For many people blogging and the usage of Internet and social media is a hobby. It does not bring any income and it is something they only do to relax and to have fun. For others the Internet makes up 100% of their income. What would happen if something happened to your website giving you all the income? How many legs are you standing on?
I recently read an article where the writer said that he did not like the traditional affiliate programs because suddenly they disappear, and what has given you a decent income for a while suddenly stops. In general I am a big fan of affiliate programs, but I would never put my entire trust in one program and one partner. After all, if something should happen to the one and only leg I stand on, I would be in big trouble.
A friend of mine recently got the message that he will loose his job as a chef in a school. As he got the message he suddenly realized that he should have learned English, because if he had, he would have lots of opportunities to get similar jobs in English speaking parts of the world. Instead he now have to start his unemployment with no extra skills and it will take him a good while to learn English. As we spoke he said: „I wish I had thought of that earlier and studied English while I still had the job.” Unfortunately many people do the same mistake and stop developing their skills as they get a job. They feel safe standing on that one leg.
Hopefully you get the message reading this article. It is important to develop your skills and to make sure that you are standing on more than one leg. Keep reading for some advices on how you can develop more legs to stand on.
Advices for bloggers and people working on the Internet
1) Do not put your entire trust in one affiliate program / partner
I have one blog post that gives me a very nice income every month (not on this blog). This is a terrific thing and I truly enjoy it, but there is a reason why I keep working hard with both that blog and other blogs. If that partner suddenly stop their affiliate program or change their fees I could get into great trouble within a short time if I placed my full trust in this single deal.
2) Do not put your entire trust in one single blog
In 2012 lots of things changed in the Internet world. Google introduced their panda and their penguin and suddenly sites and blogs that had awesome ranks earlier disappeared from top rankings. Everyone with some experience know the big difference between a number 1 and a number 11 ranking in Google, so for some businesses this was a true disaster. This does not only tell us to make more than one blog, but it also tells us not to be fooled by „quick-SEO-solutions.”
3) Are you developing any offline skills?
This is a troublesome question for me. What if you of some reason had to stop doing business on the Internet? Do you have any offline skills? Even the thought makes me sweat, but I believe it can be useful for all of use to develop skills even in such areas that do not deal with online business.
4) How long can you make it without success?
Once I considered buying a flat to rent it out to tourists. A guy then asked me; for how long can you survive if you never manage to rent out the flat? That is a good question! If your web servers went down and your websites lost its visitors… for how long time would you be able to live and pay your bills? If the answer is a very short amount of time, you better make some changes!
Advices for people making money offline
1) Have a backup plan ready
If you lost your job in a couple of months… what would happen? For how long time could you survive on the money you have saved and that you will get as an unemployed? Are you living somewhere where you will easily find a job again? If not, develop yourself and make sure that you are in a position where you will be an attractive worker for employers around the world.
2) Develop yourself in the area you already work with
If your employer see that you do better and better work, he will for sure want to keep you in the company. People working with excellence are attractive, and if you keep growing in your job, you will not only be attractive to your own company, but also to competing companies. As you develop your talents and grow in knowledge, you will find people running after you instead of you running after them. And if you are so talented, then you might even be able to start something out by yourself, instead of looking for others to employ you…
In a work where things changes rapidly I believe it is important to stand on more than one leg. Do not forget to throw your credit cards, and start saving money instead. Once the money is there, go shopping, but until then… relax!
Your final trust
To save money is important and it is always nice to know that you have money in the bank ready to help you out in a troublesome time. Still our final trust is not in a job, in a blog or in my bank account… it is in the creator of the universe, in a God who I know will supply for me and take care of me no matter what comes against me. Do not forget about that!
If you have any further advice on the topic, I would love to hear from you in a comment!
Diversifying your effort is definitely essential as the world is always changing, so it’s good to have multiple sources of reliance to support yourself.