Weeks 6, 7 & 8: Time To Take A Breath (and Month End Report) - alternativeSOHO

When you’re busy, catching your breath seems like the hardest thing in the world to do, but then I remember — If I’m too busy to breathe, I cease to live. This is what reminds me that I’m of no use to anyone if I’m not alive.

I got a really big reminder last night when a thunderstorm passed through. The power went out as I was responding to client emails and about to update this website, and when it came back on, my computer rebooted and I knew it was definitely time for me to shut down and unplug everything.

Instead of getting upset at the situation, I realized that I was able to spend the evening relaxing, something I hadn’t done in too long. If you’re in the same boat and you’ve been working yourself beyond your normal means, I’d suggest taking a moment to yourself (getting out in nature really helps).

I also had quite a bit going on in my life over the past few weeks — I was ill, my sister was ill, I turned another year older and business didn’t let up for me (still hasn’t actually). But in all that time, although I didn’t update this website, I hadn’t forgotten about the challenge. I won’t lie, my challenge websites did suffer because of it, but I’m confident that it will all work itself out.

I also noticed that there were some people asking the question “how do you stay motivated to work when your website isn’t bringing in any money — yet?” and it got me to thinking. How do I stay motivated?

While I love change and experiencing new things, I am a creature of comfort. 80% of the time I like to know what to expect and I want things to be familiar. Sometimes that desire for the familiar can be my own undoing because in order for things to change, I must change. If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got — plain and simple.

Staying motivated in the beginning was really hard though, but once you do start to see profits, suddenly angels start singing and this glorious bright light shines down upon your computer as if the heavens have opened up just for you. Well, it may not have happened that way, but that’s how it felt. When I got my first check from Google, my immediate thought was - “hmmm….how can I get another one?” and “I wonder if there are any unconventional methods I can use to earn money online.”

Each time I check my stats and see that I’ve earned more money or when I receive a check in the mail, it serves as a bit of motivation to continue going — not just “going”, but “going forward”. It’s been said many times before, but I feel it needs repeating — the hardest part is starting.

Let me tell you a little secret: you do not need to spend an arm and a leg to get started. You do not need fancy software or guru gadgets to get started online. You can start for $40 (or less if you’re really keen with your pennies). You can most likely earn that back within the first month.

My best advice when you’re just starting out is to buy a domain - just one - and try not to infringe on any copyrights while you’re at it :), get some cheap hosting, develop some content and slap some Adsense on that bad boy (maybe sign up for an affiliate program or three). Put a link to it in your forum signature and participate in the forum (note I said participate, not spam).

That is the sure fire way to get over your cold feet. Start with what you can and make due until you can afford those extra perks — simple as that. Even if the site is really lousy, over time you can redevelop that website into something great and you can learn the ropes while you’re at it. Then when your conglomerate online marketing business is pulling in huge chunks of money, you can look back to that first website and smile.

Moving right along, I am still working on my project that was postponed due to circumstances beyond my control, but it’s still coming along and I hope to launch it within the next day or two. I am hoping to launch this project in time for the 12 week challenge, but even if I don’t get it done in time, I’ll still be proud of myself for everything I’ve done in this short amount of time.

I will also be starting my side project which I’ve dubbed the 6 Week Project. I am blown away by the number of inquiries I received within a few days of posting and I am definitely looking forward to working with everyone on that. However, this isn’t part of my 12 week challenge as this is not a program I’m monetizing in any way, it’s something I want to do in order to help myself and others.

I don’t want to get into many details of my challenge websites, but just so you have a clear understanding of what I’m doing (so far), I currently have two websites in the challenge and I hope to up that number to 3 within the next couple of days. Now on to the month end financials.

April 29-May 26
Affiliate sales: $60.24
AdSense earnings: $18.71

Total Earnings: $78.95

Daily Average: $2.63

Not quite $100 yet, but it’s $2.63/day more than I was making before :). I definitely plan to invest a lot more time into my challenge website in this last 4 weeks and hopefully I’ll have some big news for my next challenge update.