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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
 Many times on this site I’ve advocated the idea of starting a new business as a side venture along with you job. Trying to juggle two business enterprises at once isn’t the easiest task but it provides certain undeniable advantages that can make it worth the effort. For example:
- You’ll have a “cash flow”—the paycheck from your job—something you won’t have if you plunge into the new business full-time
- You’ll have time to make mistakes because you’re job will have you covered when you do
- You won’t have the pressure to generate an immediate living wage since you already have one
- You’ll probably have health insurance through your employer
- You’ll have a built-in safety net in case the business fails or you find out it isn’t for you
All of that is true, but as anyone who’s ever tried it knows, starting and running a business while holding a full-time job isn’t the easiest combination. How do you manage both without jeopardizing either?
1. Block out time for your business
If your job takes 40 hours per week (or 50+ when you factor in lunch and commuting) you’ll have to set up specific times to work on your business. You might block out 3-4 hours per day, with one or two hours early in the morning before work, two or three in the evening, then more on the weekends. Businesses require time and effort to build so you’ll have to be very disciplined in making the time that will be needed.
Continue reading 10 Ways to Balance Your New Business With Your Job →
By Kevin M
 An online business is a real opportunity for the average person to take advantage of the combination of computers, the internet and globalization. With it, we’re able to participate in the much bigger global market, free from the constraints that are eliminating jobs and opportunities in more traditional businesses closer to home.
Even if you don’t have interest in having a full-time online business, I think that creating a part-time version as a side business offers an opportunity at increasing your income and, more importantly, creating multiple income streams that will leave you less dependent on your primary job.
Why is “going global” important?
Recessions are often local
I’ve always been of the opinion that many of our financial issues (on an individual level) come down to geography. Does that sound like an oversimplification?
Continue reading Going Global with an Online Business →
By Kevin M
 There was controversial article out last week, How a Former Currency Strategist Went from $150K/Year to Serving Lattes at Starbucks (Yahoo! Finance), and it’s one of those stories that we all have an opinion on.
At age 38 this guy was working at an investment firm making $150,000 as a currency strategist (what ever that is!), and was living the good life complete with “$200 steak dinners”. Today, he has a $9.70 an hour job at Starbucks, the good life is gone, and he has had to pawn possessions and tap into his 401K plan just to survive.
Before we go passing judgment on this man, I think we first need to stop and consider that what happened to him could happen to any of us. I’ve said many times on this site that in today’s economy the loss of a job often means the loss of a career, and he is an example.
What’s most important for all of us is that we learn from his experience. In the past few years millions of people have had a similar experience, falling from a high income occupation to none at all. It’s the nature the economy in the 21st Century—employers are learning how to survive and grow with much smaller payrolls.
Preparation should be the takeaway, and the best time to prepare for any crisis is always before it happens; here are some suggestions…
Never assume this can’t happen to you
Continue reading How Prepared are You for a Career Crisis? →
By Kevin M
 When you think about having your own business do you think a lot or a little about getting rich? I think it’s pretty common for people to think of being self-employed as a way to get rich, but how important is it as a motivating factor?
The reality of self-employment
Some people DO get rich from running their own businesses—but then again some people get rich from working for large companies. Some get rich from playing the stock market, or investing in real estate. And a few—a very few—get rich buying lottery tickets.
What’s the point? Some people get rich—period. The fact that some people get rich from their businesses isn’t even close to a guarantee of any kind. Having your own business does not mean getting rich!
The failure rate for new businesses is astronomical. I’d like to quote some numbers for you from some authoritative sources, but what I’ve found is that the numbers on business failure are all over the map. On the low end, some sources say 50% fail in the first year—on the high side others say 90%–it’s hard to say definitively, but it is an uncomfortably high statistic what ever it is.
Continue reading Is Striking It Rich the Main Reason to Start a Business? →
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
 Not many people have to spend much time analyzing the reasons why they need a job. Having an income, a benefits package, a place to use and improve their skills, and some measure of income predictability all figure into the decision.
But a lot of people want to be self-employed and the thought process here is more complicated. You first have to create the income you want (no small task), you have no benefits, and income predictability—it doesn’t exist, at least not at the beginning.
So why would anyone won’t to be self-employed? Millions of people are doing it, and for many, self-employment is the only way they want to work. Why endure the upfront risks of self-employment?
No income ceiling
Out of necessity, most employers are closely focused on cutting or at least capping expenses—as an employee you represent one of those expenses. As the recent recession and cost-cutting fever has set in, it’s become more difficult than ever to get a promotion or a bonus, or even just a raise.
Continue reading Why Be Self-Employed? →
By Kevin M
 Are you one of the millions of people who dream of breaking free and starting your own business? Are you afraid of giving up the security of a salaried job? That’s normal, and in most cases it’s not even unreasonable.
I’ve been of the opinion for a long while that starting a business should never been done as some sort of wild, shot-in-the-dark effort. Those make for pretty interesting “war stories”—when they succeed—but usually they end up being crash-and-burn boondoggles that we don’t hear much about. After all, who brags about their failures???
The far better route is to spend as much time as you need preparing your financial situation for self-employment. One of the ways to do this is by starting your business as a part-time venture.
You don’t have to quit your job to be an entrepreneur
Continue reading How to Become a Part-time Entrepreneur →
By Kevin M
 Who doesn’t dream of making money online these days? Guess what–it isn’t impossible. You can do it blogging—I am—and there are all kinds of directions you can take that. A blogging career can seem like either an impossible journey or a plunge into the unknown. After all, of the millions of blogs that are started each year only a very few ever make any money and last as long as a year.
I’m of the opinion that having a workable strategy can stack the blogging deck in your favor—not just a little, but substantially. Like any other money making venture, blogging can actually be done in steps, and as you master one, you’ll be well-prepared for the next. I’ve identified at least three—complete each and you’ll have built your own online business!
The place to start: Freelance blog writing (Step One)
Most bloggers don’t start this way, but I feel strongly that freelance blog writing should be Step Number One on the road to a blogging career. This is where you write for other sites—established blogs that are already making money. There are more than a few compelling reasons why you might want to go this route first:
Continue reading Building a Blogging Career—One Step at a Time →
By Kevin M
 I’ve been writing a good bit lately about the trials and tribulations and triumphs and benefits of self employment—mostly as it relates to blogging since that’s the business I’m engaged in. But this is a good time to highlight one critical point—as the title of this post reads, bogging is NOT a get-rich-quick scheme!
Now that point may be obvious to the thousands of people who have built successful blogging businesses, and even more so to those who have tried to do it but haven’t been successful. But to the vast majority of the non-blogging crowd and to those who might aspire to join the ranks, that point may not be as apparent.
Helping to distort reality is the fact that blogging has only been around for a few years—I’d say ten at best. Businesses that create success stories tend to conjure up thoughts of quick riches, especially when the business in question is at least loosely related to technology.
Continue reading Blogging is NOT a Get-Rich-Quick Scheme →
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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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