How Much Is Enough?
I asked this over at my other site Whitespace some time ago and since this is somewhat of a different crowd with different goals I figured I should ask it here again.
When trying to make money online you have a number of options. You could just be making money so that you could save it up to pay off bills or buy new toys. You could be looking for a second income to the primary income that you already make. Or you could be looking to make this a full-time gig. In any case you need to set goals for what you want to reach.
Personally I am going for $10,000 a month, but this number will continue to rise as I reach each goal. It will stop rising once the amount of effort it takes to reach that goal surpasses the enjoyment I am having in my life. $10,000 may seem absurd and a ridiculously high number, but if you could do it would you try?
So what income online are you looking to make? Almost anything is possible so don’t think in terms of limits, but think in terms of what you want or need.
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11 opinions for How Much Is Enough?
Bryan
Sep 7, 2004 at 2:33 pm
So Paul, do you need a personal assistant or anything. Someone to massage your feet? I could wash your car, pick of the twigs and tree from your yard because of the two hurricanes? Anything you want, you name it :) j/k.
I only know of one person making that kind of money via the web (I mentioned him in that email to you), but my personal goals probably aren’t too far off.
Granted, I have made roughly 70 bucks with online affiliates SINCE DECEMBER. WOOHOO :) but I do have a full time job and so my ideal situation would be to have a second income coming in.
I eventually want sites I work on to “kinda” be automated. Not in the sense that I don’t do anything, but that my work doesn’t have to be that of a full time job. Spend a couple hours a day doing a few things and just let the money roll in.
If I could ever get something like 6 grand a month (not including my wifes salary), I would be content, very content. But like you said, that number will continue to rise and we, as greedy people, want more.
That is why getting $15 million for a movie is low for a celebrity. They need that $20 million, because you know, that $5million difference is a HUGE lifestyle change for them :)
I hope you do well with your online ventures.
Only thing I can caution, and you probably already know this, is don’t eventually let your sites APPEAR that you are trying simply to make money. You do alot of content writing and thats good. You have some amazon links here and there and a google ad here and there, and thats fine. I would just hate to come here in 1 year and see your “format” has changed in terms of advertising, and possibly greed. But I don’t see you taking that route ever. You like to write good content and keep it flowing, hence your visitor traffic will keep flowing, hence your wallet gets fatter.
Keep it up
Scrivs
Sep 7, 2004 at 3:03 pm
Heh, I said my goal was for $10k, I didn’t say I was close to it. And of course the best sites are the ones that don’t look like they are trying to make money. The best affiliate sites are the ones that don’t look like affiliate sites.
I know the routine, but thanks for the refresher B. And yes $6k/mo would be very nice indeed. I don’t know of too many people complaining that they make $72k a year.
Jose Silva
Sep 7, 2004 at 7:58 pm
I don’t have any goals in terms of income from my websites yet, for the simple reason, in portugal is very dificult to make money from afiliate systems, and i’m not either capable or motivated to make internationalization.
But, i think that if you keep going on the way you are, ie, expanding the network with the goal of making money, is very possible that you achieve some great bucks.
Jason Marble
Sep 7, 2004 at 9:01 pm
If I could pull in 2-3k a month on the side with affiliate marketing, I’ld be stoked. But hell, I’ld even be stoked if I had a site or few that consistently brought in $100 a month.
If it were my full-time job, I would want to make over $8k a month. But that’s tuff to do with affiliate marketing and it probly won’t last forever. There are no sweet promotions, nice salaries, christmas bonuses, company cars, or 401k’s with affiliate marketing. It takes constant work.
I would look into incorporating an online community and selling ad space if I was really interested in making some money, which is actually what I’m doing right now. Or you could start out as an org, like Craig’s List.
What do you think Scrivs?
Scrivs
Sep 8, 2004 at 2:20 am
I think most of us would be happy to pull in $8k and it is definitely doable, especially from looking at my numbers. If I hit the traffic that I wish I could then I would be there in no time.
Starting an online community or going the Craigslist route is a good idea only if you plan to stick with it. These type of sites are great in the long run but will do nothing for you in the short term. Since they do become great community sites they offer more assets than a basic content site.
I will be adding a forum to Forever Geek shortly to help utilize and maintain the community of readers that I already have there.
Mike M
Sep 8, 2004 at 9:01 pm
I figure we need $3k/month to cover basic living expenses.
Questions for Scrivs:
How many hours/week do you spend developing your websites?
How many hours/week do you expect to be spending on your websites when you reach your $10k/month goal?
Scrivs
Sep 9, 2004 at 3:19 am
Mike, that is something I need to do better at: keeping track of my time.
When I get a better handle of that then I will definitely let you know, but for now I can tell you that I have plenty of time to do whatever I want. If you knew me personally you would know how much I go out. I would like to keep the work hours less than 5 hours a day, but to be honest it never seems like work so I enjoy it.
I don’t think that was a good answer :-)
james
Sep 15, 2004 at 5:20 pm
I enjoy being a webmaster and all that stuff.
Hence I make very little money.
And I don’t try to make lots of money.
However, I hope to start earning at least 100 dollars a month through my websites online some time within the next one or two years.
Good luck in hitting the $10,000 mark, Scrivs.
and when you get that forum up I’ll join :)
Jaycee
Oct 7, 2004 at 4:49 am
I read the comments on here with interest and some surprise. I’m based in the UK and have 4 sites all acting as an affiliate for a selection of merchants. I’ve been operating for about 15 months and have averaged between $4,000 to $10,000 per month profit (not revenue) during that time, the last month was about $8,000. I came into this as a raw non techie and learnt a I went along, doing most things myself. I found an affiliate site I liked and signed up to a selection of merchants through that site and then asked the site owner for help. He gave a lot and I owe him a lot. He earns at least 10 times more than I do (probably much more) and is always thinking of new ideas. So far I’ve done ALL my marketing by PPC and am now looking to develop a Blog site aimed primarily at Adsense. Again I know nothing about Blogs and will have to learn as I go, so any help would be appreciated. I really like the look of this site Scrivs, and will be trying to pick your brains as I go along!
Jaycee
Scrivs
Oct 7, 2004 at 12:47 pm
That’s some impressive money there Jaycee. I definitely need to get back into doing more and more PPC advertising as that is a great way to get traffic immediately (if done the right way of course). But then again if you look at how I got started I had no intention of even starting a network of sites, so all of this kind of caught me by surprise and the money I have spent to create and host all of them effectively comes to $0. So overall I can say that I am happy with what I have done so far.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email me or if there are topics you would like me to cover just let me know.
Darryl Miller
Jan 27, 2005 at 3:21 pm
Hi All,
“How Much Is Enough?”
Online Automated Income Systems
Online Income and automated income systems are a
very interesting topic that I, Darryl Miller
have been researching for over 4 years.
I have done so on my own at first and then with
consultant help for 2 years.
I’ve done no where near $4,000 on a monthly basis;
but, with the help with several online consultants
I will be able to attain this amount within the
next 12 months working 2-3 hours a day.
I have found affiliate programs that require
very little work, no recruiting and no sales
to build a very nice monthly income on your own.
I am only using 1 program currently and it will answer your needs if you give it a chance.
I know there will be doubters and name callers.
Please don’t kill the messenger!
I’m only offering information that was offered to
me to help build an automated increasing monthly online income. I must say that it works.
I started free, tested the system and went for it.
Now my goal is $3000 x 4 = $12,000 monthly in
24-36 months with no sales or recruiting headaches.
Yes, setting goals is extremely important way
to attaining and measuring our success.
There are a few free software items needed to be
safe and successful in this venture and links are
available upon request. All major well knowns.
All this information is available in other less
read forums, those links provided upon request.
When I tell my Wife and Mother,
“I Love Bill Gates!” they give me the strangest
look you could imagine.
I mean this in a purely respectful way.
Mr. Gates is the innovator. I just happen to be
one of those that benefit from his innovation.
Man, I hope you guys and gals are interested as well as confused. That adds to the lure and
mystery of the whole scenario presented.
Is this guy a liar or what!
Should I tell you, you can earn 1% daily or
they have many other websites supporting
this venture or other valuable info?
Email me, if you do. I’m not automated for
replies as the no recruiting states.
Well, I’m a what-er, working on being a do-er.
Right now, just passing on good information
that has changed my life and given me a bright
outlook to a once dismal future.
Enhance your life, set goals and answer that
burning question:
“How Much Is Enough?” .
Best Wishes,
Darryl Miller
Ps: I thought 3 of the consultant groups had
lost all the marble at the same time.
Whoops, that was me. That’s why I hired them.
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