Been a long time since I’ve done a post here in my blog w/c does have some sort kind of a personal touch. Lately I made a commitment to really take the blog to the higher level by actually posting definitive types of articles and guides. As you may recently notice here, there were really some very wordy posts here that provides very good quality for my audience.
I want to take a break on that and want to focus on this post about… my life. Yes, my life. Not very many of you know that last May, I graduated with a degree of Computer Science. Even before graduation I was really looking for jobs. I actually applied on a very popular bank here for a computer programmer’s position but eventually failed the 5th step of the process. I also applied on some several other IT firms but haven’t yet gotten any confirmation. Ironically some of the companies like Accenture and etc. surprised me because of their very low entry level pay w/c had me backing out. Oh well.
Anyways back to the topic. I usually get asked with the question “do I really need it? why not just ramped up my effort in what Im doing online?” I don’t know but I think people don’t really understand the reality and the situation.
We, people who make money online usually are fascinated with the fact that the internet has enormous opportunity and it’s totally true. We also see a lot of those success stories wherein “John decided to make his internet efforts full time and eventually he succeeded”. In fact, guys like Darren Rowse, David Risley and many others took that path and were huge figures right now in the blogosphere. But the thing is when people fail doing this, they are usually left unnoticed.
The reality is that almost all people who decide not to take a real world job usually fail doing things online. That’s the truth. We can talk about mindset problems here, or lack of strategies or many other more geeky stuffs but the bottom line is, it’s hard. There’s a very thin line between people living off the internet dream and having a real world job.
How about me?
Aside from the question above, my friends usually ask me “aren’t you making enough?” This question really is a funny question for me. My answer is yes and no. Yes, because I’m a bachelor right now. I don’t have a wife (heck Im 20 yrs old!), I don’t need to pay anything besides my internet (yes I pay for it) and my food. On the other side, the answer is no because I’m the eldest of the family.
I know you will say, “whats the relation with that?” I don’t know about you but basically here in my country, if you’re the eldest then you have tons of responsibilities in your shoulders. As I’ve stated many times before, we’re not a rich family. My dad is a seaman and my mom has a small store business here in Philippines. I know they’re not getting any younger so it’s time for me to help out and maybe 5-10 years from now, I may have to earn what they are earning from now.
For me I think I’m doing good in the internet but still not enough to call it a living from the internet. This blog is doing good financially, some other sites do well too. I also am a paid writer on some of the popular sports websites. I used to also make a lot of money with affiliate marketing before I decided to take an hiatus in it because I want a more steady business model.
The problem that comes with that is I invest a lot of money. I have 3-4 designers right now for my bigger projects. I also have a guy working for me full time to write blog articles and I also pay for stuffs like hosting and whatever. It didn’t also help that I inherited that Western Culture in terms of spending money on foods and other royalty stuffs. Eventually it leaves me just enough to enjoy my month off the money I make. That’s going to change though as my responsibilities gets bigger.
Financial Security
The reason why most people work is because of financial security and that’s the path I’m looking at right now. My parents aren’t too high on what Im doing (although they somehow support me all throughout) and even up to now they still don’t get it. They were always on this speculation that I’m doing something scrupulous online and it’s not really something reliable.
I don’t know but I think thats really it. As of this writing I am about to sign a contract with a company for my first job and it’s a mixed feeling. As like many people, I’m looking for financial security and of course coupled with my responsibilities as a the eldest child of my family. I don’t know but I’m a bit worried on how my first job would impact my life, impact my business overall.
Now to you! I know most of the readers here have a real world job. I know you’re doing it and also alloting some part-time effort on blogging or whatever business you may have. Finding a career (the more elegant term for job) is the path I’ve gone into. It’s the better decision or maybe its not but one thing is for sure, it’s the realistic demand of life. Any insightful tips that you can give to me or any words of wisdom?
Hi Melvin! I’m having 3 part-time jobs currently. I just finished my degree recently. I work as a promoter, a blogger and also a part-time singer now. I’m applying for my postgraduate studies for my Genetics course. Similar with you, i need to look after my family members. I cannot just depend on one job.
Hi Melvin. great post. too many buy iinto the hype that working online is easy money, and sitting back making money while you sleep away the days.
yes you can make money 24/7 but it takes a lot of work. the people who claim that they dont do any work are lying to you. I jumped into online business to replace my job. it has been a struggle, but I do bring in more now than i did at my job. you can do it.
However, to get here, I work 12-15 hours, 7 days a week. I don’t go chill with friends, I dont run around having a good time, and it has been an uphill battle to make it. now that I am making more than I was at my job, I am beginning to outsource some, but it took a long time to get to where i could afford to do that.
I my self has my daily job beside as bloggers. However, for my current condition, i find that the regular daily job become hindrance of my blogging journey. Therefore, if you believe that your online can cover all of your expense and responsibilities, you should stick for online. However, if you not so sure about the online, you should has offline work as backup for your online work.
You have made some great points Melvin. Security with MMO can be scary, as things change and many times our earnings can rapidly change from month to month. I guess it all comes to down to the fact of whether you can live like that and pay the bills, many can’t, though these days with all the layoffs and people losing jobs and not being able to find new ones it’s a great time to do this biz, but as you said most will quit and fail because they can’t handle the discipline it takes to make money online.
Melvin, I’ve got to say that I think you’re making the right decision in getting a full-time job outside of the blogging world. All things on the internet can be so very volatile that there is very little security in it. Since you are tasked with caring for your family, you are being very responsible in getting a steady, more reliable job. The blogging income will certainly be nice to have as “extra” but it’s just not reliable enough to make a full-time living for many of us.
Good luck in your new job!
I agree. Blogging isn’t a steady source of income and you should really be focusing on finding yourself a strong and steady income from conventional means. The best i can see from blogging is it is a great way to convince employers that you have brilliant writing skills (which you do) and that your good for the job.
Make this decision based on what you like to do, and not on other factors.
In other words, if you believe you would like to work inside a company, having a stable salary and what not, go for it. Some people love this.
If you believe you would much rather stay home and work on your websites all day long, however, go for it. I am pretty sure that if you put 100% of your time and effort in it within 1-2 years you would be earning at least as much as a regular job outside the web. And what is better, within 4-5 years you would certainly be earning a lot more!
Now I am not talking about “full time blogging”. I don’t like that term. I am talking about building websites and a real online business (regardless of the model you use).
Good luck.
It takes discipline and commitment, but over time, you can build up a blog into a steady income. However, you have to do it right.
‘you need to connect with readers, monetize your blog properly, and market yourself so that you attract people to your site. if you can do that consistently, your blog can make you some good money.
learning good seo and building up some rankings will help keep it long term. I have some posts on google P1 over a year old, and still bringing me in 2-3 sales/week. if you post 2-3 days a week, and you can get even a handful of those posts to stick in the search rankings, you can keep a steady income off of your blog.
wow. 3 part time jobs? That’s hard I think. Like you I also am planning to take post graduate study probably 5 years from now (MBA). But for now lets see.
I understand you. Actually shortly after graduating, I tried elevating my efforts and started doing things full time. The result was good. The growth was nice although the increase in income has not yet been seen that much. Either way, like i said im sure my parents will get shocked if i pursue my online thing rather than a real world job.
Not saying its not possible but for now, I think I may have to follow what they want for me.
Yep thats’s the financial security Im talking about. So far I haven’t had problems maintaining my online thing but I want to be more stable right now so thats why I looked into finding jobs.
Exactly. It fluctuates every month but with people getting fired and stuffs like recession, having your own business may be a good option, but then again there’s risk, just like anything.
Thanks Lindsay. 🙂 If I am not the eldest then it could probably be different but I am. and sooner I would be the main breadwinner for the family.
Yep but blogging can bring in a lot of opportunities and I must say that you’re right, every time I get interviewed by companies they always feel that me blogging and making some money online is unique and one that stands out from others,
Actually in one of my earliest post here in this blog, I wrote that I want to find a real job when I graduate because I want to meet new people, make new friends and just have a feel of the corporate world. But then as I get older, I realized that I can actually achieve it online as well so it brought me mixed takes on that.
Right now Daniel I already have signed a contract. The reason for it is that i think i will be liking it and obviously to get some experience and test the job market and see how it goes. I’m actually looking to pattern my thing to you. I’d like to work first for a couple of years and save money and then see it goes.
Thanks for your input, appreciate it.
My Parent same too. They do support me whatever I am doing but they want me to do job. I am eldest son as well. Currently I have 3 more years to complete my graduation, so I am not thinking much about it.
Hello Melvin
Just read this post, and i’d like to first say Congrats on landing your physical job! Think it’d be quite a radical shift for you as you’ve been blogging and making money online for sometime now, or at least for the length of your university days. Think you’d have much of a mixed feeling, but it’d be a good change.
The “Dip” often happens before a good thing, so let’s see what happens from here on. You might find out that you dont really like the physical/real world job, and then make the decision to come back online, more than ever before, or you might like it so much that you’d choose to stay there…but then again, you can probably have a mix of both since you already outsource part of your online work.
You’d do great either way! The efforts you put in have been high quality, and i believe you’d carry the same attitude into the physical world.
On a side line, can you do a hybrid approach to making money? For example, bring some name cards of your melvinblog.com and introduce to people you meet on how you make money online etc? I mean, since you’re going out there, don’t waste the opportunity to market what you do here anyway. =)
Also, you can help your mom as well by doing local business marketing for her, and building traffic to monetise with funnelling, advertising and affiliate marketing for her target audience too.
Either ways, wish you best of luck, and you can shoot me a mail on any brick-and-mortar business questions if you’ve any question ok? I’ll do my best to help. =)
Hi Melvin! It was different when I graduated from college. after I graduated from college I spent 5 months just playing PS2 and goofing around. I have literally zero. and then I was hired at a government agency. and then I transferred here in Davao city. now i got a family. And bills are filling up fast. Doing “Make money online” is good. I strongly recommend that you stay with this. Because the earnings you get from a real job won’t be enough for you sooner or later. unless you have a high paying job. the reason for me why i ventured in making money online is that my salary is not just enough. people think that when you are a government employee, you have lots of benefits and you have a good pay. well in reality, its not, most people in the government are buried in debts. Also keep both of your jobs, the internet and the real job. since you are still a bachelor it’s good to save and save and save for your future. Good luck to you!
They are right, you can’t depend on one job nowadays unless you can earn 4 to 6 figuresa month doing just online. But it is a hard job. The goods and service today is not that cheap anymore. Well, good luck to you and more power.
God bless
I am a bread winner too since my parents got separated and all of my brothers and sisters are on the side of my mother.
I am currently a computer technician here in my place and at the same time a blogger. I also earn money by outsourcing other people’s product or websites.
But online business is don’t really earn a good income for me, because aside from being a bread winner, I am also a good and responsible husband for my wife and a father to my kids.
Wish you all the best for your new job. And I hope you can manage both your online and and offline jobs.
– Blogging Access.com
For most blogging is not enough to support a whole family, so most bloggers have to have an actual job.
I think if you can find a nice full time job with nice salary package in Philippines or online is better and you can use blogging as part time. But if you a nice product or idea that you know will sell very well on the internet and you will be able to support your family with it, than you can go for it.
I understand your situation, basically because I live in the Philippines myself. Even more so because I’m currently unemployed due to kidney failure. The positive note about it is that I get to see my blogs through more often. But is that enough? No, it’s not. Even if your blog is earning you money, which mine isn’t, it would never be enough to support you here. Until you’re earning six figures just like big guns do, I’d suggest you get a real job because it’s the right and practical way here in our country.
I understand your troubles 😉
I too am working while trying to earn a living off the internet.
We have to set our priorities and always keep track of our goals.