Despite what you may think, you actually enjoy loosing money. You just don’t know it yet. You probably heard the expression “Time is money” more then once in your lifetime. Did you ever stop and think how that relates to your quest to make money online? I bet many of you didn’t.
How much money are you making from your 9-5 job, or how much you would make with your skills, in case you’re unemployed right now? I’ll assume a low figure of $10 per hour, just to make sure I got everyone.
When it’s OK and when it’s NOT OK:
1. Instant Messaging - 1hr/day - $10/day or $300/month
OK: spending 1 hour to take an interview, make new connections online or learning new ways to make money from other bloggers. Improving yourself in some way with the help of others.
NOT OK: sharing links or stories, talking gossip, doing chit chat, all these with friends from the real world. Why are you paying $300/month to talk nonsense with friends you can meet in your free time and drink a coffee or beer together.
2. Reading/Writing on Forums - 2 hours - $20/day or $600/month
If someone asked you $600 for a monthly subscription on their forum, would you pay it? No? Then why are you wasting $600 worth of your time to read every single thread on some webmaster forum and writing replies?
OK: writing well thought replies that bring you readers through the signature link, reading a thread where someone is sharing a new tip, looking for new post ideas.
NOT OK: posting just to get a link on that page, together with 20-30 links from the other 10 posters that did the same as you. How much PR do you think you’re getting from a page that will probably be a PR 1 or 2 maximum, shared among the dozens of links that are there?
3. Reading articles or other bloggers - 2 hours - $20/day or $600/month
Are you using any of the advices or tips you’re reading and bookmarking? If not, why are you wasting your money on them. Either use their advices, or stop reading and just do your thing. It will be worth more.
OK: learning something new from the experience of others
NOT OK: forgetting everything you just read 5 minutes after finishing an article; not making use of that advice or tip.
4. Writing posts - 2 hours - $20/day or $600/month
If you had to choose between writing some tips that will help your readers or one where you were tagged to say 8 things about yourself, which one do you think would be worth your time? Do you actually believe I’ve subscribed to your money making blog to read 8 things I didn’t know about you? Why did you just spend 1 hour writing a post that teaches me that you like coffee and you have a big dog named Little John?
OK: providing value with each post
NOT OK: writing something that has no connection to the subject of your blog. Payed posts I can understand, they’re paying for your time and allow you to spend time writing about other interesting posts. Making a non-payed review for the damn iPhone when your blog is about copywriting or blogging tips is wasting both my time and yours. And the same goes for those reviews you make just so another blog links to you in an article where 10 other people share the same honor with you.
Whatever your guilty pleasures are, they’re wasting you way too much money. If you would work those 8 hours/day, you might earn $2000 per month. Are you providing $2000 worth of value every month with your posts and link building efforts? If not, why are you trying to make money online? Stop kidding yourself and start providing value to your readers!
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