Can You Really Make Passive Income?

There's a debate online right now about whether passive income is not just possible but worthwhile. It's not something that will make you rich overnight. Honestly, I've been at the passive income venture for years, and only just started seeing a decent amount of income come in each month. And when I say decent, I mean decent for me.

Making passive income is hard. It takes time and effort and you don't start to see the rewards for a while.

Even if you do all the tricks in the book, you won't instantly see results. There are people six months in only just starting to see their first earnings.

Those that do show earnings right away have usually built up a name for themselves elsewhere. Or they've built their social media following already. Or they've been one of the 0.1% that just hit it lucky. Anyone who says that they made six figures overnight is likely lying to you.

Here's what you need to know about really making passive income online.

You need to put the effort in. There will be weeks where you only seem to work but get nothing out of it. There are weeks that you don't spend much time with your family. But these are only at first. Once the money starts to come in, you can start taking some steps back. But you have to put the effort in to begin with.

You need to treat it like a business. Passive income isn't just something that happens through hobbies. Sure, there was a time it was possible, but your passive income venture needs to be a business. You need to treat it seriously if you want to see serious money come out. I set hours for marketing, growing the blogs, and adding new content.

You need to make a name for yourself. It's not all about what's on your blogs. You need to get out there on social media. Chat to people on Twitter and focus on growing your Facebook page. Think of other ways to connect with people over your comment interest for however you're making passive income. Don't hard sell. Networking is a powerful tool.

You need the right products. Some people will tell you that you don't need to choose the right products to make passive income. If people trust you then they will buy regardless. That's not quite true. I say this from a customer's point of view. If I don't trust the brand or the website, I'm not going to buy, regardless of who is promoting it. I will do my research into the specific company. You need to promote the right products to encourage people to buy them. Your products also need to connect to your niche!

It is still possible to make passive income. There's a world of opportunities out there. To make it work, you will need to make sure you connect, promote, and treat this like a business.

Planning for All the Ways to Make Money Online

There are many ways to make money online. Some options give you a full-time living and others help to add a little extra to save up for a rainy day or stretch your budget. But how do you find the time to fit everything in?

I personally can't fit all the options into my day. There's just too much to do at once, but I still enjoy a healthy living with the internet. I fit in as much as I can and it's possible with planning and being picky.

• I don't bother with the paid surveys. I've personally found them a waste of time and energy.
• I don't bother with some browser add-ons to save money. They slow down my computer and end up being offers that I wouldn't usually look for. I'm not in the habit of spending money for the chance at a saving.
• I don't feel guilty if I can't fit everything into my day.

What do I do instead? Well, I make a plan for all the ways to make money online that work for me.

I'll have a list of things that I have to do in a day. This list usually includes client work, any deadlines that I've personally set, and any blog posts that I'd like to write.

The things that need to happen are then planned out in the diary. I give myself time blocks for all the work that needs to happen, making sure I'm productive with every hour of my day. Yes, I even plan in breaks to ensure I look after myself! Sometimes that plan doesn't quite work out as expected, but the majority of the time it does.

Then I have a list of extra things that I'd like to do. These are the bits that I find fun or worthwhile and bring in a little extra money at the very end of the day. They're only done if I definitely have time.

Slice the Pie (<-- affiliate link) is one of the things on my list for the end of the day. I haven't actually used the site in a long time but I always have it open for when I need it. I love reviewing the music and hearing some indie bands.

Planning is essential if you want to use up all the ways to make money online. You'll avoid wasting your hours where they're not appreciated and gain a bigger income to reach your financial goals.

Do you have a plan to use all the ways to make money online? Share in the comments below!

Stop Wasting Your and Your Audience's Time with Daily Hour-Long Free Videos!

I recently learned of a Facebook group where tutorials and tips were shared in video format. These videos were an hour long and I only learned about them because someone politely requested the person sharing the information to cut the content down to more bite-sized chunks. She thanked the person for the valuable, free content, but made a point that it wasn’t always easy to watch an hour of content on a daily basis.

You would think a few people would share that viewpoint, right? Well, instead the person who did the videos was shocked. Everyone in the group ganged up on this girl and anyone who supported her opinion.

People who didn’t watch the hour of videos daily were viewed as ungrateful and shameful.

Well, if you’re offering an hour of your time for free every single day, let me just say that it’s a waste. That instantly makes me wonder why. Nobody who runs a business would offer an hour of their time for nothing at all; not on a daily basis.

And when I watched the videos, there were no sales pitches at the end. There was nothing for this girl to gain from doing the videos.

Think about it. That’s an hour out of your own day at least. If you’re going to edit the video, that’s an extra 10-30 minutes, depending on the amount of editing. That’s time you’re not getting back.

The request to cut the videos down would make more sense for the girl doing the video. She could have done 15 minutes of information. Bite-sized chunks that would have worked for everyone in the group. No, not everyone has a commute to work to listen to videos. Not everyone exercises in a gym or pool (some of us go to fitness classes). There are parents out there who have kids to run around after.

If you’re not going to cut down your videos because you don’t view them as a waste of time (they still very much are a waste) then don’t attack someone for requesting shorter videos. Don’t belittle them because they have the audacity to ask for less of you for free! Asking for less for free is actually respecting your time, as well as their own. Belittling or attacking someone because they’re seemingly not grateful (that certainly wasn’t the case) is proving you have no respect for anyone’s time. And you certainly don’t know business.

There’s no need to offer an hour or more of your time for free on a daily basis. Especially not if you’re not creating a sales pitch at the end. You’re not going to grow a client or customer base afterwards. Fifteen minutes? That’s great and useful to grow your following and customer base. An hour is just a waste and could be better spent on actually growing your income.

Oh and those who were “grateful” for the hour of your time. They’re using you. They’re grateful because it means they don’t have to pay someone. They don’t actually respect you as a business owner. They’re just happy that they get a world of information for nothing. If you were really worth something, why aren’t  you charging for it?

Is There Still Money in Revenue Share?

There are many people who will tell you that there’s no money in revenue share. They want you to create your own blog, because apparently that brings in more money.

Well, I’m about to tell you something completely different.

There is definitely still money in revenue share. You just need to choose the right places for your revenue share. Don’t give up a percentage of your earnings for everyone. Be strategic and use your time wisely.

Last summer I signed onto another revenue share news site. It’s one that I had sort of heard about before but not in detail. They pay $1 per 1000 views, which is low, but I decided to give it a chance.

You know what? I’m glad I did. They’re excellent for my U.S. savings account. All the checks go into there and I have a few hundred dollars waiting to spend the next time I visit the States (we’re on the border, so very likely soon). Each month is a good pay month, especially now that my articles have built up.

And I got into a news writing site that pays per piece—a site I’ve wanted to get into for a very long time. Just that has been worth it!

And it’s not just that news site. I’ve joined others in the past and still make money through them. I don’t even write content on the sites anymore. All the money is residual.

One of the best things is that I don’t pay out any money for these sites. The articles and blog posts site there and make me money. Sure, they make the sites money too, but I don’t have to worry about the finances of running those sites. I sit back and let someone else do it all for me.

If I ran my own site—well, I do run multiple sites of my own, so I know—I’d spend time on the back-end tasks. I’d need to work on promoting everything, deciding how to make money through it, and then work on building an audience for it. All this takes time and some money. I’m making a negative before I get a financial result.

I’m not saying don’t own your own sites. I love having my own, but that doesn’t negate the benefits of revenue share. There is still money in revenue share. You just have to be smart about it and I’ll share more about that next time.

Back to Make Money Online

I've spent the last few years making money writing. It's been a fun online journey and something that I'm still doing. But I'm not over with experimenting with ways to make money online.

I want to get to a point of replacing my current income with passive streams. I've been lucky that I haven't had to work fulltime for the last seven years, but I don't count by chickens before they hatch. There is always something that could happen to throw me off.

It's time to bring this blog back to life. It documented the world of making money online. It was my place to share some sites that I'd found and interesting opportunities.

Now it's going to be a place to document my journey in full. I'll most likely update every two weeks for now with things I've done and what I'll be doing next. Think of it more like a diary that helps you make money online too.

Are you ready to join me in this online money making venture? Follow me and get updates as soon as they come!

How Article Marketing will Help Your Business

The Google Panda and Penguin updates in 2011 and 2012 changed the way content ranked on search engines but it didn’t change the importance of article marketing for businesses. This is still an effective way for companies to share their products with others but it is about finding the right places to upload the content to and the perfect writers. Here are some ways article marketing will still help you:

Enhance Your Online Reputation

You need to have a reputation online to run a business successfully. This will help to increase your reach and sell more products or services. Article marketing helps to enhance your reputation as you get your name and brand out to more people. The articles are placed on various directories, websites and blogs and shared all over the world.

Lower the Cost of Marketing

Online marketing is much cheaper than other forms. It is possible to do article marketing for free, if you have a good grasp of the language you will write in and the time to write the articles. If you don’t, there are plenty of places offering to create content for a small price. You can also find people willing to post on the directories for you for a small fee, which will allow you time to spend on your business. All this is much cheaper than creating and printing flyers and then distributing them or placing ads in the local newspaper.

Boost SEO with Backlinks

A major benefit to creating articles is the ability to link back to your website. Google highly ranks websites that have good, organic backlinks. You can create guest posts on likeminded websites and add a backlink in your author bio or add a link in an article on a directory. By ranking higher on search engines, you will gain more customers.

Those are just three ways that your business will benefit from article marketing. When opting for this, you will need to make sure the articles are high in quality and the directory or website is reputable. This will help you rank highly in search engines and increase your traffic and profit.

The Benefits of Year 10 Work Experience

For one or two weeks, every year, Year 10 students take part in “Work Experience”. This is something that many look forward to since it is a week or two out of school, while others will see it as a pointless week or fortnight when they could be studying for GCSEs. However, this is a beneficial time for all students.

Year 10 Work Experience Helps to Choose a Career

At 14 or 15 years old, there are high chances that a student has no idea what he or she wants to do in the future. However, work experience is the perfect chance to find that out. It offers the ability to gain a taster in a role to see whether that is something for the student. Granted, a week or a fortnight is not enough time to really get to know a role, but it is ample time to find out whether something is interesting or not.

This is the chance for a student to find out more before going through the study needed to gain qualifications. This is especially useful when it comes to deciding on careers in medicine or law, which are costly and time consuming.

A Chance to Gain Part-Time Work

If the year 10 work experience is something that the teenager enjoys, it is the perfect time to find out about working at weekends or on an evening; even if that is voluntarily. This looks great on the CV for university and other job applications and it keeps the student occupied throughout the time off. If it is paid work, then there is also some money being put to one side, which is a weight off parents’ shoulders.

Learn More About the Way of Life

Being in a classroom is not the same as being at work, and this is something that a child can learn from their work experience in year 10. He or she will learn more about discipline and working as part of a team – or even leading a team. Of course, this also depends on where the work experience takes part.

The Ability to Network

Something that most year 10 students will not realise is that they get to start their business networking. This is useful when it comes to applying for jobs at a later date or getting onto training courses. Contact numbers of the people who were mentors to the student are worth keeping for when references or recommendations are needed – if the student did well in their work experience.