Blogging for cash

Well, in my effort to make 50k a year from my computer involves blogging. I have found a few people who seem to be making quite a bit of money from it Steve Pavlina, John Chow, and I am sure there are a bunch of others, but I just haven’t found them yet. But it appears that the majority of bloggers are wanna-be’s (like me). Discipline and consistent learning seem to be two common factors that the “winners” have.

So if you are like I was a few months ago, you might ask, “What’s a blog?” Well it is short for WEB-LOG, and it is nothing more than what you are looking at right now, which is basically a journal that I update at whatever frequency I determine. It is VERY easy to start one. I am using WordPress and it seems to be the common consensus that it is one of the best blogging platforms available. I post more about making money from blogs later.

Personal finance lessons from Seth

I like to read Seth Godin’s blog. He usually has interesting bits of information about business marketing and thinking outside the box. I caught a post of his from the other day that he wrote about personal finance for business owners and I think it is worth your time. He had two noteworthy quotes that I think are both great financial rules to follow.

• “Pay as much as you need to for things that matter, and as little as you can for things that don’t.”
• “Never borrow money to pay for something that goes down in value.”

The first quote is such a crucial part to anyone’s financial plan that it needs to be shouted from the rooftops. So many mistakes are made when it comes to prioritizing with financial decisions. For instance, I am currently writing from my PC that cost me about $400 two years ago.  I would love to  have  a nicer, newer, faster PC, but this one works and does everything I need it to do. If I did get a better and faster one, it would not bring anymore visitors to the website and would only save me a few seconds per day. It would cost me hundreds of dollars to gain a few minutes per month in processing speed.

On the other hand, I am willing to pay extra for organic and high quality food at the grocery store because I know it helps me feel better now and will have a dramatic effect on  my length and quality of life. You can not accurately project what will be gained by this small cost. Extra years of life, diseases avoided, financial savings from not having to pay the doctors or hospitals nearly as much. Like they say, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” It costs me maybe $20 a month, I think it is well worth it.

You can read Seth’s post here.

Building a profitable blog

I just read an article on building a profitable blog that I will pass along…

The challenge to make money from my computer.

I am a paper-pusher. I wear a monkey-suit. I would rather make money from my computer. I will. I set a deadline for myself to be making $50,000 per year in two years from now(now=April 27, 2007) - while working my 9 to 5. I believe those old cliches that you can do anything you set your mind to. So, I am going to make money from my computer and I invite you to join me. What’s good for you is that you probably know more about this than I do at the time of this writing. I know next to nothing about making money online, but I do know that others have done it. If others have done it, then I just need to take the same steps that they took and I will achieve the same (or similar) result.

The intent of this blog is to journal everything I learn about making money online and to detail the steps to get from here to there. I will give (to the best of my ability) the exact details of what I have learned and how I did it. Mistakes are part of learning and as I make them we can laugh together about it.

If you are new to this, I am glad you are joining me. I am sure there will be challenges along the way and it may not always be easy or fun, but the rewards will be sweet. Let’s do it. In a couple years we can grab our laptops, sit out on the beach and go to work.