My online business’ highest ever earning month was June 2013.
Over the past 16 months, my income has jumped and stuttered, but there has been an undeniable downwards trend.
On some level I have been aware of this, but I had to read back through my old income reports to grasp just how much my earnings have degraded since I stopped publishing my income reports back in October 2013.
So where has it all gone wrong? In this post, I want to answer that question.
Failure Upon Failure
I’m actually somewhat reticent to go all-out with this post, because a lot of people will tell me not to be so hard on myself in the comments. You’re a caring bunch 🙂
But I think I have a different attitude to most when it comes to self-analysis. I don’t think I’m being hard on myself — I’m just being honest. I want to explore what I did and why it didn’t work in an objective manner. That’s the only way I can (hopefully) experience more success in the future than I have in the past.
With the above in mind, I want to explore all of the projects I spent a considerable amount of time on over the past 16 months and figure out where they have gone wrong. In doing so, I hope I can see how I can do things better in the future.
The following projects are listed roughly in order of how well they performed (from bad to good).
Free Online Dating Advice
This ‘authority site’ was borne out of a dated strategy I read on a now-defunct blog. It seemed to me like a great case study to feature on Leaving Work Behind, so I named the new project my One Hour Authority Site Project and made a start.
The project was a complete failure, which I finally admitted in August 2013, after I had created a custom design for the site and written (or commissioned) over 100 posts — not to mention the 10 related posts on Leaving Work Behind.
The experience taught me five things about blogging:
- I didn’t want to work on any project that had an over-reliance on Google
- Only write about what other people are writing/talking about
- Target a specific audience
- Create high quality content, then share it liberally
- Have a striking personality
At least, that’s what I thought. In reality, I has known all these ‘lessons’ already; I had just chosen to ignore them for the project.
Upon reflection, what the above taught me is that I romanticize ideas I like. I find ways to tell myself how they will work, rather than objectively analyzing them and making the right business decision.
Healthy Enough
And that takes me straight to Healthy Enough: a blog I was truly passionate about, even though it was doomed to failure from the start.
I pretty much hopped straight to Healthy Enough off the back of my failure with Free Online Dating Advice. I felt like I had the formula down this time — I had learned my lessons and would not repeat them this time around.
In fairness, I didn’t make all of the same mistakes again; for the most part I made new ones. Although I did experience some minor success in terms of traffic, I never truly committed to Healthy Enough in the way that I would have needed to in order for it to succeed.
Clear Blogging Solutions
This was the website I launched when I decided to outsource my freelance writing business. Although I still did freelance writing directly for existing clients for some time after I first made the decision to outsource, my intention was to build ‘passive’ income by sourcing new clients under the outsourcing model.
I quickly discovered why this wouldn’t work: my value as a writer was inherent to me. As soon as I removed myself from the equation, people were no longer willing to pay the rate I was used to.
I was inundated with enquiries from the types of clients I would have never previously considered. People who wanted to pay pennies for quality writing. It wasn’t long before I shut Clear Blogging Solutions down and went back to offering writing services under my personal brand.
Leaving Work Behind Community Forums
Out of all my projects, this was perhaps the most romantic and the least business-like.
I wanted to create a true ‘community’ for Leaving Work Behind, and a forum seemed like the most obvious way to do that. I didn’t give a great deal of thought as to how this would boost my bottom line; I just had some ambiguous notion that a greater community spirit would lead to increased income, directly or indirectly.
My lack of thought on this front was based upon the notion that I was no longer as interested in money as I was in being happy.
Today, the Leaving Work Community Forums are fairly quiet. The Leaving Work Behind Community Manager Jo does an absolutely wonderful job of keeping people engaged (you rock Jo!), and there is a small core of dedicated participants. However, I cannot say that the forums have ever really generated income for me.
Beginner Blogging
This is one of my newer projects — if you have been reading Leaving Work Behind posts recently, you’ll know all about it.
Beginner Blogging was borne out of the somewhat romantic notion (do you see a pattern here?) that I could create a beginner’s blogging guide that was better than anything else out there. That was all there was to it really — do what has already been done a thousands times better.
It turns out that this has been done really well. Here’s my favorite amongst the ones I’ve found. Upon reflection, thinking that I could take this market on and emerge wholly victorious was either ignorant or arrogant (perhaps a bit of both).
Do I think that Beginner Blogging can offer huge value to people looking to get into blogging. Absolutely. Can I market it as well as other people doing the same thing? No. And therein lies the issue.
I’m not saying that Beginner Blogging won’t succeed, but I am saying it’s another example of a romantic notion gone wrong.
Paid to Blog
This was the updated version of my original freelance blogging guide. I decided that I wanted to turn it from a PDF into an online course (i.e. a website). Why? No obvious reason. I think I just liked the idea of it. Probably a romantic notion 😉
I spent a whole load of time (and money) creating a website for something that already existed. I updated the guide at the same time, but I could have just released a new PDF. Re-releasing the product generated some extra income for a while, but since then, sales have trickled to a slow pace. I don’t think creating the website really helped me in the long run.
Paid to Blog Jobs
This was (and is) something I truly believe in.
In short, Paid to Blog Jobs is a premium membership site that brings together the best freelance blogging opportunities from across the web.
We pull from over 50 different sources — my researchers and I spend a good 2+ hours every day putting together the listings. Not only is it a huge time saver for our members, we also find jobs that most freelance bloggers would never see.
Beyond that, the site offers a huge (and growing) database of paid guest blogging opportunities, as well as free pitching guides.
Paid to Blog launched earlier this year and has generated a decent amount of income since. However, I think it has a great deal of untapped potential.
Leaving Work Behind
Put simply, I wouldn’t be where I am without Leaving Work Behind. It is the basis of everything I have done online since I started down this path in May 2011.
It is the reason I landed my first freelance writing client. It has referred the vast majority of Beginner Blogging, Paid to Blog and Paid to Blog Jobs sales. It has generated plenty of affiliate income in its time.
But what is it today? At the moment, it’s a place where I talk about my business (like I am right now). It has a fairly hefty archive for people who are looking to succeed as a freelance blogger. Beyond that, it has no clear focus, nor does it directly generate a great deal of money right now.
Freelance Writing Business
Freelancing is the only thing I feel 100% capable at making good money from. I feel like if I wanted to get back into freelance writing, I could make a start right now and have my earnings back near to where they were before in a matter of months.
For example, if I could earn $150 per hour as a freelance blogger (which I have done in the past), four hours of writing per day for 48 weeks of the year equals $144,000 per year. That’s a pretty tasty amount of money.
But I stopped freelancing for a reason: I was burning out on writing about topics that I didn’t always have a great deal of interest in. I also wanted to get away from the time for money deal — even if the money was really good. Finally, I didn’t really know if I wanted to write for the rest of my life.
What Next?
It all comes down to this: I need to make more money and I need to stop pissing around.
I am talking about my livelihood here. This isn’t a hobby and it’s not a part-time gig that I don’t have to rely on. My business is a huge part of my life, and for me to be as happy as I can be, it needs to grow.
It might be more acceptable to take certain liberties with my business if I was making outrageous amounts of money, but I’m not. I can’t afford to take liberties.
I’m in business to make as much money as possible within the bounds of what I want to do and who I want to be. I’ve lost of sight of that, and that’s why my earnings have been on a downwards spiral.
It wasn’t my intention to provide myself with a solution to the issues I face in this post. I just wanted to serve up a no-nonsense analysis of what I have been doing in order to give myself the necessary slap around the chops.
I am so fed up of saying that “things have to change” — I am painfully aware and hugely guilty of announcing big new things on this blog which ultimately come to nothing. But things do need to change. Rather than wasting time explaining why or how, I think I’m just going to get on with it.
The proof will be in the pudding. I’ll make more or I’ll make less. I’ll be more or less satisfied with my work. Those are the only things two things that really matter. I need to put everything else aside and focus on them alone.
Photo Credit: StockMonkeys.com
Alex Newell says
I’m grateful for this. I’ve spent a lot of time over the years creating sites on romantic whims, just as you have. It is slightly reassuring to know there are other peeps out there just as daft.
What to do next? I guess the pragmatic answer is “More of what is working and less of what is not”
Maybe run your option by a coach who knows about the romance in your heart!
🙂
Alex
Tom Ewer says
“More of what is working and less of what is not” is exactly what I should be doing Alex! It really does come down to that simple fact.
Alexis Grant says
Tom — I think there’s something a lot of readers can relate to here. Lots of people start things and don’t finish them. You are a finisher! Show that to the world! Plus, just the fact that you’ve stuck with working for yourself — even though it takes some time to figure it out — show you’re a finisher.
Tom Ewer says
Thanks Lexi. I need to start finishing!
Ángel Candelaria says
Hi Tom.
I really admire your honesty in writing this post. It takes a lot of courage to admit when one has failed in something. Although if one is truly commited to something, I believe those “fails” are not really failures at all; they’re just stepping stones in our long term success. They are part of our growing process.
In times like this is when I take out again my Personal Mission Statement. It is easy to loose focus when struggling with situations like this. But remembering our personal mission statement allows us to regain our focus, pick ourselves up and continue through our path.
Tom, you’re a great guy, and I totally admire your work. Keep it up! This is just a phase. Eventually you’ll go past it, look back to it in the future and see some useful lessons learned. And maybe later on you can share with us some of those lessons you learned in that process, if you feel up to it.
Have a nice week!
Tom Ewer says
Thanks Ángel! I hope to be in a position where I can share positive lessons in the near future…
Michal Szafranski says
Hi Tom,
Must been really hard to write this post.
I have no clues at all. I don’t have to. You will figure it out one way or the other. Just wanted to let you know I’m somewhere there in case you would like to talk 🙂
All the best Tom!
Tom Ewer says
It will Michal; I’ve just got to figure it out. Thank you!
Gina says
This post is what makes this site awesome! You continue to try new things and when they don’t work out, you’re brave enough to share it with the world:-)
Not that you need advice from me, but I’ve found so much value in P2B & P2BJ, maybe you should focus more on marketing them? P2B was great as an online course…I feel like I took it much more serious that way, rather than just reading a PDF.
Also, maybe revisit income reports? You said above when you stopped writing them, your income stopped growing…must have kept you accountable?
As always, thanks for your honesty and sharing your experience!!
Tom Ewer says
Two very good suggestions Gina; ideas that are definitely on my mind…thank you!
Kathy says
Thank you for your honesty, Tom! Hopefully this objective look at past projects will help you better evaluate future ideas. I’m looking forward to your future (less romanticized!) projects. I’m sure you’ll do very well!
Tom Ewer says
Thank you Kathy!
Beth says
I can relate to this so much. I haven’t tried as many things as you have, but I definitely romanticize a lot. And then think that if I love doing it, the money will follow. Except it’s not. Thanks for sharing the whole picture, cheering for you!
Tom Ewer says
Thank you Beth!
Tim Soulo says
Hey Tom,
I think you tried to do too many stuff at once. I’m sure that almost each of these projects individually could be a success if you put enough time in it.
(not sure about the forums though.. I think mostly private membership forums do well this days.. except for some biggies of course)
Beginner Blogging – “Upon reflection, thinking that I could take this market on and emerge wholly victorious was either ignorant or arrogant (perhaps a bit of both).” – I disagree 🙂
Every day hundreds (if not thousands) of people on our planet decide they need a blog. I think there’s enough room for everyone on this market. I think you can easily make tons of money with your Beginner Blogging course if you put enough time and effort into it.
So yeah.. I think the only issue here is starting too many projects instead of focusing your efforts on a single one and doing everything you can to make it profitable.
PS: did you study any “product launch courses”? my friend took a premium course and shared some awesome ideas with me, that I’m going to try real soon with my upcoming product launch 🙂
Tom Ewer says
Thanks for the advice Tim! You are right; I guess it’s more a case of picking the projects that I think I can best succeed with.
Sorce says
Why not just go back to being a freelancer then? It’s a different skill set being a writer for someone else and a blogger/entrepreneur. Recognize your skill set and move on.
How much have you been making now anyway?
Tom Ewer says
Hi Sorce,
Good question. I could probably comfortably make $100,000 per year as a freelance blogger while working perhaps 5-6 hours per day, so it would certainly be a comfortable living.
The problem is that would be it. Freelancing alone would limit my earning potential to that $100,000, and it would probably also not fulfil me in terms my ambitions. So I don’t think it offers the full answer.
Cheers,
Tom
Dennis Schafer says
Reading this post was like looking in a mirror. Thanks for your frank honesty.
The only piece of “advice” I can offer is this. If you are starting a venture that you expect to make money from then you are starting a business. Like you I have ignored that basic reality and ran off tilting at online windmills. I am now attempting to identify viable markets within my areas of interest. Then I have to identify an underserved niche or need in that market and figure out how I can serve that need. It’s business 101 but it’s all too easy to forget or ignore.
By the way, of all the online writing sources I have found yours is the one I find most helpful. Your honesty gives you credibility that very few others can achieve. Good Luck in your search to get back on track as it were.
Dennis
Tom Ewer says
Thank you Dennis, I really appreciate your kind words.
venkatesh i khajjidoni says
Tom,
I admire your honesty which is rare quality in others. Your plans and view about your business are transparent like mirror. Thank you for great post.
Tom Ewer says
My pleasure Venkatesh!
Ron Stefanski says
Tom,
Hey man, keep your head up. In my last income report I talked about how I am losing money and although it isn’t ideal, it’s the reality of doing this business stuff online. Below is the link if you didn’t get a chance to view it:
http://onehourprofessor.com/september-2014-monthly-income-report/
As you mentioned, you have to always be striving to make money and I really like that you say how this is your livelihood. I am not at that point just yet because I still work a full time job, but I think if you just refocus and really look at everything from an investment point of view, it will pay dividends in your income.
Tom Ewer says
The head’s up Ron — I’ll never let it go down! 😉
Freddy says
I feel you Tom #NoHomo hehe 🙂 I have taken the backseat as well with my business because I was trying to do “so many things” at the same damn time. As a result, I felt overwhelmed and my business suffered the brunt – not in terms of earnings, but in terms of actual progress on my site Vistamedianc, Inc. In the process, though, I learnt a few things and now I have clearer picture of my target audience. Now, I’m working on a content plan that will take care of the “new found” audience. Thanks for the inspiration, you’ve always encouraged me through your writing. I wish you all the best in the future. Thanks for sharing!
Freddy says
Btw, in real sense though, I don’t think you’ve failed. If you failed, you wouldn’t be writing to us. Your lesson will benefit many people…
Tom Ewer says
Thanks for commenting Freddy!
Jen Gresham says
Penelope Trunk recently said that being a successful entrepreneur is all about “wasting lots of money on things that don’t pan out and still being willing to keep trying.” Sounds to me like you’re firmly in that category. And what entrepreneur is worth a darn if they haven’t tried something that failed?
Cheers for trying, Tom! Here’s to something better… 🙂
Tom Ewer says
Nice quote Jen! Thank you 🙂
Andrea Bassett says
Hey Tom,
Good for you for being so honest with your readers but more importantly, with yourself. Darren Hardy (from Success.com) says if you’re not failing, you’re not growing. Are you being too hard on yourself? No! You’re helping yourself get real and get focused because at the end of the day, your business needs to put food on your table.
Here’s 90 minutes of inspiration and no-nonsense advice from Darren Hardy…I just want to share something that I found very helpful as a way to thank you for sharing your lessons learned with us.
http://desertstarconstruction.com/productivity-strategies-of-superachievers-with-darren-hardy/
Tom Ewer says
Thanks Andrea, I’ve bookmarked that video!
Bonita says
Thank you for your transparency. Though this must have been hard to write, and even harder to live, it’s very helpful to those of us who tend to romanticize or who have tried and failed at many things. While I enjoy reading the success stories on the Internet, I get a little tired of reading “If you just do this and this, you will succeed…” That isn’t always the case and hasn’t been for me, so I really appreciate your honesty.
As I read through your post, two things stood out to me. It seems like you’ve tried a lot of things, maybe too many things, but not really found the right niche where you can devote most of your time and passion. It’s hard to succeed when you spread yourself too thin and have too many irons in the fire.
Also, freelance writing seems to be where you have the most success. As another commenter mentioned and as my business major son often tells me, there is a big difference between wanting to write and wanting to run a business. Some people are cut out to do both, but some are not. Seems like you have the most success when you focus on writing.
It’s interesting that I can read your post and see those things, but in my own life I have more trouble. But your post made me think we are a lot alike and reading through your words helped me see my own situation a little more clearly. Like you, I’m sort of down to the wire and need to either get on with it or get a job.
I hope writing this post helped you find clarity for going forward. Whatever you do and whichever way you go, please do so knowing that your words are helping others.
Why says
Transparency? There are no income numbers to this post, unlike when he was making more money.
Bonita says
He never had to post income reports at all. That is and was his choice. If you can’t see the transparency in this post then perhaps the issue isn’t on his end.
Tom Ewer says
Thank you so much Bonita. I definitely have greater clarity; now it’s just a case of seeing where it takes me!
Kimi says
Hey Tom,
Boy can I relate! I’ve tried (and failed) so many times that it makes me very hesitant to start anything new. Sticking with things is something I struggle with too, when I don’t see the results I want I’m quick to scrap the project and move on to something else. Either that or I don’t feel sure that I was on the right track in the first place, then I come up with something that I think is better.
Here’s to hoping that we can all find that place that’s perfect for us, and find both happiness and provision there. All the best to you! 🙂
Tom Ewer says
And to you Kimi!
Saleem Rana says
Brilliant, post!
I have made all the same mistakes, chasing one good idea after another, throwing money at building websites and blogs that never panned out. Now I realize that I had romanticized the whole thing. If it weren’t for my two regular blogging clients, I would not have a roof over my head.
Truly appreciate your honest sharing. It was an eye-opening post for me. I need to just get good at my core skill and increase that income source before I even think of another income stream. My chasing after multiple income streams and not having the time to make them fully operational has caused me all kinds of hardships.
Tom Ewer says
And when you do choose to pursue another income stream, make sure it is not at the expense of your tried-and-tested one!
Why says
Why did you decide to publish your income reports when you were doing OK, and no longer publish them now when they are down?
Is it an ego, or pride thing?
Tom Ewer says
Are those my only two options Mr. Why? 😉
Read this: http://leavingworkbehind.com/no-more-income-reports/
Kelli says
To quote Thomas J. Watson: “You can be discouraged by failure, or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes, make all you can. Because, remember that’s where you’ll find success – on the far side of failure.”
Tom Ewer says
Nice quote; thanks Kelli!
Ivy S says
Tom, it sounds like you’ve had a lot of learning experiences! I think it’s great how you self-analyze and find patterns in your behavior/ideas…I do the same thing, and I think it’s very beneficial. These are actually the types of posts I like to hear from you…I find a lot of value in studying where others have ventured out and the results that they received. The fact that you can recognize and admit when things aren’t working as they should is a huge step in itself, as a lot of people are not able to do that at all!
I know you’ll figure it all out! Best of luck! 🙂
Tom Ewer says
Thank you Ivy!
MR says
I, like others, really appreciate your honesty here Tom. Who knew even the greats occasionally experience moments of doubt? 😉 I believe the success of LWB is in large part because of your openness and ability to speak straight from the heart to your readers. We truly feel you are sharing a part of yourself and we have an opportunity to learn through you.
As a writer I can say the phrase “failure upon writer” really hits home. Our path is more riddled with failure than with success, so when success arrives, it is all the sweeter. As long as you maintain hope and a clear purpose, there is a way forward through the woods and you will find that way. Give yourself time to allow the light-bulb moment to strike.
I believe you still have a hit on your hands with LWB – perhaps you continue to hone it and monetize it if you have the time, resources, and energy. It might just continue to grow!
Tom Ewer says
Trust me MR, I am no great! Far from it.
Thank you for your comments though. Leaving Work Behind is certainly my most successful project in terms of traffic and “brand awareness,” I’ve just never really figured out what to do with it. Maybe I’ll figure it out one day…
Betsy Wuebker | PassingThru says
Hallelujah! It seemed to me you were zigzagging around between a number of good ideas with a really short attention span. Certain periods of growth in life and business require throwing a lot of stuff at the wall to see what is going to stick. But what people may not realize is they’ve gotta stick with what sticks, too. Tough lesson, but necessary. I’m thinking the secret sauce may be hanging out somewhere around the freelancing burnout, which others have mentioned.
Tom Ewer says
Sounds like you should be my business coach Betsy 😉
“I’m thinking the secret sauce may be hanging out somewhere around the freelancing burnout, which others have mentioned.” What do you mean by that?
Betsy Wuebker | PassingThru says
What I mean is perhaps there’s something for you to apply in and around the freelancing – which you’re good at, but which you are limited by a time ceiling if you alone are doing the work, and burned out – by what? the work itself? the process? Your Paid to Blog model is good. Could you put together something similar, perhaps something with a formula and associate it with other forms of freelancing? How’s your eBook on freelancing doing? Any way to expand that? Just thinking out loud, as freelancing and P2B are your moneymakers.
Tom Ewer says
At this point I think I should focus down on what I’ve made the most money from: freelancing. Freelancing alone has a natural earnings ceiling, but I have some ideas as to how I can work around that…
Joe says
What are your thoughts on starting a blog/site in a niche you know works (WordPress) and then going all in and writing yourself and/or hiring writers.
It wouldn’t be a passion product but it should be a solid money earner in a year or two.
Its not going to change the world but it could be pretty hands off and a good money earner, giving you success under your belt, while also giving you time to work on something more interesting in the future.
That is what I would do if I was trying to turn things around after a bit of a slump: focus on something you know works and join the fray.
Good luck!
Tom Ewer says
Thanks Joe!
Right now, starting anything new is off the cards. I’ve got existing projects with potential; starting yet another one is just asking for trouble 😉
Rhoda says
Thank you for your honesty, Tom. I really appreciate your coming out like this. Often, I feel like I fail all too often. It’s nice to know there are others in the same boat.
I wish you luck in your future endeavors.
Tom Ewer says
Oh there’s plenty of us Rhoda — come join the crowd 😉
Nick says
Hi Tom,
As a long-term follower of your blog, it’s always been fun to read about your projects. Until you rounded them up in this post, though, I didn’t realise quite how many projects there were!
In short, I think there are too many. But they are certainly not bad ideas. If you focused on just one or maybe two of them, I’m pretty sure they would be successful. I’ve done the same for the last 12 months, taking a blog in a very, very packed niche that was losing money (after four years of running it!) and turning it into a successful six-figure (£) business. It would have been very easy to just give up on it instead and try something else.
Obviously, you need to make your own decision based on what you feel passionate about and where you feel the real potential is. But my thoughts are this: you are a genuine authority on freelance writing, so why not focus on that? You could use freelancing as a way to prop up your income in the short-term, while building the Paid to Blog and Paid to Blog Jobs areas. There is a huge audience of freelance writers out there, and you really have something amazing to offer them. I think you could make a small fortune from this.
Having said that, I’m not so sure you should drop Beginner Blogging (which it sounds like you’re considering) just yet. Again, you’ve made a real success of Leaving Work Behind, you’re an experienced blogger and writer, and you have something to offer. I just think maybe you’re in too much of a rush to see instant success from this project – that’s certainly the tone of your recent posts about it. Sometimes it’s better to accept that success might take a little longer to achieve, but that doesn’t mean it’s not attainable or worthwhile.
Finally, a lot of these projects seem to rely entirely on organic promotion. I think you should strongly consider whether paid advertising would help you achieve your goals more quickly. After four years of stagnation on my own blog, a major social media advertising campaign was what transformed its performance and turned it into a very profitable business. Sometimes you need to spend money to make money.
I know you were expecting people to say this, but you really SHOULDN’T be too hard on yourself. You’re an amazing success story, and you’ve certainly inspired me and I’m sure many others like me. If you apply your considerable skills to one of your excellent ideas over a sustained period, you will not fail.
Nick
Tom Ewer says
Hey Nick,
I really appreciate your comments and essentially agree with everything you have to say.
Paid advertising is something I have considered (and continue to consider) but am reticent to do. I have such a track record of wasting money on efforts to grow my business (albeit not generally through paid advertising) and I think my mindset is towards bootstrapping all the way. Perhaps I need a change of perspective on that front.
Cheers,
Tom
Nick says
Hi Tom,
I had totally the same attitude to paid advertising. And, in fact, I did waste some of the money that I spent on it (basically, because I didn’t have a clue what I was doing to begin with).
Having said that, it’s pretty easy to measure the return on investment on advertising, particularly when you’re actually selling something (measuring conversions, etc.). So you could test it pretty inexpensively if you ever did decide it was worth a try.
Nick
Tom Ewer says
You are right Nick! What medium did you find to be successful?
Nick says
My site’s business model is based around advertising (therefore I need a lot of traffic), so I found Facebook ads to be the most cost-effective. That’s because once you’ve signed up a fan via advertising, you can get repeat traffic from them when they see your posts in the news feed – so it’s much more cost-effective than a one-off click through something AdWords.
For products (books and e-books), I found direct advertising on popular blogs in the same niche to be pretty effective. But that’s difficult to try out inexpensively…I took a leap of faith and was quite lucky that it worked out.
For your businesses, I suspect that those aren’t the best options. For Paid to Blog Jobs, in particular, I think it would really be worth trying out AdWords. There must be lots of people searching for freelance writing jobs, and you could put your site right at the top of the results. Plus, Google quite often offers free credit to new advertisers, and it’s easy to limit what you spend, so it wouldn’t have to break the bank. It would save you months of effort trying to reach the top of the organic search results, and you could find out really quickly whether people are likely to take up your offer or not (if they’re searching for freelance jobs, click on your ad, and DON’T take up the offer, then you may need to adjust what you’re offering. But I think they will take it up).
Tom Ewer says
Thanks for the advice Nick, I really appreciate it!
Laura Ginn says
I’m really grateful to read this post Tom. My income has dropped drastically after losing a large client at the beginning of the year, and some months I really struggle to keep my head above water. I, like you, have also invested time, money and effort into some websites that I have had to knock on the head, and I have a couple that I still run at the moment even though they make little money.
Writing is what I love to do, but I find pitching really hard so I’m currently making minimum wage and struggling along. I’ve bookmarked this website and plan to keep reading through it in the hope of picking up some pitch tips. I think writing is a really hard thing to expand upon unless you have a group of people who you can work with that you really trust. Having a passive income is great, but I have tried multiple avenues and I’m still waiting for any of them to make me more than a few pounds a month.
Best of luck.
Laura Ginn says
I’ve actually just written a post on the same topic – it’s here if you want a read: http://www.laura-ginn.co.uk/how-i-have-spent-the-last-ten-months-failing-tom-youre-not-alone/
Tom Ewer says
I feel your pain Laura! Here’s hoping we can both figure things out…
Kevin Muldoon says
Hi Tom,
Joe Fylan shared this link on Rise Forums (thanks Joe). It’s a great post and I admire you for your honesty.
You were 100% right with your comment at the start of your article: You are being too hard on yourself.
I am not going to disagree with you that you have mistakes over the last year. The biggest mistake seems to be splitting your time and energy between too many projects. You also seem to be jumping onto new projects before the last project has reached a point where it is self-sustainable.
This is something I did myself for many years. Even now I find myself being pulled in many directions; though I am trying to focus all my attention on one or two main projects.
I found your story about your outsourcing business interesting as myself and Joe discussed it many times in the past with others as people seem to think it is a natural progression for a blogger. Like you, I make a lot of my income at the moment from freelance blogging. This was not something I did traditionally. I kind of fell into it after selling my older blogs; however it has proved to be a good earner.
When I have spoke about freelancing in the past, many people have suggested that I start a company and market my services through a company brand. However, I was never able to understand the logistics of it.
Of course, there are thousands of freelancing companies around the world, but I couldn’t understand why any author would work for a low rate. I always put myself in the bloggers shoes and thought that if I was working for a freelancing company, there would come a point where I would just contact the client directly and work with them as an independent author.
For example, let’s say you hired me to write for a website. If I knew the company were paying double than what I was actually receiving, why would I work for you? Surely it would be better for me to just work directly with the client so that I can negotiate a higher rate.
Though I must admit that the thought of editing other people’s work all day didn’t fill me with joy either; which is why I did not even attempt to start a freelancing company.
I admire you for giving it a shot though.
You are right. It is not fun when your time is money. It’s great working 80 hours a week and making a killing; but no one can keep that up forever. Subsequently, there will come a point when you will burn yourself out, either physically, mentally, or both. And when that happens, your high income from freelancing will drop like a dead weight.
You obviously understand this; which is why you have spent so much time trying to diversify your income.
Has your diversification plans come to fruition yet? No.
But, I wouldn’t be too disheartened by this. Every successful businessman and entrepreneur has failed at one point. Some of them have failed hundreds of times.
You might not recognise it yet, but you are in a much better position than you were a year or so ago. You are still the same competent writer you were before, but you have also gained a lot of experience from those ventures.
Moving forward, I believe the projects you have started over the last year will help you in your future endeavours.
If I was in your position, I would devote all of your attention to Leaving Work Behind. Focus on doubling or even trebling traffic and income here. You could perhaps even sell the projects that you will never develop. This will help you focus all your energy on your main websites and generate a little cash too. It will also save you time from updating websites that are not part of your future plans.
I’m swamped this week due to family stuff (parents anniversary, gf’s birthday, + work etc); however I will have some free time next week.
If you fancy a video chat on Skype or Google+, let me know. I’ve been in the same position as you before, so I may be able to put some things into perspective for you. Plus I’ve made a crap load of mistakes myself in the past so I can definitely relate to what you are going through.
🙂
Kevin
Bonita says
I’m not Tom, but this was so helpful. Thank you!
Kevin Muldoon says
Thanks Bonita. That’s very kind of you to say that 🙂
Tom Ewer says
Appreciate you sharing your story Kevin, thank you! At the moment I’m feeling like I know where I’m going — I’ll be reporting here back on LWB as to whether that is the case in the future!
Kevin Muldoon says
That’s great to hear. The offers always there if you want to have a chat about internet marketing related topics.
Warren says
Hey there Tom,
I definitely think that freelance writing is your niche; therefore, I would just explore anything and everything — placing all your focus and efforts — that can produce income out of just that niche. Don’t explore other niches or start any new projects, until you’ve completely mastered the former.
I also want to share with you a guest article that Mathew Woodward posted on his blog; and not only did it reignite my fire for internet marketing, but it can speak to a lot of us who have failed or are experiencing failure online.
Article link: http://www.matthewwoodward.co.uk/tips/6-things-internet-marketers-can-learn-arnold-schwarzenegger/
As bloggers/internet marketers/online entrepreneurs, we really tend to do so much that we don’t realize that it’s actually starting to have a negative effect on our other online ventures — and even our own lives.
So it is best to stick to one niche and only move on to other projects until you’re 100% sure that the former is self-sustaining. Hope this helps.
Keep inspiring,
Warren
Tom Ewer says
I’m totally sold on that now Warren. I’m definitely look to focus down on one thing and one thing only, and it could make all the difference. Only time will tell!
Daryl says
Want my honest opinion Tom?
At the very beginning of your blog, you were very focused and specific on helping people with their problems, ESPECIALLY when it came to very specific things such as keyword research, niche sites, etc.
Also, there was an extremely personal element involved – you chronicled your successes AND failures, such as when your niche site dropped off the face of Google. Not only did you do so, you gave rather SPECIFIC information as to what happened, as opposed to general information.
When you started to succeed in freelance writing, you made your journey very personal and specific. You gave income reports, you broke down exactly why you succeeded, and you gave step by step details not JUST because you thought that they would be profitable, but because they were useful.
Within the last year or so, I’ve noticed a bit of a shift from things that your core customers are interested in to things that YOU”RE interested in. I also noticed a shift from growing a business, like what you did here with your personal brand, to LAUNCHING a business.
You took your personality and that closeness out of the equation.
It was quite noticeable, to me, when you took down your income reports (which, let me state for the record, you had all right to do).
However, I would bet that the majority of your readers enjoyed your income reports, and would prefer to read them.
At the end of the day, a business should mainly be about serving customers, rather than the business.
Reasons that you gave to justify not publishing your income reports ran a little hollow – you claimed that they’re no longer “relevant” because most people aren’t earning that amount of money, yet there are several entrepreneurs (e.g. SPI blog) who publish income reports of a far higher amount. People aren’t always looking for a step by step template – they’re looking for hope, for motivation, for a clear example of success, something that your income reports supplied.
I also noticed how detached you were from the core principles of your blog. It moved from a clear online internet marketing blog, focused on freelance writing, to a motivational/lifestyle blog. Honestly, I cringed when I read your post on going carless – I felt it was totally out of tune with the original style of the blog. Sure, a couple of paragraphs would have done fine, but to put an entire full length blog post on your car ownership to me shows how far you’d gone from understanding your own blog readership.
With regards to some of your other ideas – I think they were great. I think the community forums are great, but what differentiates them from the dozens of other forums that exists? You hit the same question with CBS – people chose you because of your brand, because of your personal qualities, and when you take that differentiating factor out you have no leg to stand on.
Tom Ewer says
Hey Daryl,
I appreciate your thoughts. It’s interesting as I have a completely different understanding of the blog to you. LWB was never intended to be about its audience; it was intended to be about me. I don’t mean that in an arrogant way; I simply mean that I felt I could best serve people by talking about what I was going through rather than attempting to write what I thought they wanted.
For the most part I’ve stuck to that approach, which is exactly why I’ve published articles like the one I wrote about going carless.
The fact is that this blog was never intended to be an “internet marketing” blog. It was intended to be about my journey in quitting my job and building a sustainable online business that afforded me freedom and flexibility. Since I effectively achieved that some time ago, the blog began to lose its identity; in part because I have, from a professional perspective.
I feel like I’m just starting to get that identity back, and Leaving Work Behind will follow in its wake. What that means for the blog, only time will tell…
Cheers,
Tom
Daryl says
Sure Tom, I totally understand! It was about your journey – but along the way I felt that you did focus on certain areas, and as a result you would have developed a following around those areas
That being said, I think that all the really successful entrepreneurs fail OFTEN. But that’s only because they’re trying often. Nothing’s wrong with failure, unless you aren’t learning anything from your failures. I’m sure that you’re learning so keep on trying!
Genevieve @PFTwins says
Thanks for your openness. You’ve stayed in business and you are focusing on growing a business that can scale — something that takes time to learn.
I think I might have a bit of a romantic in me as well, but I think I might have to learn the hard way what’s a good idea and what’s a bad one. It’s very difficult to see that ahead of time.
Tom Ewer says
It is indeed. The best experience is in experience, if you see what I mean!
Lea says
Hey Tom
It’s sooo brave from you putting all your “failures” out! On a webinar with Paul Reddick (he’s a baseball coach) he told us that failures are actually treasuries! Keep that in mind :).
On another webinar I get to know Dan Martell – he’s the CEO and founder of
https://clarity.fm/
If you have a too romantic point of view – check the link and you get the best business advice from absolute rocking experts!
Greetings from Switzerland,
Lea
Tom Ewer says
Thank you Lea! Hope you’re well 🙂
Tom says
Tom, this is an awesome blog post man. We need more people to be authentic like this. Well done.
p.s. I have no doubt you’ll turn it around very quickly 🙂
Tom Ewer says
Thank you for your support Tom! I hope everything is good on your end 🙂
Tom Hunt says
Love the brutal honesty here, I thought I was the only one failing!
I love the recent trend of honesty on blogs and think it’s really uplifting for audiences, keep it up!
Thanks
Tom