Twitter

Now I've really done it. I started a twitter account. If you're interested it's @startoffthebase and I've added a "Tweet This" button in the sidebar. Really not sure what to do with it just yet, but I'm thinking quick little updates and pics will be just right. Thinking about starting a Facebook page as well, will keep you updated.

I read something recently that said "Discipline = Progress" I really like that, obviously I don't have near the discipline I thought I would when it comes to updating this blog. It's far too easy to let something distract me, at least I can easily justify it. Part of my worry about starting a Facebook page is that I'll use it as an excuse to not get anything productive done. And let's face it, I come up with far too many of those already.

Understanding why I do it hasn't really helped me do anything about it. I know that fear is a driving factor in all of this, but I'm not sure if it's the fear of failure or the fear of the unknown. I'm used to working the daily grind but at least then I knew when payday was. This however has a lot less "security" if you will, to it.

My biggest fear is that I'll prove myself right and not be able to attain what I'm hoping for. Or maybe that I'll prove myself right and succeed. What a convoluted mess I have going on upstairs right now. The main thing is to keep on doing the next thing in my to-do list and plan ahead. One day I will crack this code to making good money online. One day this will pay for a house and a new vehicle. Never owned a brand new one, and I think it's time I do whatever it takes to earn one.

Keep on keeping on.

Snow!

Finally snowed here today! I spent far too much time playing outside today. But if I can't enjoy myself once in a while, what's the reason I'm trying to create a mostly passive income online?

No real progress made on that front as I've got some projects up in the air and am waiting for more traffic. Which on a budget, is way harder than all those emails I've gotten seem to make it. According to them, the secret to huge amounts of traffic is paying them a bunch of money and it'll happen overnight. Call me a cynic but I imagine there's more to it than that. If I'm wrong shoot me an email or let me know in the comments.

Meanwhile I'll keep trucking along doing what I'm doing and focus on what I've got in the air.

Post - Thanksgiving

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving, I know I did. It was nice to spend the time with family I haven't seen since last year. I took the day off from everything, including finding something I can make money with. It was hard since I want so bad to make this work for me. The best news is, a gig I set up on fiverr made $30. On it's own!

This really gives me hope on figuring this whole mess out. $50 really isn't a whole lot but that's ok. At least it shows that something can be "automated" so to speak.

I've been looking at writing jobs online and without shelling out any money, I managed to land one for $25/post. Limited to one post/day but it takes me less than an hour to finish. All I need is to find a few more and I might be able to pay the rent this month!

Hope your search is going well also and don't forget to check out the freelancer ad at the top. Don't be afraid of a little "hard" work to make your first dollar online.

William S.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just wanted to say a quick Happy Thanksgiving to everybody! No matter where in the world we live, we all have many blessings to thankful for. I strive everyday to focus only on the positive and let the negative roll off my back, for that I am more grateful than I can express in mere words.

May today find you in good company and more successful than I have been in this working online foray.

William S.

This ain't homework...

Want to get funny looks at a coffee shop? Just do what I'm doing right now. Typing this on my tablet, doing homework with my laptop and texting on my phone. One can never have too much technology right? I'm trying to get all my homework finished before the long weekend so I have plenty of time to devote to making some money online. What? You thought I was going to join the crowds on Black Friday? That is, I suppose one benefit to not having much money. I get to miss out on that tradition. 

I'm still plugging away at this freelancing thing, so far just shy of $300. Really not bad but I feel I'm putting too much time into it. Looking at an average of $10/hr or so right now. Better than any traditional job in this area, but wasn't the Internet supposed to make our lives better? I'm really hoping to averaging closer to $30-40/hr. That of course tells me I need to find another income stream. 

Another fringe benefit of not having residual income is I don't spend money I can't afford to get the newest "get-rich quick" scam. And yes, I've fallen for the hype before. Paid $47 for something that was supposed to make $2500+/month on autopilot. If only it really was that easy. After downloading the "software" I realized I couldn't get it to do anything. A programmer friend of mine looked it over and told me the bad news, "Dude, this thing was designed not to work. Just look fancy." Ouch, call me a cynic but that stuff just doesn't appeal to me.

Reason I brought it up is I was wondering how many others have ripped off like that? Feel free to leave a summary of your story in the comments,  or you can always email me as well. 

wrschuster@gmail.com

Happy Thanksgiving!

William S. 

Delays

It can be pretty hard to keep this thing updated when life intervenes. Having gone through a breakup this weekend, it's made me take a step back and do an inventory on what my goals are. Thankfully they haven't changed too much and I'm almost more committed to make this online thing work. 

Then I found out my niece was admitted to the hospital and it really makes me want to figure this thing out. If I could work anywhere then I could fly up there and visit her later today. As such, I'm stuck here hoping a phone call will suffice. Even if I was employed at a "real" job, I'd have to put in a request for time off and hope a co-worker hadn't beat me to the same few days I need. 

I can really see the appeal of being able to work from "home" as it were. The ability to buy a ticket and fly anywhere at a moments notice and know my "job" was waiting for me to land, or even use the flight to get some things done would be amazing. 

As for an update on how working online is going? Well slightly stagnant if you couldn't tell. I kind of ignored everything this weekend and so my grand total from doing some freelance work is only $230. Still not all that bad but nowhere close to my goal. Had to start unsubscribing from the many lists that clogged up my email. Over 600 emails in a week! At that point, it's borderline ridiculous if you ask me. I don't think there's anything wrong with offering to help someone succeed, but 600 emails in a week from 10 lists subscribed, is no longer any help. I don't think that much "information" would help anyone.

For now I'll keep plugging away and searching on my own. Should I find anything that I've actually used to make money with, I'll most likely add a link so you can try it out. Hence the banner ad for freelancing at the top of the page. Keep in mind though, nothing I'm likely to find will be a magic money switch, though that would be awesome to stumble upon.

William S.

Freelancing?

After signing up for some lists and watching my inbox explode, it became obvious to me that typing "make money online" into Google wasn't going to work. I suppose if it was really that easy then everyone would do it. Not saying this whole thing should be point and click simple, just very easy to get distracted by all the shiny things that are being promoted through these lists.

So I began a different approach, started looking at freelancing as hopefully a viable means to pay the rent. I signed up with freelancer and fiverr to see what I could find. Seems as if everyone had the same idea as me though, competition on these sites is intense. Imagine a boss walking into a group of 18,000 workers and asking, "Who here can do this the fastest and cheapest?" Absolutely nothing wrong with that for sure, but this is definitely a different kind of commitment to working from home. Or the coffee shop if you decide to. Having said all that, in the last two days I've made $55 doing about 3 hours of "work". No get rich quick scheme here, just honest working with a healthy dose of patience as well. The patience comes from having to bid and wait to see if you've been chosen. 

The biggest problem arising from the fact that I struggle with patience. With the current mentality of instant gratification our world seems to have, I can see the allure of those shiny promotions I mentioned earlier. Now don't get me wrong, point and click profiting would be awesome, however I want something(s) that will bring in recurring income with more dependability than freelancing offers.

Seems that is the golden ticket anyone who goes online hoping to cash in big is looking for. 

Best wishes, 

William S. 

Catching up with the times

Quick update here, I'm finally catching up with the times as it were. Downloaded the blogger app for my phone, should help in the long run.

On the working online side of things, opting in to a mailing list sure feels a lot like giving the spammer permission to blow up my email with the shiniest thing they know about. I can understand the principles behind a "marketing" list, but come on! If you lure someone in with the promise of teaching them a way to make some money online, then you should probably do just that. Not sending them a pile of links to opt in to someone else's list and/or buy something from someone else.

I may be at a turning point here. If preying on other's desperation is the easiest way to get ahead on the Internet, please count me out.

Best wishes,

William S.

Introduction

Just thought I should start with introducing myself, I'm about as newbie with all this as one can get. I may be a 26 year old full-time student but never had a reason to start a blog until now. Please forgive any grammatical errors, I haven't taken any writing classes yet.

The whole gist of starting this thing was to keep me motivated as I try this working on the Internet thing. Having never tried anything like this I feel as if I'm standing at the bottom of a cliff, and cannot see the top. 'Start off the bottom' was a phrase that a friend of mine came up with while he was telling me about why he loved rock climbing. I believe he said something akin to, "The greatest thing is you get to start off the bottom, and you earn your way to the top."

Wise words from a 21 year old (at the time) for sure. It has since taking me 5 years to start to live that idea. Figured I'd look into working online since my schedule makes it hard to work a traditional job. And I get to start off the bottom with a brand new blog to post updates to keep myself on track.

If anybody accidentally reads this and you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them!






Best wishes until next time,

William S.