The Freedom Net

OK, I know I’m late … but things have been pretty hectic around here lately, and when you work from home, that’s a good thing! So, here’s what it looked like for the month of September from a production standpoint. Remember, since all of these programs “pay out” at different time schedules, I am actually counting money produced through actual work in September, rather than what came in during the month. In effect, some of this was realized in September, while some will be realized in October.

PayPerPost - $184
Text Link Ads - $50
Google Adsense - $15
AC & other writing - $57
Blogsvertise - $15
Guru.com work - $163
Mahalo - $141

TOTAL - $625

Well, that’s not too much of an improvement over last month, but we’re getting there. Mahalo has come into it’s own this month (October), and the wife and I are already over $1000 for the month. We scraped by last month on the skin of our teeth, and this month will be close as well. This is because a lot of these people have a 30 day wait for your pay (like PPP and Mahalo). However, that being said, we are definitely in the upswing and are looking to more than break even when the cash starts rolling in during November (just in time for Christmas!).

OK, I don’t usually jump on the bandwagon of new start-up programs. In fact, I’m not so hot on programs, even if they’ve been around a while. However, I recently came across this in the forums of another site where I do some freelance writing, and thought it looked fairly interesting.

After reviewing the site and the way it is setup, I think it has a lot of potential. Basically it’s a product review site, done in Web 2.0 style. Take ePinions, and then add it some vendor advertising and revenue sharing with the peer-rated and screened reviews. That’s the basics behind Shared Reviews.

Now they haven’t announced what their payout structure will be yet as far as when the site actually goes live. However, they are in the middle of ramping up during beta and aquiring a few thousand reviews so they will have some content when they go live. They are paying premium dollar for this content … $10 for every 5 reviews approved. This is a good price, and I’m sure this won’t be the same scale as the payout after launch, but we shall see. So, my point is, you should sign up now, while in beta, to get the up-front big money for these reviews! In addition, by getting your reviews in now, you will have a good base of reviews to earn revenue sharing off of when the site does it’s official launch!

;-)

Do you want to work from home?  Are you always on the look-out for legitimate work from home opportunities (not the ones that require you to pay money to get started)?  It can be discouraging, especially when you keep running into closed doors.

Well, I’ve managed to find work in several different places.  While this can be a little overwhelming doing small jobs for multiple sites, it can also help diversify your income and really help keep you from putting all of your eggs into one basket!

Coming very soon, I’m going to share with you exactly where I’m working online, how I got there, and how you can too.  In fact, I’m in the process of building up a base of business that will be more than I can handle all by myself.  Once that happens, I will be launching The Freedom Net freelance site.  I will shop out some of the work that I am unable to do at fair market rates for those who are looking to earn extra income, or even need help working exclusively from home.

So don’t go away … check back often, or even better, subscribe to our RSS feed, so you don’t miss out on the launch of The Freedom Net freelance job site!

Well, another month has passed us by.  If you’ve been following this wonderful adventure, I’m sure you’re anxious to see where I ended up for the month of August.  Well, here’s a breakdown of how much I made from working at home online (all of these resources were online only) in the month of August:

• Associated Content - $19.40
• Blogsvertise - $15.00
• Smorty - $18.00
• PayPerPost - $152
• TextLinkAds - $48
• Adsense - $5.16
• Mahalo - $50.00
• Total for August - $307.56

Now, I know what you’re thinking, not a lot of progress, right?  I’m only up 28% over last month’s numbers.  But I know something you don’t know … I’ve got two new clients signed on through Guru.com, and I’m already on track to make over twice what I made in August, just through the two new clients!  In addition, I’m moving up the ranks in Mahalo, and the earnings from that project are looking positive to sky-rocket through the roof as well!  Combine that with the fact that this blog should be hitting PPP soon, I think it’s reasonable to see a 400% increase in September over August’s numbers.

Well, all I can tell you is come back at the end of the month and see how things worked out!

I get distracted fairly easily.  After a quick review of all of my past expriementation and failures, I discovered a definite pattern to these events.  I definitely believe that success is born out of failure, but I’m not so sure thas is true if the failure is self-imposed. 

I started out on this stay-at-home journey just a few short weeks ago.  When I did, I was confident in my ability to achieve success.  Today, as the money gets tighter and tighter, I am losing that confidence.  My confidence is being shaken by circumstances surrounding me.  I’ve lost my focus.  Once again, I’m staring failure in the face.

Looking back over the sites that I’ve logged into my favorites over the past few weeks, it’s apparent that I’ve been in research mode again.  I’ve amassed quite a few newly discovered sites that pay for blogging, blog posts, advertising, and creative freelance writing opportunities.  I’ve done more research than I have actual work effort.  And herein lies the crux of my problem:  I’ve gotten the paralysis of analysis once again.

So how do I break free?  Well, I think part of it must come from a determination made within myself that I will make it happen … no matter what!

Ever wonder what a day in the life of a SAHD WAHD looks like (OK that acronym wasn’t funny!)? Well, I thought I would share with you what my day was like today. I’m sure that every stay and home dad and work at home dad has a vast and different experience, but I have always been intrigued, and I though you might be intrigued as well.

So, here’s what happened at my house today.

• 7:30 AM - Kids woke up. They are now my alarm clock.
• 8:30 AM - Watched ‘Home on The Range’ with the kids on DVD. We promised them we would watch it with them last night.
• 10:00 AM - OK, this is when I actually started ‘working’, if you can really call it that. I have a writing assignment that I started last night, and should finish up today.
• 12:00 Noon - Time for lunch. Spent more time with the kids. Not like they were not here while I was writing, but my wife pretty much kept them occupied so dad could ‘work’. Unfortunately, we really don’t have a spare room to set up as an office, so the PC is in the corner of the living room. Sure, I can type in the middle of a three ring circus, can’t you?
• 1:00 PM - Watched some NASA videos with my son. He is really into the space thing, so this was cool. It is one of my interests as well.
• 3:00 PM - OK, it’s back to the grindstone … well, actually the keyboard. I picked up a second writing assignment, so I can begin working on it as soon as I am done with this one. I missed a tech support assignment on the tech job board … someone else picked it up while I was offline with the kids. Oh well, life’s full of opportunities … you just have to decide which ones are the most important.
• 5:30 PM - Dinner time. We take time to eat together, although it is usually in front of the boob tube. I guess it’s better than nothing, but this is an area I would like to improve on.
• 7:30 PM - Back to the writing gig. The kids are in bed now (their bedtime is 7pm), which allows me much more coherent thoughts when doing creative writing (if it can be called that).
• 9:30 PM - Woo Hoo! I’m finished with my writing assignment for the day. After roughly six hours of work, I’ve completed 15 keyword articles for submission. I also received payment offers on two exclusive articles I submitted over at Associated Content. This makes the day a productive one.
• 10:00 PM - After a short break, I’m back online, going over my blogs (I currently have 5 semi-active blogs that I am trying to get in shape to qualify for an advertising program). I’m posting, posting, posting, trying to get everything in shape for the advertising market that’s out there.

I don’t know when I will call it quits tonight, but it will probably be after midnight. I’ve always said I would rather burn the midnight oil for myself, rather than for someone else. Now is my chance to see just how productive I can be … for me.

Come back tomorrow, and perhaps we’ll have another chance to visit.

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.