The Freedom Net

Recreation is an important part of life, even more so for the entrepreneurial in spirit.  When we work for someone else, we have a little benefit called ‘vacation’.  This concept is marvelous, as it actually encourages us to take time off from work for recreation.  Heck, your company will even pay you for your time off!

Unfortunately, when you work for yourself, the boss can get pretty demanding.  It’s hard to force yourself to take some time off, especially since there is no ‘vacation pay’.  When you’re not working, you usually don’t earn money when you work for yourself from home.  It’s almost a catch-22.  Working from home is freedom, right?  Perhaps it is, but only if we allow ourselves to have it.

If you’ve been looking to earn a living online for very long, then you’ve probably heard of Cha Cha.  Cha Cha is a new search model for the Internet, that has a human component.

Here’s how it works.  Someone visits the Cha Cha website, and puts in a search term and asks for a “guide”.  The guide is a real, live, human who will research the term on their computer, screen the results, and return only the best, most relevant results to the person making the request.  Once the search is completed, the user gets to rate the guide and his or her overall experience with the site.

So what does this have to do with making money online?  Well, as I said before, the Cha Cha guides are real, live humans.  They work from home, and they get paid.  At first it sounds like a wonderful concept.  In fact, there is an affilate aspect to it, as you can also get paid for the searches completed by your referral network.  It is supposed to range from $5 an hour to $10 an hour (once you figure in the referrals, that is).  However, you don’t get paid to be ‘on call’, only for the actual time on a search, or for training new guides (once you yourself are qualified).

Because of this, I would not recommend Cha Cha as a great money maker.  I’m sure it will serve it’s purpose for some people who are looking to earn some extra cash, but I don’t believe it will appeal to those seeking to gain their financial freedom and buy back some of their time from the ivory tower.

Well, if you’ve been following my exploits, you know that I’ve picked up some gigs online doing freelance writing.  Now this isn’t the traditional sort of freelance writing where you submit a query letter to a number of publishers and, if you’re lucky, someone picks your idea to pay you to write an article.

This is more of the web-driven economics in action.  Content is king here on the Internet, and people are looking for massive amounts of content to go on their websites.  As a coder friend of mine put it “everyone hates documentation”.  Well, all but the freelance writer, that is.

Now I have done some research in the past and discovered that traditional print writers get paid as low as 1/4 of a cent per word, up to several dollars per word in a good market.  Online, it’s the same way.  If you sell your soul to the wrong people, you can make peanuts.  If you take your time and search around, you can build partnerships with folks willing to pay for excellent, SEO optimized, content.

I’ve landed some jobs paying less than 1 cent per word, and I’ve had some opportunities to earn 5 cents or more per word.  There are markets out there that pay more, but I have not broken into them yet (at least I’m told they are out there … LOL). 

Freelance writing can be a profitable venture, if you take the time to do your research and find the places that pay decent money.  Two of my favorite sites are Associated Content and Pay Per Post.  Associated Content pays from $3 to $20 for articles they approve for distribution and publication on their site.  Pay Per Post pays anywhere from $5 to $20 for a blog post advertising a particular item, or just creating some  buzz about the product.  They do have quite a few higher paying opportunites over there at PPP as well, but you have to get your Google PR and Alexa rank for your blog doing quite well to take advantage of that market segment.

Overall, freelancing is something that I would encourage anyone looking to earn a living online to look into.  It’s easy, it can be fun, and it is done on your schedule.  That, perhaps, is the best part.

I always thought that coming home would be some grand thing.  I always thought that bliss and peace and harmony would somehow overtake our fair haven once I got to come home from my job.  Well, let me tell you, that just ain’t the case.

It has been a hard transition for everyone.  I’m simply just not used to being home all day with the kids.  They are not used to seeing me home all day, and they want my attention all day.  I’m also not used to being in the house all day, instead of having some quiet travel time to and from work.  My wife isn’t used to me being home all day either, sharing the time on the computer and asking for help at lunch, and dinner, and just pretty much being a pain in the rear.

Yes, coming home is nice.  I don’t have to worry about a schedule anymore.  I don’t have to worry about getting up at a certain time (at least not during the summer, while the kids are my alarm clock).  We can go out of town on a trip, and return with no regrets on time.  We can leave on a Sunday and come back on a Tuesday, without asking somebody if it is OK.  How nice is that?

Overall, it is a good thing.  I think it will just take time to work out the kinks.

Who would have thought it?  I’ve submitted four blogs to Pay Per Post, including this one, which is simply a resurrected copy of a blog I had previously approved through them.  And guess what?  You got it … rejection!

Yes, all four of them were rejected.  Be sure and read the small print when you sign up for Pay Per Post.  While it’s not hard to meet their criteria, it is very important to do so.  I still recommend PPP, but make sure you do your homework before submitting your blog.

Key points include:

• Blog must have existed for 90 days
• Blog must have at least 20 post in the last 90 days
• Blog posts must be completely visible on the front page, no truncation
• There cannot be a period of no posts greater than 30+ days in the last 90 day period

To their credit, this simply means that they want to make sure that you are serious about blogging.  This helps to ensure that their advertisers get the most bang for their buck.  I completely understand that.  It still doesn’t mean that I’m not disappointed.  Oh well, back to the drawing board.

OK, well, it is time to take a look at the overall results for the month of June.  Some things have increased, and others have faded away.  Overall not too bad.  OK, so drum roll please …

• Associated Content - $3.12
• Google Adsense - $3.35
• Text Link Ads - $33.83
• Resume Writing - $25.00
• TOTAL for June = $ 65.35

I guess it is a good thing that my wife picked up a good graphic layout job at the end of the month.  This month you will see a significant increase, especially since I have taken the leap of faith, and I am now home full time.