Last day tomorrow.. then there is no more J.O.B!!

[cornflower]

Just a quick update - I've quit my job and my last day is tomorrow.

My muse (blogging) is doing well. and will do even better when I can focus more time on automation and outsourcing over the next few weeks.

Things may be a little tight over the next few months while I ramp up my muse, but I've never been happier or more excited about my future.

THANKYOU Tim!

[muka]

Hi,
I am new to this forum, but wanted to say that is so exciting. congratulations?

[FrozenCanuck]

cornflower - contrats! What blogs have you started? I'd like to look at them. I think blogging is cool. I'd like to understand how you are getting paid to do it. Adsense? Affiliate links?

FC

[MikeFromMarz]

Hey, congratulations!

That's a very inspiring story for me personally, because blogging is also my main muse at the moment. (I have some others in the works as well) You are a bit further along than I am, but I also have high hopes of one day saying goodbye to my job. It will be one of the happiest days of my life.

My related blog is The Great Office Escape (http://thegreatofficeescape.com) where I write about some of this stuff too.

Best of luck, and welcome to a freer life!

[Marcie]

I agree, tell us more! :) Congrats!!!

[Mike Rhodes]

Congratulations :)

[MariaG]

Many congrats, Cornflower. Please share your blog with us.

I'm a blogger as well and am just getting to the point where my traffic is good enough to start monetizing. I'm really excited about this possibility!

[cornflower]

Hi Folks,

thanks so much for your congratulatory comments! Today is Saturday morning.. and feels like the first day of my new life. :D

My blogs are set up along the lines of magazines.. and like a magazine, I pay for content and sell advertising. I also have "production costs" in paying my writers, hosting, designers etc.

Therefore, I don't actually write any of the blogs. At some point you have to have a plan that allows you to step away from the keyboard.

I have around 40 active blogs and another few in development.
I keep trying different things to increase the revenue and I've found a formula that allows me to build a blog in one day that brings in from $50 - $250 a month passively, with 10 minutes maintenance per month. It takes each blog about 3 months to reach it's revenue potential. I've got 5 of this kind of blog up and running so far, with more in the pipeline.

That's all I'm going to say about exactly what I do. ;) It's taken me nearly a year of working stupid hours to find this formula, so I'm keeping it close to my chest ;)

What I've learnt from this experience:

* Focus on passive income, income that does not require your input such as writing blog posts.
* Don't be afraid to start from scratch if you have to, again and again, learn to recognise dead ends and move on from them, fast.
* Continuous process improvement. Reduce all tasks down to parts until they are outsourceable.
* Anything very repetative with basic logic can be coded into an application that will do the job for you.
* Look for efficiency in everything you do - keep your eye on the 80/20 principle.
* Scaleability is important. Build your systems and processes so that they can handle 5, 10 or 100 times your current volume.
* Don't be afraid to fire people if they don't deliver what you want. (I've "fired" at least 6 outsource providers in the last 4 months.) I usually says "lets worth together for a month to see how we go"..
* With outsourcing, you don't always get what you pay for, sometimes you can pay very little and get great service - but you have to dig long and hard to find those gems. It's worth it if you can keep the provider happy with unexpected "bonuses" for good work. I have developed some brilliant relationships with my outsourcers.
* Try to stay ahead of the game, and don't put all of your eggs in the one basket. I have found a 'winning" formula, so I'm going to outsource it, and while living off that income I'll be looking for a different winning formula. Once I have 10 winning formulas, I'll stop. The internet is ever changing, diversification = stability and security of income. (Each blog is monetized a number of ways for diversity.. so now I'm looking outside of blogging for another type of muse.)

Lastly - never, ever, ever, ever, give up. There are no failures, only "learning experiences".

Hope that helps.

I'm off to start planning my new flower garden.

Julia

[coollikeme]

and good luck.

[webgal]

Thanks for sharing. I can understand your reticence to give it all away but the tips are nice and appreciated. Have fun with planting.

[FrozenCanuck]

cornflower - did you read any of the reports that are sold by people who claim to teach you how to blog for a living, such as "blogging to the bank"?

40 blogs at $250 per month is a nice cool $10k per month, definitely can live a decent life on that. Congrats. Especially if that "costs" you 10 min x 40 blogs = 400 minutes per month (less than 2 hours per week).

[TimW]

I am curious as to the topics of your blogs, if you're willing to share.

Were you a subject matter expert beforehand, or was it a topic that interested you? Or is it even a topic you care about beyond the passive income (that's not bad, IMO, either).

Did your write for all those blogs before you outsourced content, did you write for some of them, or none of them?

Are any of the blogs about politics?


Thanks for any information you're willing to share. Congrats on the success...that just rocks!@


TimW
Phoenix

[MikeFromMarz]

The blogging for pay route is really an intersting one. I have done some research at problogger.net (http://problogger.net) (which is run by Darren Rowse, an internet entrepreneur who has been at this for years.)

In one of his entries he talks about a few different ways to blog for pay. One method is to set up many blogs in target niches that will pay out for good adwords and affiliates. I think that is the model similar to what cornflower might be following. Another way is to build 1-4 blog up to be very powerful and high-earning (a few superblogs.)

I think that either way could be profitable, but it helps to have a good idea which way you want to go before you begin. I'm actually en route to success in the second method (I'm happy with the start my main blog has, which is a similar theme to the 4 hour work week itself) and am planning on starting a few more in the near future.

I wonder if one could have so many blogs that it would be dificult to maintain/keep track of them all. Is there a limit?

[TimW]

I can tell you that I am on so many Internet forums promoting my business that I can't keep track. I post stuff for sale, and forget which ones I posted at, cannot recall which board I posted a certain reply to on a thread, etc.

So, yes, I suspect it's VERY easy to forget...

[cornflower]

FrozenCanuck - yes I've read alot of that stuff, I'm also part of Yaro Starak's mentoring program too, as well as Rob Benwell's. Lots of good info from many sources, including problogger as mentioned.

TimW - My blogs are on just about everything, except maybe politics :D They are commercial so stick to commercial markets. Some I was a subject matter expert in before, but most I'm not... the passive income is the driver so the topics aren't ones that are close to my heart. The blogs aren't superblogs, but they are not spammy blogs by any means.

Some may be on their way to becoming authority sites, one of the fun things I am working on now is breaking down what makes a "super blog" to a formula, and then trying to replicate that with outsourcing and systems.

Mike - Yes it can be hard to keep track, although part of the process I have is a proprietary system to track everything and keep on top of it automatically. It's the systems I have built (and had built) behind it all that make it profitable.

Being a lazy control freak web developer cum business analyst in a previous life helps. ;)

[TimW]

See, I am just a business guy with a love of tactical equipment. I could find folks to build the automated systems for me, perhaps, but I am certain it would cost as much as I might save. :)