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By Kevin M
 Millions of people have blogs; a small number make money blogging—the vast majority don’t. What’s the difference between the two, and how can you join the money making crowd?
This may seem like an oversimplification, but I think it comes down to a few basics:
- You have to be passionate about what you are doing (it’s not a job, it’s a business—your business)
- You have to be patient—it will take months and maybe years to reach your goals, but that’s the case with any business
- You have to be consistent, willing to write, post and keep your blog going no matter what
- You have to be flexible—everything happens faster on the web and you have to roll with it, or get rolled over by it
If that’s describes you and your approach to blogging, you have an excellent chance of succeeding, even if you don’t have all of the technical skills right now.
How much can you make blogging? Some people are content to make a few hundred dollars per month blogging, keeping it mostly as a side business. Others make in the thousands, and that’s where blogging starts to become something more. And a small percentage are making in the tens of thousands each month, making them blogging entrepreneurs.
I’m not in that last category by any means…but there’s always tomorrow! And that’s the point—blogging is a dynamic process, not a destination. It’s an opportunity to grow your business, if you’re committed.
Continue reading How to Make Money Blogging →
By Kevin M
 One of the main goals here at OutOfYourRut is finding and promoting ways to convert the salary-and-cubical set to the liberating universe of entrepreneurialism. 50 years ago that would most likely have meant setting up a storefront downtown to start peddling your wares.
But that was then, and this is now. The “Big Box” retailers have all but destroyed the quaint storefront shops of not-so-long-ago, so we have to develop better business models in order to be successful. That’s not as difficult as it seems at first glance—in a very real way, it’s even easier now.
Today’s version of the downtown shop is an online store. It’s another example of the 21st Century version of “cottage industry”. From a physical standpoint, it may seem radically different from the bricks-and-mortar businesses of old, but it actually functions in the exact same way.
Online stores are the way to go for “the little guy”
One of the big advantages of the end of bricks-and-mortar—if it’s fair to say as much—is that the start up of an online business requires much less capital, and that’s a real advantage for a new entrepreneur. While launching a storefront business can require several hundred thousand dollars to get going, an online version can be done for just a couple thousand or maybe even a few hundred.
What does that mean to you as a new business owner?
Continue reading How to Start Your Own Online Store →
By Kevin M
 My friend Jay and I were talking about jobs this past weekend and he pointed out something that I hadn’t thought about: There are no astronauts any more! That may not mean too much if you’re under 30, but when he and I were growing up being an astronaut was the ultimate “hero career”. It was, as the kids say today, “the shit” among careers.
Back then it seemed that all of humanity would eventually be going to space—to find resources, to conquer new worlds or at least to alleviate overpopulation here on earth—and astronauts would lead us there. High minded and exciting, yes, except that it never happened!
If a career as cutting edge as astronauts is no longer secure, what can we say about the far more ordinary fields most of us regular folks work in?
You’ve heard it and read it before, and perhaps you’ve even been a casualty of one of the biggest phenomena of our time–the end of job security.
We have to do something about that, but what? Individually, there’s little any of us can do to create job security, but we can gravitate toward it’s close cousin, income security. If we have income security we might not even notice or care that we no longer have job security.
Continue reading Income Security VS Job Security – Does it Matter? →
By Kevin M
“Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.”—Motto of The Christophers
 I mostly make my living on the internet these days but I have a confession. I never worked much with computers until three years ago, least of which the internet. Sure, in the preceding 25 years that I worked in mortgages and accounting I used computer applications, lots of them, but most of us understand the not so subtle difference between that and working in an environment in which your primary means of support is coming directly from working on/in computers or somewhere out in cyberspace.
My career as a paper pusher ended unceremoniously at the end of 2008, a time when recycled paper pushers weren’t in very big demand. Where to go, what to do? Damn computers–#%&*@$g internet—they’ll be the end of the world, you watch!
That last line is a fiction (OK, it was a deeply suppressed thought), but I chose to intentionally avoid dwelling on it. Every one who’s ever seen their career crash and burn can point to one or more big picture factors that directly or indirectly greased the wheels of their departure. We can either poison ourselves with bitterness, or find some way to benefit from prevailing changes (hence the Christopher’s quote above). Which route we take will mostly determine our future direction.
Job VS Opportunity
Continue reading Self-employment in the Internet Age →
By Kevin M
Last night my wife learned something disturbing—not for herself but for some of her coworkers. She has a part time job with a company that just announced that fulltime employees are losing their benefits and being converted to part time status.
Now the optimist may say, “it could have been worse—at least they didn’t lose their jobs”. And while there may be a grain of truth to that assumption, the bad news outweighs the good here, and I’d say by a wide margin. First of all, part time isn’t full time—it’s part time. That means even if you keep your hourly rate of pay, there’s no guarantee of 40 hours a week, or even of 30 or 20. That looks an awful lot like a pay cut to me.
Second is suddenly going from a job with benefits to one without—that includes health insurance. Charles Hugh Smith has made a strong case that the middle class isn’t middle class without health insurance coverage, and I think that point is beyond debate. What we’re looking at here, in addition to the pay cut, is the loss of socio-economic class status. They’ve been demoted to “the working poor” without ever losing their jobs. That’s pretty radical.
There ain’t no more job security
Continue reading 7 Reasons Self-Employment is More Secure than a Job →
By Kevin M
 Picture this: you’re 50 years old, your career is dying on the vine—your entire industry is on life support—and you need to find a new career to carry you through the rest of your life.
Sadly—and gladly—this situation was not hypothetical. It was my reality. I say “sadly” because it was an incredibly stressful situation to go through, especially having a family to support while it was unfolding. But I also say “gladly” because overcoming crisis is an amazingly empowering experience.
Rising out of the pile of economic statistics
I was one of the millions of career casualties of the financial meltdown that you no doubt heard tell of from the news media and assorted talking heads. In fact, I was at the epicenter of the storm, working many years as a loan originator in the mortgage industry. (When I wrote in the first paragraph that “your entire industry is on life support” I’m sure you can appreciate that I wasn’t exaggerating!)
Continue reading How Blogging Solved My Mid-Life Career Crisis →
Guest Post
 Being good at what your company does is absolutely necessary, but in today’s fast paced, global business world, being good isn’t nearly enough. Your company needs to be able to compete against a far larger field and in various national markets. You need to be able to move products and services from the drawing board to the marketplace as quickly as possible—or someone else will beat you to it. You also need to be able to integrate the most advanced technologies into your business model for maximum efficiency and profits.
How do you do all of that without spending more than it’s worth? By using the services of a business consultancy that’s already doing that with some of the largest and finest companies in the world. This is not the time to reinvent the wheel—you need help reaching your goals, and there are services that can help you get there.
You’re not always in the best position to assess your company’s future
Continue reading How a Business Consultancy can put your Company on the Cutting Edge →
 OOYR NOTE: One of the goals of OutOfYourRut is to promote new and exciting business ideas. We’re all entrepreneurs at heart and one of the biggest challenges we have is in deciding what might be a worthwhile business idea. I believe that Phil Toler has come up with just such a concept, and we’re throwing it out there to see who might see the potential and want to partner on the ground floor. You’ll be given an opportunity to weigh in via email at the end of the post. Give Phil’s proposal a read and see what you think. If nothing else, let us know in the comments section what you think of the idea and give any marketing suggestions you can offer. We’ll welcome any business ideas you have as well. Thanks for stopping by!
By Phil Toler
It seems counterintuitive that a recession is a great time to start a new business, but Kevin makes a convincing case in his article, 7 Reasons to be Self-Employed. But deciding to initiate a start-up and conjuring a viable product or service that can be sold in a down economy are obviously very different matters. Even after one has that Eureka! moment and is boiling over with anticipation to get rolling, the following factors must be considered:
Continue reading Investors and Partners for ProtoPit–Are You Interested in an Opportunity? →
By Jessica Wagner
 Saving, whether it’s for retirement purposes or otherwise, is tough enough without having that added difficulty of being self-employed. Many people have found the benefits of being their own boss and making their own hours but putting money away isn’t as easy when you don’t have a company with good retirement plans.
It’s important to know that you can do this even if you are self-employed. Small business owners and online entrepreneurs alike have found ways to build up their retirement and savings funds. There are many ways to do this and there isn’t just one savings plan that you can invest in and IRAs have long been one of the most popular avenues for retirement savings.
Tax deferred retirement plans
An IRA is an account held by a custodial institution such as a bank or brokerage firm. Generally, IRA’s are designed for middle-income investors. There are no income restrictions for most middle class taxpayers and an IRA is available to everyone.
Continue reading Saving and Investing Tips for the Self-Employed →
By William Eve
 As a business owner, you should pay attention to every detail and, on top of all, avoid making some basic mistakes because it can cost you more than you expected. In this article you will be presented with some very common marketing mistakes and some possible ways to avoid them.
Not Having a Marketing Plan
As you probably already know, having a strongly developed marketing plan is vital for the survival of every company, especially for smaller ones. However, there are a great number of business owners who realize that they do not have such a plan when they would have needed it and are desperately trying to save their company from a total failure.
There are others who believe that marketing plans should only be developed by big corporations. This is completely false, as it is also very important for smaller companies in order to achieve success. In fact, it is even more important because mistakes can be fixed more easily for big companies, while the small ones are not always able to handle certain situations.
Continue reading Marketing Mistakes to Avoid Like the Plague →
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OutOfYourRut Disclaimers
General: Any information in regard to money, credit, personal finance, or in regard to any other monetary topic, provided or shared on OutOfYourRut.com is presented for information and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. It is intended to provide general information only and does not constitute personal financial advice in regard to your specific circumstances...MORE-->
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Income Security VS Job Security – Does it Matter?
By Kevin M
Back then it seemed that all of humanity would eventually be going to space—to find resources, to conquer new worlds or at least to alleviate overpopulation here on earth—and astronauts would lead us there. High minded and exciting, yes, except that it never happened!
If a career as cutting edge as astronauts is no longer secure, what can we say about the far more ordinary fields most of us regular folks work in?
You’ve heard it and read it before, and perhaps you’ve even been a casualty of one of the biggest phenomena of our time–the end of job security.
We have to do something about that, but what? Individually, there’s little any of us can do to create job security, but we can gravitate toward it’s close cousin, income security. If we have income security we might not even notice or care that we no longer have job security.
Continue reading Income Security VS Job Security – Does it Matter? →