I haven't written here much lately because I've been heads down, blogging on the site that I was recruited to write for. I have virtually doubled my income weekly, which is amazing. Lately, I've been giving more thought to working full time freelance from home and I have some scary reservations.
The biggest one is lack of security. My day job is very secure, pays me well (over 60k/year), gives me fully paid for benefits, and stock options. I know it's going to be there every day. I'm afraid about moving to fulltime freelancing without any guaranteed pay. At any time, sites could close, I could be out of work. I can't handle the thought of that!
Also, taxes scare me. Right now, I'm leaving out 35% of my freelance income in a savings account. But I need to start paying quarterly taxes and I'm not sure how to do that. I also don't know if 35% is enough. I need to talk to a financial advisor and start learning how to pay quarterly taxes and how to save things for tax deductions.
And finally, health insurance. I could get insurance with my partner, but that sounds like a hassle to get started and I have a great fully paid for healthcare plan through my employer.
Alas, finally freelance isn't ENTIRELY a reality. I could theoretically do it with the pay from my new side gig, but what happens if it goes under? I'm scared.
Tips?
Monday, May 17, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Examiner.com Success Story - New Gig!
Thanks to my column at Examiner.com, I've been offered a totally awesome freelance position blogging for a popular AOL blog about video games. This position allows me the freedom to write as much as I want for a phenomenal flat fee about something I love!
That's a huge advantage with Examiner. If you write about something you're really passionate about, you can be seen as an expert about it and other sites about that niche will often contact you for other opportunities. I am not sure if writing for Examiner.com will continue to fit into my freelance writing program, because this new gig really allows me to make a ton of money. I will be solely concentrating on writing there for awhile and build up my writing portfolio.
Has anyone else had Examiner open up some great opportunities for them?
That's a huge advantage with Examiner. If you write about something you're really passionate about, you can be seen as an expert about it and other sites about that niche will often contact you for other opportunities. I am not sure if writing for Examiner.com will continue to fit into my freelance writing program, because this new gig really allows me to make a ton of money. I will be solely concentrating on writing there for awhile and build up my writing portfolio.
Has anyone else had Examiner open up some great opportunities for them?
Monday, April 12, 2010
Why I love writing for Examiner.com
I'd been writing for Mahalo for many months, but eventually I got to the point where I realized I was spending dozens of hours a week on Mahalo for only a couple hundred dollars. This was not a good payout for me. I do continue to make residual income on Mahalo (about $100/month) so I am not abandoning it but right now I'm writing for Examiner.com instead.
Here are the reasons that I'm loving writing for Examiner.com:
Here are the reasons that I'm loving writing for Examiner.com:
- I have actually made hundreds of dollars per month doing this. I have had my National Facebook Games Examiner column only since the beginning of March, and it's earned me almost $400. That is outstanding for writing that I'm finding FUN.
- I get to write a regular column about a topic I *love*, Facebook games. This doesn't feel like work, it feels like fun.
- I can write as many times a day as I want.
- I can run my own promotional campaign and really drive traffic to my column.
- It looks like a news site, and people often take what I say to be very credible there, which makes for lots of links.
- There is no editorial review process, which means that I can pump out articles quickly and write the way I want.
- I've been contacted several times by other places about writing for them, so it is somewhat lucrative for opening up freelance doors for me.
I am consistently in the top 5 Gadgets & Tech Examiners nationwide, so I'm doing *something* right. I am loving this so far.
If you sign up, feel free to use the referral code 39749 so I can earn $50 for signing you up. :) I plan to stop slacking and blogging here more!
Monday, March 22, 2010
Phew!
It has been awhile since I've written here - I'm such a slacker! I've been working hard at my real job and doing a lot of freelance writing on the side though...so it's time for an update!
Mahalo continues to be my consistent source of income. Right now, I make about $200/month without even logging into the website. That's pure awesome in my opinion. I love getting 'free money' essentially.
March however, gave me ignition to bust ass on Examiner. I have a new column now, and I am the National Facebook Games Examiner. I had inspiration to continue when I talked to another top Examiner who brings in over $9000/month on Examiner. I think I have what it takes to be just as successful as her. So, Facebook games is my way of doing that. I actually had one buzzy article make me about $130 alone this month. There *is* huge potential on Examiner for making big money. It just takes frequency, marketing, and a lot of networking. Please check out my column!
Mahalo continues to be my consistent source of income. Right now, I make about $200/month without even logging into the website. That's pure awesome in my opinion. I love getting 'free money' essentially.
March however, gave me ignition to bust ass on Examiner. I have a new column now, and I am the National Facebook Games Examiner. I had inspiration to continue when I talked to another top Examiner who brings in over $9000/month on Examiner. I think I have what it takes to be just as successful as her. So, Facebook games is my way of doing that. I actually had one buzzy article make me about $130 alone this month. There *is* huge potential on Examiner for making big money. It just takes frequency, marketing, and a lot of networking. Please check out my column!
Monday, January 4, 2010
Pennies at Examiner vs. Real Dollars at Mahalo
Every time I see posts like this, I just want to cry for them. In an entire month, with 95 ARTICLES, she made $33.00 on Examiner. How on earth is that worth the time spent to write them? I make that PER DAY on Mahalo. Easily. 95 articles on Mahalo not only would have made her a minimum of $437 dollars, but she would ALSO earn all AdSense revenue on those pages thereafter. She would have been probably up over $500 dollars easily if she were on the How To team. If you're writing just for fun, then sure - but you wouldn't have an passive income blog where you're tracking goals if you didn't care about the money being made!
On Mahalo, you can write about what you want, at your own pace. You control the content. Pages don't have to be "newsworthy" to perform well. Some of my biggest pages are actually related to video games, such as PetVille Cheats. I have become sad at Examiner that I have to keep writing articles to keep up my revenue, and even then it is so TINY. Dollars a day isn't enough for me, it has to be substantial to make it worth the hours I spend on it.
I'm now up to over $1500 made on Mahalo, and I've had fun doing it. There is such opportunity here for writers who want to write How To's (like eHow) and make upfront money + passive income on it. It's an actual career for some people.
On Mahalo, you can write about what you want, at your own pace. You control the content. Pages don't have to be "newsworthy" to perform well. Some of my biggest pages are actually related to video games, such as PetVille Cheats. I have become sad at Examiner that I have to keep writing articles to keep up my revenue, and even then it is so TINY. Dollars a day isn't enough for me, it has to be substantial to make it worth the hours I spend on it.
I'm now up to over $1500 made on Mahalo, and I've had fun doing it. There is such opportunity here for writers who want to write How To's (like eHow) and make upfront money + passive income on it. It's an actual career for some people.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Suite101 Forums are Discouraging
Over the past few months I have been doing some experimenting with various online writing sites. I have tried out Examiner, Suite101, Mahalo, Demand Studios, eHow, and more. So far, I'm completely sold with Mahalo.
Suite 101 Writers are a Bit Delusional
Without meaning to offend, I have spent a lot of time reading the Suite101 forums over the past two months. As of this moment, I have written 6 articles and I have made $6.67. I'm disgusted with this amount, but the people on the Suite101 forums say that is a GOOD start. These people are looking forward to and excited for their first $10.00 cashout! Some of them have been trying for MONTHS to get to the ten dollar cash out!
When you read the forums, there is a trend that always happens. One person sas "wow, earnings are low here". Another person replies "They do start off low, but its all about residual earnings and it will increase over time. Just look at the finance writer who brought in over $5,000 in ONE MONTH!". Everyone keeps bringing up this one particular writer who did well. I'm sorry - but that's not enough to keep me invested in an online writing site.
Regardless how you look at it, having to write hundreds of articles and then let them sit for a year to make piddly cash is NOT a good use of my time. The earnings there are so low, that it is not a good way to spend my time.
The Mahalo Comparison
The only reason that I can see people writing on Suite101 over Mahalo is because they don't know that Mahalo exists. Mahalo is hands down a better environment for writers and makes big money.
The How To Team at Mahalo makes both up-front cash and residual passive income. You can either write one of the tasks from the giant queue of available tasks, or request your own. So just like Suite101, you can write about what you want. The QC team is filled with people who help mentor you to be the best Mahalo writer you can be. So just like Suite101, there is a great team to help you out. Mahalo pays anywhere from $3.50 - $5.00 per How To upfront, and then you earn %30 of the Adsense revenue on the page. You have control over the layout of the page.
In almost all ways, Mahalo is better than Suite101. I have made over $1500 with Mahalo in the past two months, part time. Suite 101 is full of people hoping that their hard work will eventually pay off...while on Mahalo its been two months and I'm seeing my writing paying my bills. Here is information on joining the How To team on Mahalo.
Suite 101 Writers are a Bit Delusional
Without meaning to offend, I have spent a lot of time reading the Suite101 forums over the past two months. As of this moment, I have written 6 articles and I have made $6.67. I'm disgusted with this amount, but the people on the Suite101 forums say that is a GOOD start. These people are looking forward to and excited for their first $10.00 cashout! Some of them have been trying for MONTHS to get to the ten dollar cash out!
When you read the forums, there is a trend that always happens. One person sas "wow, earnings are low here". Another person replies "They do start off low, but its all about residual earnings and it will increase over time. Just look at the finance writer who brought in over $5,000 in ONE MONTH!". Everyone keeps bringing up this one particular writer who did well. I'm sorry - but that's not enough to keep me invested in an online writing site.
Regardless how you look at it, having to write hundreds of articles and then let them sit for a year to make piddly cash is NOT a good use of my time. The earnings there are so low, that it is not a good way to spend my time.
The Mahalo Comparison
The only reason that I can see people writing on Suite101 over Mahalo is because they don't know that Mahalo exists. Mahalo is hands down a better environment for writers and makes big money.
The How To Team at Mahalo makes both up-front cash and residual passive income. You can either write one of the tasks from the giant queue of available tasks, or request your own. So just like Suite101, you can write about what you want. The QC team is filled with people who help mentor you to be the best Mahalo writer you can be. So just like Suite101, there is a great team to help you out. Mahalo pays anywhere from $3.50 - $5.00 per How To upfront, and then you earn %30 of the Adsense revenue on the page. You have control over the layout of the page.
In almost all ways, Mahalo is better than Suite101. I have made over $1500 with Mahalo in the past two months, part time. Suite 101 is full of people hoping that their hard work will eventually pay off...while on Mahalo its been two months and I'm seeing my writing paying my bills. Here is information on joining the How To team on Mahalo.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
My FIRST Mahalo Payout!
I just got my first Mahalo payout! Woohoo! (click to enlarge)
I am going to have a much larger payout next month...
I am going to have a much larger payout next month...
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