions about how to make the best use of it. I am definitely still getting a feel for how my days should ideally come together, and am basically playing it by ear until I know how I want the average day’s work to look like.
So that is the first major departure from my plans – I was going to dive headfirst into sourcing new clients. Quite the opposite has happened – I have had some interest, but people have approached me, rather than the opposite!
Niche Sites
My goals with niche sites has been another area where expectations have not matched results. I was going to build all of my niche sites myself, but I quickly discovered that would not be practical. To be perfectly frank with you, I don’t want to write tens of articles when I can get them written for me for $8 a pop.
If you read my recent niche sites post, you will have an idea of what my broad strategy is. For the time being, I am going to build a couple of niche sites a week, and see how things pan out. If my early sites start to perform, I will pour more resources into the project. If results aren’t so positive, I will reevaluate.
Income & Expenditure – January 2012
I have previously displayed my income reports in spreadsheet form, but I am going to be using a list format for this month. My income and expenditure is easily divided into three parts:
- Freelance writing
- Niche sites
- Leaving Work Behind
Because they are essentially entirely separable entities, it will be far better for you (and for me) to see how each part of my business is operating, independent of the others. Also, I will now be showing the figures in US Dollars, as the majority of my audience will relate best to this currency. So with that in mind, let’s take a look at the month’s figures.
- Freelance writing:
- Income: $1,871.43
- Expenditure: $300.53
- Profit: $1,573.90
- Niche sites:
- Income: $2.99
- Expenditure: $617.49
- Profit: -$614.50
- Leaving Work Behind:
- Income: $0
- Expenditure: $22.90
- Profit: -$22.90
Total Profit for January 2012: $936.50
There is a lot to take from these numbers. First of all, my gross freelance writing income is up 15% from December. Secondly, the associated expenditure is a one off cost (I signed up to Carol Tice’s Blast Off Course).
The niche site expenditure is all related to building new sites – domain names, article writing, backlinking, and so on. As you can see, the income is all but non-existent! My niche sites are currently receiving a total of perhaps 40 unique visits per day (with no keywords in the top 10 of Google), so there is a long way to go on that front.
Finally, we have Leaving Work Behind. As you can see, my financial expenditure on this site is minimal. However, it does take up a great deal of my time, and that has become very noticeable over the last few weeks. As regular readers will know, I have gone to great lengths to promote myself as a transparent and honest blogger. That is best represented by the fact that Leaving Work Behind is not monetized in any way.
However, the time may be near where I should try to at least make a little money from this blog. Although I love working on Leaving Work Behind and getting to know all of you folks better, the last thing I would want is to become jaded by the complete lack of return on my time investment. I would love to get your thoughts on this.
Cash Flow
As I first alluded to in Life After The Rat Race, keeping a solid handle on your cash flow is extremely important to the running of any business. With that in mind, I will be incorporating a cash flow projection into each of my monthly income reports from now on. Here is my cash flow projection for the next four months:
This cash flow includes my planned niche site investments. With exception to a one-off income boost in April, you can see that I will be running at a monthly deficit of around £740. At the end of May, I will be able to continue for just over two more months until I run out of money.
Whilst the clock is certainly ticking, I still have plenty of room for maneuver. At any point I could stop investing in niche sites and bring my monthly deficit down to nearly £0 (before tax). I am also assuming that I receive no income from my niche sites during the next four months. Additionally, I could choose to do more freelance work if I wanted to, and put my monthly income into the black.
Finally, there is one major piece of expenditure that will make a huge difference to my cash flow if I can get rid of it – my car. If and when I do sell it, my outgoings will be reduced by approximately £600 per month. However, the situation is complicated by the fact that the car is financed. I will just have to see how that pans out.
At this point, I am satisfied with how my cash flow looks.
Blog Roundup
Interest in the blog has really jumped in the last few weeks. Here’s what my traffic looked like in January:
Total visitors are up 23% from December 2011. Unique visitors are up 20%, and new visitors are up 7%. The average actions and bounce rate are excellent. All in all, the growth is encouraging.
The month has seen multiple articles attracting quite a bit of attention. Life After The Rat Race chronicled my feelings just a few days after having quit my job – I am sure there will be a follow up on that post in the future. I gave updates on my first two niche sites (here and here) – future updates will be combined with my general niche site updates. I launched my email list auto responder, and I introduced My Mass Niche Site Project. It was a good month for articles!
January Micro-Goals Roundup
I set various micro-goals in January, and on the face of it, my performance has been woeful. However, this is down more to a shift in my aspirations, rather than straightforward failure. Let’s recap and comment.
Freelancing
- Continue work with existing clients and expand roles where possible. Done – roles have been expanded!
- Seek advice from friendly freelancers regarding sourcing clients. Done.
- Trawl online jobs boards (such as ProBlogger) and apply for all relevant roles. Not done – not actively looking for new clients.
Authority sites
- Repurpose and schedule old child modeling posts for new child modeling site. Decided not to add new content.
- Write weekly posts for Deal With Anxiety, with each targeting a trafficked keyword. Decided not to add new content.
- Build an average of 3 links per day with Linkvana to both sites. Different backlinking strategy employed.
Niche sites
- Subscribe to a niche site building course (I will reveal and review the course when I have gone through it myself). Done.
- Launch 5-10 complete sites based upon advice in the course. 4 sites launched.
Leaving Work Behind
- Write and submit 4 guest posts. Two written and approved – not enough time to do any more!
- Create an editorial calendar (in order to focus my mind on producing laser-focused and well-researched articles). Done.
- Place a Facebook fan box in the sidebar (already done)
- Be fully active on Facebook – comment on other pages every weekday and link back to my page when appropriate. Have done so, but sporadically.
- Twitter – continue to work on my current strategy (which I will reveal when I have fully tested it). Done.
My To Do List For February
As you can see, my goals for January were a mixed bag, and a lot of them had become redundant by the end of the month. I was pretty happy with how everything went. For this month, I want to set myself a far more concentrated set of goals.
Freelancing
- Set out medium/long term plan for acceptable hourly rate and adjust goals accordingly.
Niche Sites
- Build 2 new niche sites per week.
Leaving Work Behind
- Capitalize on my ProBlogger guest post to be published on 10th February (method to be revealed).
- Create a Facebook signup incentive and promote.
- Continue with current Twitter strategy.
What’s In Store For February?
Given the rather changeable environment that I am working in, it is difficult to predict what is going to happen. I do expect both my freelance and niche site income to increase, and I expect February to be another record month for Leaving Work Behind in terms of traffic and subscribers. I hope that my Facebook signup incentive gives my number of likes a healthy boost, and I will continue to experiment with Twitter to increase my follower base.
Creative Commons photo courtesy of ~jjjohn~
Steve Wyman says
Hi tom
Bite the bullet
Monetise the blog. Maitain integrity by only moentising with things you use and own.
Pat flynn has proved this business model is sound and works.
Just be carefull to be clear what you monetary goals are. A) a bloger that builds Niche sites or b) a niche site builder that blogs to share the journey and gets some cash flow from monetising the blog.
Hope that helps
BTW its cold down here in hampshire as well 🙁 wish i was in asia :-0
Tom Ewer says
Hi Steve,
Thanks for sharing your opinion.
As for monetary goals…that’s an interesting one. I have never had a monetary goal for the blog. In an ideal world, I would monetize LWB in a completely “non-invasive” way (e.g. through affiliate links), and just be happy to pocket any income that results!
Cheers,
Tom
Gregory Ciotti says
Awesome brother, will definitely have to chat via email about your freelance writing, I’m intrigued and it seems like a great opportunity.
Tom Ewer says
Any time Greg!
Chris Wynter says
Pssst! Tom… change January 2011 (twice) to 2012… quick, before anyone notices! 😉
Tom Ewer says
I did 😉 thanks Chris!
Kate a.k.a. The Secret Goddess says
I’m w/ Steve – monetize this blog as long as you keep your integrity. You have a right to earn a living w/ what you share and spend your time on and you have my full support!
Tom Ewer says
Thank you Kate! That means a lot! 🙂
Chris Wynter says
“…two more months until I run out of money.”
Tom, I don’t know how you manage to stay so calm! *bite nails here*
Really good post.
Even after reading the ‘Why you can quit your job today’ post, I still wouldn’t be able to do it. *heavy sigh*
Just as I was finally getting some of kind of attack plan for this year, I was given a gift of neighbours from hell delivered to the flat below me. So now, as I scour rental property, I can see my rent is going to increase from £325 to at least £450. Just what I need! 🙂 It’ll be worth it to get my peaceful nights (and with them, my motivation) back.
As for monetising the blog >>> Go for it. Yes-yes.
Tom Ewer says
Hi Chris,
As part of the job I recently left, I projected cash flow for a multi-million dollar property business. Maximizing your cash flow is a key principle of running a successful business. I’m used to sailing close to the wind 😉 that’s the mental attitude I am employing to stay calm, anyway 🙂
Sucks about your neighbours – I hate things like that. There’s nothing you can do usually (apart from move).
It’s no big deal if you’re not ready to quit yet, but what you DO need to do is figure out how you can get into a position where you will be, then work towards that. Always have that end goal in mind.
Cheers,
Tom
Chris Wynter says
So that’s how you’re managing to keep it together – I am impressed!
I would dearly love to quit my job now, but with zero savings and zero online income, I’ve still a long way to go. For a while now I’ve had an idea of how I can get there. I think I need to break it down into steps; and get it down on paper instead of just in my head.
Oh, the good news is that my neighbours have gone! *gasp* It seems my complaint to the council and the managers of their flat actually took notice. 2.5 weeks from arriving to leaving. Must focus on getting out of here before anyone else moves in!
Tom Ewer says
Good news about the neighbours Chris!
Bernardo says
It seems that your level of organisation & planning is really high. The key to succeeding is perseverance. Do whatever you think it’s necessary to stay on track – if that means monetising this blog, so be it.
At least you’ve got your freelancing gigs bringing some money in. You’re going to be fine mate.
Tom Ewer says
Hey Bernardo,
Thanks for the show of faith mate; I really appreciate it. I’m glad you’ve got as much confidence in me as I have in myself 🙂
Cheers,
Tom
Will Hume says
Tom I consider myself an Internet savvy guy, but yours is the first legitimate blog I’ve ever started to follow. I’m pulling for you, you hooked me with “The One That Got Away” and you successfully tied it to your new life growing business! You have my best of luck!
Tom Ewer says
Hey Will,
Wow – thanks. You’ve brought a smile to my face. That really means a great deal! 🙂
Tom
Aaron says
Hi Tom,
Enjoyed the post.
What is the expense behing the ‘feb outgoings’ and the ‘credit card’. Seem liks a lot of expenses there that can be cut.
With regards to monetisation, I don’t think you have the traffiic yet to see any real returns. Your site here is a blog, not a niche site. People come here to read and not to buy stuff. You need a lot of traffic to see some form of it being converted into sales. Seems you are familar with think traffic and online income lab, you can see what kind of numbers they have to draw some parallels.
Niche sites definitely needs less traffic and can be monetised. I would focus on that as my first priority to get some cash in.
Cheers!
Tom Ewer says
Hey Aaron,
Feb outgoings and credit card are my living expenses and niche site building costs. A guy’s gotta have a roof over his head and eat 🙂
Regarding monetization, I actually agree with you, but if I do decide that monetization is the way forward, it is better to start sooner than later. I am not expecting anything in terms of earnings from this site, so anything would be a bonus, and putting affiliate links in place would involve very little effort.
Cheers,
Tom
TomJ says
Hi
I could not disagree with you more Aaron you completely wrong.
Online income lab (OIL as insnake oil sale) is not a blog or a niche site its a sales promotion vehcile to draw people into the niche mastery course that if you go to nichepursuits.com you cna pretty much get for free.
The better example is SmartPassiveIncome thats closer to what Tom is doing.
Why wait to monetise! that makes no sense.
You cant build a business with out starting to develop all income models.
If you get even on affiliate commision in Feburary wooohh hooo its a bonus you dont need to wait Tom thats just so wrong.
Provide free valuable info as Pat does at SmartPasssive and people are more than happy to buythrough you.
Tom Ewer says
Not a fan of Trent’s then eh? 😉
Thanks for your advice regarding monetization – I appreciate it 😉
Darren says
Tom,
Great job as always, I am a big believer in taking a big bite then chew like hell. Monetise your blog. like everyone else says..
Looking forward to seeing the increase month to month…
Cheers
Tom Ewer says
Thanks Darren – appreciate it!
Dev says
Congratulations on the awesome success, bud. You’re making good money with Freelance writing.
Looking forward to seeing the progress of your niche sites.
Tom Ewer says
Me too Dev, me too 🙂
Michelle Dale says
Great report Tom, really good to see you reaching towards your goals in 2012 🙂
Tom Ewer says
Thank you Michelle – appreciate you stopping by! 🙂
Mike From Maine says
I was wondering what kind of link building tools you are using. Is there a break-down of how much you are paying for each niche site? It seems like you might be paying too much.
Tom Ewer says
Hi Mike,
I am still getting my systems in order when it comes to building niche sites – that counts for link building too. So I can’t tell you what I am spending at the moment, because it is variable. Once I have a good idea of what works well, I will settle down into a consistent system, and as always, will be revealing all here!
Cheers,
Tom
Joseph Archibald says
Hi Tom, fine post indeed! If I may, I wanna focus in on a comment by Chris Wynter, which quite frankly, is fairly typical of the budding internet marketers situation.
Chris, I too was in a very desperate situation not so long ago. I used to live in Warwickshire, near Tom as a matter of fact, although we never knew each other back then. Not so far from Steve Wyman either – another good friend I’ve met online – hi Steve, how’s it going.
I then moved to Northants, and life kinda picked up a bit, but it was still very desperate times indeed. I was forced into bankruptcy. I lost my wife. I lost my business. I was on probation believe it or not – had to go to Northampton probation center for almost a year – every couple of weeks. Life sucked big time!!
Fast forward about 4 or 5 years.
I now live in Kuching, Malaysia. I love my life. I am happy. I am fulfilled. I work online and make a decent living. But the money is not the most important thing. Its the quality of life that matters. Having no boss. Having independence with regards to where you want to work.
If you want to work whilst on a tropical beach beneath the palm trees, you can do. Or how about sitting out with your laptop beside your appartments outdoor swimming pool. Its very affordable in this part of the world, where in the western world, to have these facilities, you have to be earning very high end wages each month.
Your choice!
This may seem impossible for most people to comprehend, as it was for me – way back when I was working in those dumb ass warehouses in the Midlands, England.
But no! Its entirely attainable! I had my dreams. Dreams do come true! If you have dreams, those dreams can come true for you too! Trust me on that.
You have to believe in what you are want in life, just as Tom is now intent on doing for himself. He has a real and true belief in making a far more attractive lifestyle for himself, and no doubt he will succeed!
I wish you well!
Joseph
aaron says
hey joseph
My hometown is near kuching, glad you like the place. 🙂
I now work in singapore so I seldom go back there now. How is the town dveloping?
Joseph Archibald says
Hey Aaron, I sure do like Kuching a whole lot! Best city I’ve ever lived in, from the point of view that I’m now at that stage of life that I want something different to when I was 20 years old 😉
Singapore – one of my girlfriends from long time ago was from Singapore. Beautiful girl she was too – great education, and wonderfully attractive to look at. But seems to me, SIngapore is so much about false economy. Its massively expensive to live there. Quality of life, in some ways is very good – very low crime rate, but in other ways so poor – folks who live there are so intent on making so much money that life values become somewhat valueless.
Here in Kuching, its quite different. The government – well – I can’t say my opinions here on Tom’s blog. The food is incredible. The city itself is very quaint and attractive in its own way. Its fairly cheap to live, depending on your requirements.
The point being – if you want to escape the confines of the western world (or indeed, the eastern world), you can do.
After all, life is to be enjoyed, not endured.
Best regards to you, Aaron, and I wish you well in that… “interesting” place called Singapore.
dan says
Great comment Joseph 🙂
Joseph Archibald says
Thanks Dan!
Tom Ewer says
Hey Jo,
I can’t thank you enough for posting this. It’s like a mini guest post 🙂
You’ve pretty much nailed the dream, in theory – but you’re living it!
Cheers,
Tom
Joseph Archibald says
LOL, Tom! As you know, my comments often turn into blog post length rants 😉
Yeah – you’ve nailed the dream and that’s really cool, and I congratulate you on that! Now all you have to do is to live it and live it BIG!
Tom Ewer says
I’m working on it my friend 🙂
Chris Wynter says
Thanks for this, Joseph.
Compared to what you’ve been through, my trials so far have been nothing!
I’ll make it through, yes indeedy. I just need to focus on one or two things instead of a gazillion and getting nowhere.
🙂
Joseph Archibald says
Hey Chris, life is one big trial, but you have to face up to the fact that life is what YOU make it. You are in full control and no one else controls you. If you want to be happy and live a fulfilling life, that’s your call. If you want to live a sad and desperate life, that’s up to you.
Focusing in on a couple of things makes good sense. I too used to bounce from one way to make money online to the other. Going no place, really. Then I honed in on SEO and Google, which is where I’m now at.
Nevertheless, its a very wise idea to continue to build on your current skills and knowledge and look elsewhere to increase your income. Relying on Google alone is not a good idea – I’m testament to that myself.
I’ve been Google SEO’ing for over 4 years and now I’m gonna test out some solo ads, which is obviously a very different concept. I’m also very much focusing in on product creation, since that too can be a very lucrative and thoroughly enjoyable business model to venture into, where everyone gains – you as the product creator can change peoples lives around entirely, and that is a wonderful challenge to take on!
I wish you well Chris!
Joseph
Joe says
Sounds like good progress is being made on the niche sites. How many pages are you launching them with?
Where are you getting you articles done for $8 a go? How many words is that? I’ve been trying out iWriter but the quality is questionable!
Now you are not using Linkvana what are you using?
I’m just trying out Link Authority. Done a blog post about it on my blog.
Good luck for Feb!
Tom Ewer says
Hi Joe,
I’m launching them with 5-7 articles. I will add more articles to sites that perform well.
I get my writing done at textbroker.com – great resource. The quality is generally good, and you can “favorite” the best writers and go to them specifically for future articles. It’s a great system!
I am doing lots of experimentation with link building – including Linkvana. I’ll have more on this in a future post.
Thanks!
Tom
Trevor says
Tom looks like things are going the right way, keep rolling that snowball and it will get bigger (topical).
Seeing somebody who has had the guts to go for it while being so open and honest is insperational to those of us that are just dipping there toe in the water at the moment.
I aggree with others about monetization of this blog, why not if you promote only products you use and can recommend?
Tom Ewer says
Hey Trevor,
I was only dipping my toe a few months back…who knows where you will be in time!
Thank you for your thoughts RE monetization 🙂
Cheers,
Tom
Steve@Affiliate Marketing Tips says
Tom,
There is certainly nothing wrong with monetizing your site. If you would recommend and talk about a product ANYWAY. There is no reason you shouldn’t get at least a chance to make some money off of it.
The difference is all in intent. I don’t think a blog (non niche site) should write a post wit the intent to link certain products. But if you are talking about it anyway…why not tae a shot to put a few bucks in your pocket.
Anyhow, it is nice to hear you have an upcoming problogger post. That rocks! It should give you a nice bump in site traffic.
Tom Ewer says
Hey Steve,
I’m glad you’ve hit upon the point of intent. I think that is really important. As soon as a blog starts to put posts together with the intent of making money through affiliate links, the whole thing falls apart. I certainly will not be following that route!
The ProBlogger post comes out on Friday, and I have a specific strategy that I hope will generate a lot of conversions. If it does, it will make for a good post!
Cheers,
Tom
Dennis says
Tom, it’s my first visit to your blog here and I have an observation. I don’t wish to be discouraging but I’m a realist and a different viewpoint is usually good.
The opportunity cost of an endeavor is usually ignored. In your case you had a career that you were happy with. Your opportunity cost for January is the amount of money that you did not earn had you continued your employment.
Let’s say your monthly employment income is 3K. Did you simply trade your day job for a freelance job and lose 1.5K in the process? (Freelance work revenue minus employment income (opportunity cost) equals -1.5K) Put in your real figures to find out for yourself.
Sure the future upside of your own business could make it worthwhile but the risks are greater as well. Bloggers have sold us the idea or dream that you can make a good income by blogging. Really, how many artists, actors or writers do you know personally that are making a full time living from their craft?
All the best on your journey Tom, I’ll probably come back in about 8 months to see how you’re doing.
Tom Ewer says
Hi Dennis,
I can’t thank you enough for coming along and sharing your unique perspective on my situation. It is clear that you are a man of experience, and it is always good to look at things from a different perspective.
Your approach is very pragmatic (which of course isn’t necessarily a bad thing). One thing I should make clear (and which might change your thinking) is that I was *not* happy with my career. Although I enjoyed many aspects of the job, I had essentially become unemployable. My heart wasn’t in it. So when you talk about opportunity cost, I will happily trade £1.5k per month for doing what I am doing right now. Sure, things may not work out, it may even all go horribly wrong, but I considered the risks very carefully and made a very deliberate decision to do what I am doing. And one thing is for sure – I took the risk with the confidence, or even expectation (dare I say it), that I will earn considerably more in the long run from my future endeavours than I would have done in my job.
Also, when I quit my job I did not factor in making any money from blogging whatsoever (unless you count my freelance blogging, in which case I can assure you that blogging can make you money!). If I do manage to make money from this blog, directly or indirectly, that will be wonderful. But my money making plans primarily revolve around separate endeavours to this blog.
Thanks again for sharing your thoughts. I would love to see you back here in eight months (or sooner, if you would like!).
Cheers,
Tom
kevin says
Hi,
I am loving your site.
Your story is not so far away from my own story
I have given myself six months to start my internet dream, I allready live the dream of working for myself now, as I lost everything in my divorce.
I started the internet business so I could see my kids on my days, without being tied to a 9 to 5,
Again issues in UK regarding working, CSA, and the other rubbish fathers wih no rights have make working or being self employed the best option
My solicitor said to me either go on dole, or work for min income.
So i went self employed in november 11 and started the websites on min income, just wish they provided some imcome. lol
I think its all about focus I had a thousand and one ideas, adsense sites ec do seem way forward.
My goal is to create sites that earn $1 a day, I would be happy, the idea then would be to repeat and rinse,
To be honest and I going wrong some where I have earned 6 pence on adsense in four months off about 5 sites, so it no going good (my solicitor did say min income lol)
I have earned about £500 on sales but about £250 cost with ppc, want to getaway from PPC.
Its a long road and its the option I want to take, I need to focus, look at back linking, maybe outsourcing and earning some loot.
I am sure one day I will be rewarded for all the effort I have put in so far
Kev
Manchester
Tom Ewer says
Hi Kev,
Thanks for your kind words. I’m sorry to hear about your predicament, but it sounds like you’re going the right way about sorting things out.
I would recommend that you check out Niche Pursuits and AdSense Flippers if you haven’t already, as well as the Niche Site Mastery and Keyword Research sections on this blog. Try to think of this as research. Consider all of the main areas of build niche sites (keyword research, content generation, onsite/offsite SEO), and flesh out a plan of action for each.
Decide upon a definite path based upon what you read, then follow it relentlessly until you start seeing results, or have done enough to know that things aren’t working as planned and you need a change of direction.
All the best,
Tom
kevin says
Hi Tom,
Thanks for reply.
I spent the day looking at adsense and people making loot, it appears they all use UAW, to spin articles for the back links, to me looks the way forward to make back links easy.very spammy though.
I do notice the sites on flippa as well, not much income, back links galore, (from UAW) and crazy SELLING prices f $4k.
Like I said spent day looking to focus, and it sort of hit me, all my domains are ,co.uk, am i limiting my income trying to promote info for UK domains, or should I buy .com,.net etc and target the US market for more traffic etc.
It sort of hit me today, I probably promoting in the wrong market thats why I not getting clicks.
Just wondering your thoughts.
Kev
Tom Ewer says
It’s entirely dependent upon the traffic / competition ratio. If you find a keyword with a high CPC and low competition in the UK market, why not go for it? Similarly, an equivalent keyword for the US market follows the same logic.
Phil Jensen says
Tom
Looking forward to reading about your progress in February……I’ll stay tuned.
Phil
Tom Ewer says
Thanks Phil; appreciate that! 🙂
Adrian says
Keep it coming Tom, looking forward to February’s income report (due out any day I’m guessing).
Your reply above (“I had essentially become unemployable. My heart wasn’t in it.”) to Dennis is exactly how I feel and would happily take an income drop to be in my element (as Sir Ken Robinson would say http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQrPviAAd4c&feature=related ).
Like you, I am working towards a LWB lifestyle bit by bit. I took a day’s holiday from my day job on Friday to work on a new website I’m building and it was a taster of how things could be WHEN I leave work behind. The time flew by as I performed hand to hand combat with WordPress, graphics, e-commerce plug-ins and a plethora of other stuff that goes along with site building, BUT I was in my element and it felt good 🙂
As for monetising your LWB site, go for it. You’ve built up a good following with your excellent content & honesty and because of that, you have people’s trust.
Adrian
Tom Ewer says
Hey Adrian,
It’s awesome that you’re working towards what you want from life, and it sounds like you have your priorities in order. I really appreciate your kind words too.
As for February’s income report – give me a couple of hours 🙂
Cheers,
Tom
Taylor says
Hi Tom,
Love your site!! I’m dissecting from the beginning as a narrative to see your journey. Sorry if it looks strange that I’m commenting on a post from two years ago. LOL. It’s really helpful though!
I’m planning my own move to full time freelance writing and I’m mapping out how many articles I’ll need to write per day and to charge in order to make my current income (or stay above the poverty line).
If you can remember… at this stage how many articles were you writing per day/week for each client?
Thanks again for offering such a great resource!
Taylor Gordon
Tom Ewer says
Hey Taylor,
I’m glad that you’re going back from the start! That’s exactly what I had in mind for people.
On average I never did more than about 2-3 hours of solid client work.
Cheers,
Tom