Hi All, Some of you may remember that I posted a while back looking for votes as to whether or not I should quit my steady, comfy, 9 - 5 job and go for broke on my own. Now I had planned only on leaving once I received a certain number of votes however, I couldn't handle it any longer. So I quit. I am 23 years old, not married, no kids. No commitments apart from my rent and a smallish student loan. I have a approx 4 weeks left to work my notice and in this time I need to have a system in place that is generating income in order to support me once I'm finally finished. I have been trying IM for the last 2 months and as yet have not made ANY money at it. I do have some web design contract that I could possible do if I were stuck...But I really want to make it in IM. Do any of you experienced IM people, have any pearls of wisdom for a relative newbie. How feasible is it for me to go from Zero to Financially self sufficient withing the next 2 months? I' planning an eBook (and maybe some audio) on my experiences and what I learn throughout this whole process. Is their a market for this type of product? Maybe one of you experienced IMers would like to use me as a case study for one of your own products and we could team up for a product? I'm 110% committed to doing whatever it takes to make this happen. I want out of the Rat Race! Looking forward to your comments, Niall
Id say first get a domain name and stop using blogspot. It would be a great ebook and story if you actually had progress or a game plan. But it seems that you quit your job, and now your in the dark and begging for someone to spoon feed you.
It would be a great feat to go from 0 to financially self sufficient in 2 months. I'd say your chances of succeeding are slim. In my opinion your best chance would be to promote affiliate programs with PPC although with the new landing page quality score in adsense this will be not as easy as it used to be. (And it wasn't that easy to begin with) Also you need to have some cash ready to spend on PPC and you'll probably lose money untill you find a affiliate/adcopy combo that works. While you're doing the affiliate thing I'd suggest you make some good content websites. These will start to generate revenue over the longer term. I hope you have some extra cash stashed up somewhere to tie you over for the first couple of months. Don't get me wrong, if I were in your situation I'd do the same thing. Just keep your living expenses as low as possible.
Thanks for the feedback. INV - yes I should get a domain name setup thanks for that. I think maybe I didnt explain myself properly. I will NOT be soley concentrating on IM. I have a web design business providing schools with websites that I started last year and has been making some 'spending money' for me. I took this job at probably the most crucial stage in developing the businesss, just as we were about to start selling! So we could never devote 100% of our time to it. I will spenf 2/3 days per week working on that and then maybe 1/2 days trying IM or doing some web design contracting work. That's also anothe rreason for me doing this. sgthayes - yes it absolutly would and I hope I can pull it off. I wont be concentrating on making money from IM. I want to prove to people that there are so many other business, money making opportunities out there, that anyone can be successful at. I want to prove that walking away from corporate life without a safety net, can be done. And can be done in a planned, and structured manner.
I applaud your bravery, though I'm afraid that is the closest to a pat on the back as I can give you thus far. I too would love to get out of the office and do my own thing, though I'm far too conservative to do this kind of thing without a reasonable financial safety net behind me, and that sounds like something you haven't got. My advice to you is take what you can get and aim towards IM over the longer term. If you've got no steady source of income then you're going to have to take anything you can get. It takes experience and a portfolio to succeed in the market, so for now you're going to do well to get much more than relatively small, low-paid jobs. To become self sufficient in 2 months is a challenge, I wouldn't back myself to do it, but somebody with sufficient drive may be able to. You really need to work out a plan of action - at which point do you need to start looking for another office job? I know that isn't what you want, but if theres still no money in 1, 2, 3... months, then do you seriously have many other options? List your qualities and skills and take on anything and everything you can get your hands on, however big or small. The money adds up and so does the experience. I can't offer up much more advice because I'm not that knowledgable on IM, though I do know how hard it is to work from home and to actually earn a living.
I would first start earning a sustainable monthly income from your sites from all the various sources, whatever they might be i.e. adsense, affiliates and so on. Only then should you consider leaving your job.
Good Luck... I've wanted to many times but never made the Plunge, tho I haven't found work in nearly 3-years... Guess I'll see ya on the streets...
Nice exampe of some one who just screwed up!! Do you have a plan or even know what to do?? No. Are you even making money on the internet?? No. Do you even know how to make money on the internet?? No. Keep your current job until you know how to make money on the internet.
On the 4th of aug, i will finish my university placement which i've been doing for a year. Then i have 3 months before i start back at uni. -- in this 3 months, i'm going to try and do exactly the same as you kearnsey11. I have no idea what "IM" is what you keep talking about, but im going to try and make money using adsense and affiliates. I've only got the 1 website so far making me $4 (£2.40) a day, and 2 or 3 more sites making zero - 20cents. I can make games in flash -- so freelance game design could be somthing to help pay while i get sites setup to pay for themselfs. Good luck to you anyway man I might setup a blog aswell. Cheers.
I read it as IM = Instant messaging Had a feeling it wasnt that. lol, i guess its what your more into.
Nintendo - I understand what you are saying, it's the common sense approach. But due to the amount of travel I am forced to undertake with work I find it very difficult to give get anything else, 'off the ground' so to speak. I am willing to take a part-time job to support me initially through the early days. It's like this I don't want to be 30, married with kids and a mortgage and not able to walk away from my job because it's too risky! Too Irresponsible you might say. SO I'm trying it now, yes I might fail, this might be the worst decision of my life, but to be honest, I feel great since I did it. Like a weight lifeted off my shoulders! It's my dream to work for myself, not to have to report to anybody. That's why I'm doing it now..it's not always possible to have 6 figures in the bank as a safety net! I should also mention that I have a small business providing websites to schools that I have been running part-time for some pocket money over the last 12 months. As I took this job just as we were beginning to market our business, we could not give it 100%. I will spend 2/3 days per week doing this and then 1/2 days freelancing or trying IM. You gotta be optimistic about life, I'm trying to change my life for the better..long term. SO some short term setbacks I'm prepared for. "Live life to the max" - so to speak.
Ninny,. 'screwed up' is the understatement of the year My only advice would be to say sod the UK market, go for the US market as your not going to get organic traffic from the UK as it is dominated by Google, and Google will piss its pants laughing at a 2 month old site. My advice to you is get off your arse, set up appointments 1 day a week for your design business, attend those appointments the other day, and complete the work in the remaining 3 days. In the evening learn web marketing, because I am a good SEO, and even I would be worried about going from zero to self sufficient within 2 months (apart from using PPC, which I have to say is really not an option to you if you only have 2 months money and can not afford to lose it). PPC is the easiest way to lose money if you do not know how it works, it can be your best friend or your worst enemy.
That's the best way to lose all your money!!! You have to master it first. I have yet to ever make a profit from PPC!!! I've always been lucky if I broke even when ever I tried it out!! I've tried Amazon, ebay, Clickbank, landing pages promoting affiliate program leads...grrr!!!!!! Once I tested out a few ugly SPAM sites...and that made way more money than PPC...until Google dumped them!!!! (Example: deals-hq.com)
Make sure to consider some MLM.. thats fast money. When you hace some, jump to forex.. either you multidouble it fast, or back to job again. Good luck.
Good luck to you but at least you got 4 weeks before you are totally on your own. Try getting some websites up and market them well. I have't had any success with affliate marketing so far though.
I'm working towards taking the same leap. However even though my site(s) may generate decent income, I will probably always look for side work or keep a part-time job (remote telecommute preferably). Having that little extra "stable" income makes all the difference in the world. In reality, you should have already saved up enough reserve cash to float yourself through many bad months before you go it on your own. Then when you have a good or great month, refill the reserve tank. With all the success stories floating around the net on making cash on the web, it is easy to get caught up in the moment and quit your job before you are ready. My best advice to you, see about hanging on to your job a little while longer until you have some steady income in place. At the very least I would try for making as much as you need to live on from your side business before making the jump. Don't assume you will be able to make up the difference if you need to by picking up odd jobs here and there. It can be tough these days with the offshore/outsourcing market. Once you reach that magic number of covering your living expenses with your earnings, don't stop there. You'll want to aim for making at least 50% more than what you "need". I'm aiming for double of my expenses. That way I can consistently build my reserve, save for retirement and of again, weather the bad months. And there will be bad months. Best of luck to you!
good luck man,but to be on the safe side, it's better you have some sort side income like your website design.don't quit on that too.heheh.i'm new in this field too and at first i thought it would be easy, but i knownow you've got to put loads of time in too it.the good side of you quitting is you'll have all your time concentrating on your projects and not have to worry about your office work. i thought IM was Internet messaging too itsall3..heee