Is it money good or money bad?
 

Hello!!!

I am an affiliate. I have been doing this shit for a long time and sometimes I get pissed off with it.
I have a family and they don't like it much either but it does bring in an income.

I currently work 2 jobs.

One job pays just enough to cover the bills. This is my regular job, full time plus basic overtime paying not much more than minimum wage.
My other job is being an affiliate. Over the last 12 months I am taking an average of $375 a week which isn't enough to support my family with but it's a nice sideline

I want to hit the good times. I want to earn $2000 a week as an affiliate. Then I can safely give up a main job.
I guess at $1000 I could too but I worry that if Google farts I could be back down to $20.22 again.

The problem is I don't have the time or motivation to get to this level. All I can think of is buy up existing sites but they just aren't available.

So what's the question? Or did you just need to rant? ;)

Not if, when

A very close friend of mine went from 3k+ Euros to pretty much nothing after the last update, pigeon I think?

I guess i shouldn't complain about losing few bucks after last update lol .But yes if you want to calculate on long term one thing is sure - should be done without calculating google traffic.

That scares me

The one thing I never got involved in is SEO other than to make sure our existing sites are doing as well as possible, but they are affiliate driven. So the google traffic, while a decent %, is just a part of the equation.

I have a few friends that do massive numbers of sales daily from Google and, as most people do, their lifestyle has grown and grown as their businesses have grown. One of them lost 40% of his sales as a result of one update. I think he got a portion of that back, but SEO is all he does. And while he makes big $, taking that kind of hit is not fun for anyone :(

Having your income be that tied to something out o your control scares the shit out of me. Although Im not a search guy, so maybe if you are good at what you do and you loose a big % from an update, its easier than I think to get back.

the job online is not very reliable ! but for some people is sky , so enjoy while it lasts

You just answered the question. If you are not motivated it won't happen. And yes there are always sites available.

Then stay average and poor. No one here got their fat stacks from being lazy or 'not having motivation'. It's a lot of hard work.

16 hour days. 4 hour sleeps. Rejection of friends to get where you need to be - it's all part of the game though.

Find a way to motivate yourself.

no motivation - no money, this business is not so easy like 5-10 years ago

If you rely on google you WILL get burned.

To get to where you want to be you have to build up to having steady traffic from many sources.

Compared to most people you're doing very well, see your glass as half full :2 cents:

This was kind of what I was thinking - :thumbsup

Just dig yourself out of the funk and realize there are a LOT of people out there can't even find one source of income, much less 2 - but no matter what, if you dig deep enough, you can get passed anything and pull up your bootstraps and move on - just find some way in your head to keep you moving and that will get you by -

As for the title - Money is BOTH - good and evil - but a necessity - so we have to suck it up and deal with it - I guess. :Oh crap

Yeah, my family doesn't like me to run adult sites either. A few times that I bought mom something to eat or invited her to a restaurant, she said things like “This shit was bought with dirty money. It even tastes to me like ass and pussy.”

I started doing other stuff, and I’m not telling my family about my return to the industry. It’s better not to let others know what they don’t need to.

You may find it difficult because your family lives with you, but it’s not. You just shut yourself in a room and tell them you’re working in something that’s not porn. And to make it credible, make some comments such as “oh god I’m behind on my report” or “I should finish a design by tomorrow and I still miss about 80% of it” or whatever you tell them you do.

(This also helps for them to let you work, given that when you work from home, your family may not respect your work and will not hesitate to interrupt you.)

Sorry but I LOL'd at that.

used to only do SEO until updates like panda wiped out about 75% of my income. That was a fucking tough learning experience, now I work my fucking ass off every day to earn way less than I used to when I was working 1 day a week. At that time I didn't realise what a goldmine I had, now i know better, wish i had worked full weeks, could've made so much more money back then.

sad. do you now rely on selling cheap backlinks? :Oh crap

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

Same here.

I did use to work long hours (more than the typical 9-5 plus most weekends) but now wished I worked smarter back then.

I work the same hours now and am much more efficient. It would have been like tripling my hours 5 years ago. BUT ... am making far less still.

Still, there is money but it won't be easy.

Just keep working at it. Sun's gonna set and moon's gonna rise. What else you got planned?

i do mainstream now since a couple of years - still affiliate work with SEO & SEA.
But also freelancing, building websites, graphic design, etc. Custom illustration work is my most unique skill, for example recently ive been making storyboards for advertising agencies, pays quite nice and it's a nice change. But still, it's making hours instead of having a cash cow with minimal work like the 'old days' :winkwink:
btw i do sell hardlinks as well, all my old sites are still online and being maintained, and still generate some affiliate cash as well.

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh