Writing Articles For Money

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Writing articles for various writing sites is generally one of the first ways to try and make money online. I know I had tried this revenue stream when I was starting out online. Many of the writing sites require between 250-500 words an article.

The few sites that paid upfront for articles have merged or have changed their compensation method. The common upfront payments for these short articles tended to be a few dollars a piece and I realized that this wasn’t going to work for me.

The remaining writing sites pay via number of page views or ad clicks neither of which pay all that well unless you really have a lot of traffic to your article. After several months of experimenting with the different writing sites I had concluded that this method wasn’t going to be feasible.

As I continued my research I was also following other peoples websites to see if they were having any luck from writing. That is when I saw a post about writing articles at constant-content and how you set your own price to sell it.

Looking around the site I saw prices from $10-$50+ per article which seemed pretty good prices to me. Many authors were selling 3-5 articles a month there and were generating several $100/month.

Considering my earlier results that seems good. If your planning on writing articles to make money do yourself a favor and skip the rest of the paid to write sites and sell your own articles via constant-content. This method will allow you to get paid a fair price while writing on subjects that interest you.

Are Online Surveys A Scam?

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I don’t know how many times I have heard of people complain that all the survey sites online are scams. When I first started to experiment with trying to make money online I had tried lots of survey sites. Most of these sites are not worth your time and certainly won’t make you much if any money.

It took me over two years to find ten survey sites that could make a semi-decent income of around $1,000/month. But over the course of those two plus years I probably went through over 100 survey sites. Most of these sites either compensated you with sweepstake drawings or points towards over priced prizes.

Even some of the survey sites that paid cash were some what of a scam since the surveys were either under paid or not credited after completed. I have seen some of these companies offer $1 for a 60 minute survey, a complete rip off.

The positive side of this experiment was that I found several sites that did pay well and fair. They also pay by check, paypal, prepaid credit card, or Amazon gift certificates. The problem with most people trying to make money through surveys is that they end up getting frustrated with the bad survey sites.

Lucky for me I was willing to give up quite as fast and managed to build upon the handful of good sites. Much of the information on recommended surveys I found to be not true. Whether the writer was inexperienced on the topic or simply lying is a mystery but the case remains the information was mostly not correct.

I decided to take this information and write an ebook with the best survey sites and how to make around $1,000/month. Here is the “Make $1,000/Month From Online Surveys” Ebook Sales Page. I use these sites myself so I am confident that the information is correct and works as it has for me.

Are online surveys a scam? yes for most, no for a handful.

Low Overhead = Options

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What’s great about living a mobile lifestyle is that it frees up many options you would never have if you worked at a conventional job. Now add to this freedom a low cost of living and you really end up with almost unlimited options.

There are plenty of people with mobile lifestyles that have large expenses due to their high cost of living. When your mobile the devil is in the details, the more expensive your taste the more money your going to need.

The higher your expenses the more you have to work and even being mobile isn’t going to change that fact, this is exactly the reason I like to keep my expenses low. When you don’t need money for day to day expenses you can pick and choose how you spend your time.

It’s nice to work on projects that I choose versus doing things I would rather not like to do but have to do to needing the money. Once you load up on debt and lots of monthly expenses your priority shifts from choice to no choice and making money becomes your only priority.

Being under that kind of financial pressure has caused many normally moral and decent people to do things that compromise their values. Not to mention the fact that they must work all the time at the expenses of spending time with their family.

When your expenses are low your options are the most, it come down to not being under the financial pressure that most people find themselves in. This freedom is worth more to me than what money can buy.

In the event of a huge financial loss in income the person with already low expenses can weather the storm better than the person with high expenses. Try finding a job that pays between $50,000 – $100,000 versus a minimum wage job if needed.

I guarantee finding a minimum wage job would be much easier to do in a pinch than needing to find the higher paying job. Again I look at having low expenses as having more options and tools to take care of many financial probelms.

Idea Note Pad

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One of the great benefits of being self employed and mobile is that you are free to use your creativity however you want.  Not having a job allows your creativity to really take off.  I find that my best new business ideas tend to be when I am not thinking about it.

I tend to get great business ideas when I am not focusing on them which is usually when I am outside.  I always carry a small notepad with me that I use to write down ideas that come into my mind.  Your creativity can and will generate nice income if your write your ideas down.

It has been said that most good ideas come and go only once so if your not writing these ideas down you may be losing them for good.  I know that I had lots of ideas in my younger years that are simply lost forever since I never wrote them down.

Your mind is worth millions of dollars since it creates your ideas.  Few people look at their creativity as a major asset but it has the potential to make many times the income of a job.  ALWAYS carry a idea notebook.

Multiple Income Streams

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When your making money without having a stable home base or employee it becomes more important to diversify your income.  I learned long ago that depending on just one source of income whether from a job or a business is risky.

That income can go away due to changes in terms of a website, a company cutting expenses, or a new law being passed.  The more you experience life the less stable you may see it and if your smart your going to want to plan for this.

Having several different income streams prevents the loss of your entire income in the event that one income stream is lost.  There are so many circumstances that you can’t anticipate what unforeseen event can destroy your income.

I also like to have well diversified income streams.  A few internet businesses, a few cash businesses, and a few passive income businesses all allow me to not be too dependent on any one income type.

If the internet or electric service is interrupted it’s important to have other incomes to focus on until the service is back up again.  Recently the electric was out for a week and this scenario played out just as I planned.

The internet business was still generating passive income but the online work that I needed to get done was put on hold until the electric service was restored.  This showed me the importance of being diversified in income.

Having a mobile income is great but having multiple types of mobile income is even better.  Try and plan your multiple incomes according to possible worse case scenarios.  This way you won’t ever be in a desperate situation.

RV Living

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It’s relatively common for retired couples to sell their home and buy an RV.  This is truly a great way to stay mobile but also have some sort permanent living arrangement.  It is also a great way to keep your privacy since you don’t have a permanent home address.

Living in the same area can cause all sorts of problems from dealing with irritating neighbors to property taxes increasing substantially.  These can become major pains in the neck when you live in a conventional home.

On the other hand living in an RV can provide mobility and travel, privacy, adventure, and fun.  Sitting in the same home day after day isn’t too much fun after a while and traveling by RV won’t be boring that’s for sure.

Many full time RVers drive for a day or two than park for a week to pick up some extra work for gas money and food.  If you like camping your probably really like living in an RV.  The extra money you pick up between traveling can more than cover your expenses.

You can find lots of used RV’s for less than $5,000.  Living in an RV is really the 21st century version of a nomad.  It’s much easier to be completely flexible while living in a RV.

Protecting Your Business

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Many new business owner start their business as a sole proprietorship which simplifies the paperwork needed to file taxes.  A simple schedule C attached to their 1040 form will take care of the IRS filing but there is a down side.

Depending on the type of business you have you may need to incorporate to protect your personal assets in the event of a lawsuit against your business.  Most mobile businesses should take the more costly and time consuming task of incorporating.

There are just way too many people out in the world looking for an easy payday and your money could be that payday.  If you have never been sued before you may think I am a little paranoid but trust me a little prevention can go a long way to keeping your money and peace.

After I got sued by a stranger that supposedly slipped on a sidewalk in front of one of my rental properties I decided that I needed to incorporate that business.  Lucky for me I had a membership to Prepaid Legal and they represented me in the lawsuit and I won in the end.

That lawsuit scared me into never starting a business without first incorporating it.  The few $100 a year you will pay in incorporation fees and extra tax return is worth the peace of mind of being financially protected.  If you have never been sued consider yourself lucky.

Since almost everything about your personal life can be found on the internet it wouldn’t be too difficult for someone to find you if your the target of a lawsuit.  There are attorneys that do assets searched and than work in partnership with a willing participant that sues someone.

If you have any type of financial assets my advice would be to really consider the benefits of incorporating your mobile business.  Consider incorporating the price for peace of mind.

Creating Ebooks

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Writing tends to be the one of the least paid jobs there is and I remember trying to make a full time income from submitting short 300 word articles to various sites.  These sites only paid a few $1 a piece so I quickly tried to figure a new way to make money from writing.

This led me to researching the possibility of creating ebooks and books.  The process seemed a little complex but after experimenting a bit I got the hang of it.  The great thing about writing ebooks is it’s almost free to create them so other than the time it takes to make them your set.

I generally write financial books since this is where my experience and interest lies and I would advise that you focus your ebooks in your own interest and experience.  This will allow your books to not only contain the knowledge but the conclusions you have learned from your personal experience since people tend to like the personal touch.

The more personality in your ebooks the better.  When you watch T.V. do you watch it only for the information or do you also want to be entertained?  Most people want a combination of the two so the more quirks the better.

Creating an ebook takes only a few tools which include a MS Word or compatible writing software which you can get for free here.  This is how you will be writing and composing your ebook text.

You will also need to take your MS Word software are convert it into a sendable form so you can deliver it over the internet.  You will need a PDF software that automatically converts your ebooks for you.  Adobe PDF normally gives you a free trial version for the first 30 days and than you can cancel it or continue to use it at $10/month.

The final few items are optional but I recommend which is a ebook cover and a sales page.  The ebook cover is simply a graphic version of the front of your ebook but it allows the potential buyer to see it as a real book which it is.  Look at my ebook advertisements on this site to see an example.  Many ebook authors spend $100′s for this cover when you can use the same designer I used for only $5 a real bargain and the guy is very good.

As for creating a sales page, if your planning on selling your ebooks on your own sites it helps to have a sales page that gives more information about the ebook.  You can list chapters, testimonials from prior buyers, etc.  This only cost about $10 since all you really need is a domain.

You don’t need a sales page if your goal is to sell your ebooks via Amazon Kindle or Barnes and Noble since they have their own sales page but you may want to consider both options to increase your sales.

Creating ebooks is very simple and can create a great passive income.  If your short on money but have lots of time you can really make this a profitable income stream.

Creating Websites

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Creating websites is probably the most popular image of a internet entreprenuer.  Since there are millions of websites already your going to really need original content to become successful at creating successful websites.

My advice is to only start websites with a topics that you are passionate about and it’s not that important that you know a lot about the subject since your passion will allow you to learn as you go.  The problem with writing about your own interests is that they may not pay the best.

Topics such as cooking, writing, gardening, etc generate less income since they tend to target an audience that isn’t willing to pay too much for information or items.  I am not saying that there are not some of these types of websites that generate decent income but there are fewer than say a website about investing or making money.

Also try and focus on websites that won’t get old in a few years such as writing about the current hot products or styles,  etc.  This information may get viewers today but its shelf life is limited so it’s important to try and generate a long passive income from “unaging” topics.

If your writing about the stock market, term, definitions, etc this information is likely to stay true many years from now.  So when your deciding on a website try and stick to topics that won’t go out of style.

Learning how to monetize your site is very important since this is how you will be transitioning your traffic into sales.  Again financial websites tend to promote financial companies since there related and they tend to pay well when it comes to affiliate commissions.

Affiliate income is basically when a company allows a website owner to advertise their products or services in return for a commission when making a sale on their website.  These commissions can range from a few percent to over 50% depending on the company.

Make sure you start to really research these topics more in depth before starting a website since this information could be the difference between a successful and unsuccesful website.

Creating A Mobile Income

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One of the biggest problems for anyone seeking information on creating a mobile income is that when they start to do research online they get confused and who wouldn’t.  There is so much garbage online that promises big paydays with little work and secret plans.

The reality is that this business is like any other business in the real world, the more time, effort, and skills you learn the more successful your business will be.  The bis misconception of earning income online is that you just need to put up some websites and monetize them and the money will come, wrong.

The internet’s heart and soul is traffic and unless you learn all of the ways to generate that traffic your going to be in for a big surprise.  The best knowledge and skill to have for any online business will be how to generate traffic to your businesses.

Without traffic there is no income, period.  Now you can get that traffic for free which will take years to do properly or you can pay for the traffic which will get traffic from your first day but be expensive.  I tend to do both as do most online business owners even after they are established.

If you think that generating online income is easy your wrong, it’s one if the most labor and time consuming businesses there is but don’t be discouraged.  There are plenty of benefits including passive income for life once your online businesses are set up, growth in income, and freedom.

So if your under some preconceived notion that starting an online business is the easy way to make money think again it’s not.  In fact it’s the hardest business that I have ever had since the learning curve can be steep and take lots of time to learn.  If you put in your time while learning new skills it’s also the most rewarding.