My 4 Hour Workweek

As you may have noticed, Google pushed through a major algorithm update very early morning on October 14th.  The past few “Panda” updates didn’t seem to affect me much, but this one definitely took a toll on the rankings and traffic of several of my niche sites.  I just wanted to write a post here about my observations and other bits of information I’ve been reading the past couple of days.

If this affected you too, keep reading, and please share your thoughts in the comments.

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The other day, I was thinking about the success (or lack thereof, depending on how you look at it) of my online passive income projects over the past year or so.  I started this blog early in 2010 (although didn’t really start working on passive income projects until mid-2010) and decided it would be interesting to look at some overall trends and see if I could learn anything from them.

Rather than do this and keep it to myself, I figured I might as well make it public and see if you have any thoughts as well.

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September flew by! It feels like just a week ago, I was writing about August.  What are the chances there’s ever a month where you find yourself saying, “this month felt like forever…”? Seems unlikely.

September wasn’t anything spectacular as far as earnings go, but there are a few things I’ve tweaked and changed, which I’ll explain in this post.

Let’s get into it…

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Occasionally, I find that my motivation falls asleep or disappears, and sometimes needs a little spark to get going.  There’s only so much I can do to internally motivate myself – sometimes I need to read about someone else’s success or action to get myself pumped up.

It’s been awhile since I’ve done any kind of  compilation post, but here’s a collection of some things I’ve read lately that I found to be really motivating…Enjoy.

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This is one thing internet marketers don’t seem to ever shut up about, mainly because there’s some truth behind it.  The thing that always bothered me about the phrase “the money’s in the list” is that it implies some kind of instant value:  subscribers to your newsletter = money in your pocket.

The problem I have with this equation is that it’s like saying “the money’s in a high traffic, well-monetized website.” Obviously.  Honestly, I think half the reason many internet marketers preach “the money’s in the list” is so they can use their affiliate link to Aweber or another subscription mailing service.  I’m purposely leaving out my affiliate link here.

Really, the money is in how you use your list.  Having a list is a lot like running a niche affiliate site – you can’t just focus on getting traffic – you must also focus on converting that traffic.  Keep reading, and I’ll keep ranting…

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Wow, August was a busy month! We’re almost a third of the way through September and I’m just now finally getting around to writing about August’s results.

August was another one of those ironic months where I did very little, yet somehow had one of my best months ever (don’t get too excited though – it’s not much better than the past few months).

Before I get into the usual monthly update, I’m going to begin with a personal update…

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If you look around, you’ll find hundreds of blog posts that talk about the benefits of writing guest posts for other people. Few people seem to talk about the pros and cons of actually being the publisher the guest posts.

It’s worth noting that certain blogs thrive on guest posts, and regularly utilize guest bloggers.  Other blogs seem to rarely publish guest posts (like me). Then of course, you have the blogs that are somewhere in the middle, and periodically publish guest posts, but not on any regular schedule.

But can it be bad to be the one who actually publishes guest posts?  I’ve decided to dig in a little bit deeper on this topic…

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Note from Eric: This is a guest post by Sunil, an internet entrepreneur who has seen a variety of successes online, including several website sales for five and six figure amounts.  Sunil and I initially connected because we share similar professional backgrounds (we’re both CPAs and previously worked in public accounting) – he has since become a full-time internet entrepreneur and has been making money online for the past 9 years (longer than many of the so-called “gurus” out there), so I respect his advice and was happy to publish his guest post here today.  You can read more about him and his blog at the end of this post.

When I started my ecommerce business online, my motivation was pure profits. Years after selling that business for a six figure sale price, I found myself online with a portfolio of several profitable niche websites and now a successful blog.  However, my underlying motivations today seem to have evolved.  Am I alone in this boat?

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