A Word About Writing Gigs (Motivation For Newbies To IM)

When I started this journey I was working retail, hated my job, well let's be fair, I liked the job (management part) but hated the politics of the place I was working at, the disloyalty of my superiors, the lack of appreciation, and the waste of my time and efforts doing something I didn't truly enjoy.

I remember standing there watching over the cashiers, they would blink a light if they needed my assistance and for about 4 hours of my shift I would stand there and wait for the lights, and assist customers, carried a clipboard to schedule breaks, assign cashiers to check-stands and so on and so forth.

I dreaded the job at times, but not because of the work. The management was a real pain and I felt like I wasn't really in control of my life. I made chump change for wages and any raises I could get were insulting (i.e. 50 cents an hour after a year of loyal service IF you went above and beyond the call of duty... please...(sarcastically said)).

I loved to write and felt that if I could get a gig working as a writer I'd be in seventh heaven. I had no idea what this would entail really. At the time I thought the only way to get paid to write was to get a college degree and go work for a newspaper or write a book. I stumbled upon Hubpages and started writing for fun, but ambitious to learn to make money with my writing.

I was intoxicated with aspirations of making a killing on AdSense (those aspirations faded after 6 months when the most money I made was 10.00 a month if that).

Hubpages did lead me to learn that there definitely were thousands of other ways to make money with these skills, and none of them required any special training other than learning to write better, have good grammar, write concisely, professionally, and engagingly.

I possessed half of those when I started on hubpages but over time, and many fights in the forum with pig headed wannabe's with egos bigger than my house, (yet adequately skilled in writing a professional article that was all of the above), I learned to write. Unlike many in the forum of what I considered "elders" at the time, I wanted to take my skills out into the real world and make money with them.

Although these grammar gurus could write, none of them were making any money ironically (evident by their own words in the forum at times about being broke all the time)... but they did "vet" me into a writer myself so I guess I wanted to be the example of what they could become... yes I grew an ego myself over time... I quickly shed it off after it didn't serve me however.

After about 8 months of working on articles, learning like I was obsessed to become a SamurWriter (writing ninja?) I started to pray every night that something would happen, someone would come out of the woodwork and offer me a job, work of some kind... Universe I'd plea, throw me a bone huh?

Then it happened.

A friend of mine who was perpetually on the same path as I was but whom hadn't grown tired of looking on the web for the magical course that would turn her skills into dollars, was always sending me links to sites that promised to be the next best "home based business" that would carry my dreams into reality.

Many of the links she sent were the same old thing I'd seen before - even the wording was the same...

It was like they all used the same course to write their copy, or possibly they just rewrote each others copy, and the fundamental ideas were about the same too.

In the explanation of the terms of the job, the "writer" would write 100 words surrounding a keyword, i.e. if the keyword was dog biscuits; you had to write 100 words about dog biscuits. Hmm, at the time 1.00 for 100 words certainly did make the dollar signs sparkle in my eyes.

Still hesitant, thinking yea, sure, something’s up, but I guess this one seems a bit different. Not fully understanding this yet, I indulged her (and myself) and called the number. I got a hold of a guy who apparently hadn't realized his number was on the site, and he forwarded me to another guy.

The first guy was the boss, the big cheese, the creator of this world that would soon become my life ambitions training ground. And my “when the student is ready the teacher will appear” – Teacher.

I've learned a great deal in the last 5 years doing work for my boss. More than you could learn from all the courses and all the information on the web available for free. I learned from a man who didn't just try to see what's the latest working craze, but one who INVENTS THEM. (that's a jibjab image I made of me and my boss).

I had a 30 minute conversation with the guy, I had to drop my friends name to "get in", but in that 30 minutes he changed my entire concept of online work at home business. It seemed that this was a no BS approach to making money. It was entry level work. At the time 1.00 for 100 words sounded pretty darn good, and it is, if you have no credentials or know how to making money online with your writing. I'd still go so far as to say that this is decent pay for the work involved.

^{They only had one type of post- blurbs, at the time, but he sold that business and created a new one from scratch (migrating the writer base over) that outsources all types and new ones all the time. I was a part in making that business better, and that was partially how I got into the position I have been in for 5 years now.}

It was simple, as I stated above. Write/make up 100 words around a keyword. To truly break out how easy this was here’s an example of a real job (of course this was generated on the spot here, as all work we do is no longer ours it's the customers so this is fresh, but a real example of what a "blurb" looks like.

We would log into a website, this is essentially our "Virtual Work Space". Once in we were presented with a queue of work. These were already paid for jobs that customers needed. The blogs/blurbs were used by the customers to build link backs for their sites. I won't go into how they use them here, but suffice it to say, it was easy work.

When I started at this work at home job, I was working at two other jobs. Just before I found this I had recently parted ways from my management job and started working at Lowe's as a cashier by morning (5am-3p), and Mel's Diner as a waiter graveyard (10p-6a). This online gig came just before those two jobs, and just after leaving the management job. I would spend the middle time between jobs not sleeping but writing blurbs!

I hadn't worked in about 4 months since leaving Walmart (politics were insidious) so my bills piled up... my landlord and roommate at the time was losing patience and was far from the internet age. She's 62 and barely knows how to check mail, and uses the computer for little else.

Trying to sell her on the "I'm making money online" thing wasn't an easy sell, especially since HubPages was "supposed" to be my big break when finding work was next to impossible. When it rains it pours because finding the online gig, and getting the other two jobs all fell in my lap at the same time. I was blessed and cursed. I would cashier by day, wait tables by graveyard, and somehow snuck in 6 hours of writing blogs. I was living on 2-4 hours of sleep a day and it was taking it's toll.

It didn't take more than a month to realize that I was making more writing blogs/blurbs for Linkvana than both the other jobs combined and once that first check for $2,175.00 came in dwarfing the other two jobs paychecks, my roommate not only got a nice chunk of the money I owed in back rent/bills, but she was confident that I could generate more money if I JUST worked online. I did quit both other jobs because it started to eat into my energy, time, and creative mind to work 3 jobs and never have a moment to myself. What's funny is after a month at Mel's they wanted me to manage the restaurant and I was in no mood to be a manager of a restaurant, that's hard work and thankless...

I did well actually, online. My first few checks were by my standards and from my bills standpoint, perfect. I was in utopia. I could wake up when I wanted, sleep in, there were no rules but complete the work I accept. I was punching out thousands of blurbs a month... I had about 25 years of research data stuck in my head needing an outlet so I poured it onto the keyboard and converted it into money. I started to gauge how much things at the store or fast food cost by blurbs. I'd joke that a Mcdonalds dollar burger cost one blurb. Add fries and a coke and we're up to 3-4 blurbs.  I was living my life "the WRITE way"!

I did so well in fact that the bosses were noticing. They started to commend my work ethic and I discovered I had beat out everyone else writing for them. I broke the record in a single month, my second month there.

Over about 5 months time They started to consider me for higher positions in the company. They needed a second wheel in the management slot and they figured I fit the bill based on my work ethic and background.

The pay at first was good considering what I had to do, just answer some tickets, which came natural, I'd done this before, it too was web based, I was essentially tech support for writers. I got a small salary and over time my responsibilities started to expand, as well as my pay. I felt ambitious as hell, and it seemed the more I did "off the clock" the more I raised up in the company.

I took the initiative to write an FAQ, but it was more like a users manual for the site, for one of the other companies I started supporting for, this one was based on customer questions, complaints, and queries. Next thing I knew I was asked to support yet another company my boss started, and today (at the time of this writing originally in 2009) I watch over Three customer bases, and over 200 writers. I still wrote blurbs but I completely burned myself out in 3 months of writing thousands a month, about a hundred a day sometimes... My salary was merely 300.00 a month at first but I still brought in all those blurb checks!

Today my salary is comparable to twice my Walmart Paychecks, and the work I love immensely... the education I get along being my bosses treadmill SEO work is worth more than all the money I've ever made with this company. Priceless. It's given me wings in the internet marketing game- an edge learned the hard way.

Over time my roommate and I set a specific rate for rent/bills/housekeepers/gardeners/pool guy/ and so on.... you could say I'm living nicely and my rent is still under 1400 a month... which by the way includes 300.00 a month in food, laundry detergent, toiletries etc... I get a lot for my money in the end and now it's me supporting my roommate!

Bills are piling up though, dental bill (no insurance), medical bills (stomach flu twice), and just some walking around money. Between my salary taking the heat off my writing so much to cover the bills and rent, I was able to relax.

You have to write a lot of blurbs to make 2k a month+ and after a while it's not so simple work. I ran out of back logged information in my head and now have to actually do my homework to write, but for the most part the subjects are redundant, same customers plus some new ones, and same keywords essentially but creating new material once you've written 400 blurbs on registry cleaners is a bit tough now.

The service upgraded to articles and miniposts (articles are 400 words, miniposts 200 words) which pays 2.00 and 4.00 respectively, very basic writing so it was easy. I started to enjoy articles, it's easier than writing 400 words in 4 separate blurbs, and it's one continuous piece not trying to come up with 20 stories for 20 of the same keyword!

After about 7 months or so of working for this company, a company I might add is wonderful at showing appreciation for a job well done and that is willing to pay you for good work (I received several bonuses in the early days for breaking writing records and have received 4 raises this year!) I slowly started to realize that my life was tapering down to deterioration.

On the career front things were spectacular, but on the personal front I was neglecting myself. I discovered all the things I truly missed about that rat race job I used to hate so much. Discipline for one, routine for another, and social life at work. I found myself slowly hermitizing myself away from the outside world.

I lived in paradise and yet was trapped here. I caught up on all my bills in the short run, but there were some bills looming over me that I'd procrastinated, mostly because I was perpetually broke, on that I was finally taking care of. 

This pretty much grounded me; no car (running anyway, I had a car) and I refuse to take public transportation (at least in Sacrament), and over a year became a lazy writer... lazy in respect to leaving the house, being social, or even exercising. Work-Wise I was still kicking but. Although I discovered over time that as my health deteriorated (not eating right, no exercise, no social life) so did my ambition. I had no idea how important social activity was to my health until I went 18 months without it.

I also learned that no exercise and a social life fosters depression, loneliness, and general loss of ambition and work ethic. It also costs you feel good neurotransmitter production like endorphins, dopamine, and even serotonin that are the main ingredients that make you feel motivated and sharp.

I was getting back on the right track again, but my ability to write like I used to is severely slowed down... I write well, substantially better than I did 5 years ago, but writing articles/blurbs is like going uphill with the parking brake on... I learned that fish oil and ginkgo help a great deal with the recovery process. Getting the funk out of the house and being social also helps with the creativity process. Why do you think there is a social forum on every web 2.0 writing site? It's all a part of the necessities!

I'd tapering back up to where I was several times and back again this was not going to be easy. If you are aspiring to write for money or hitting any work at home gig, believe me it's awesome, it's liberating, but don't make my mistakes, maintain a strict routine including waking up every day at a specific time to work.

Don't work only when you feel like it either, work at a certain time, eat right and make sure you get out for social activities and exercise somehow, it truly makes a difference! Routine is essential to discipline! I used to walk miles just for fun, that first year into this I could barely cross the street without running out of energy, stairs? forgettaboutit... its bad, the treadmill killed me at 4 mph and 3 minutes! But again I was recovering a bit each day.(queue rocky music)

One thing I truly love about my job is that it doesn't feel like a job (ironically due to lack of discipline regular life became more of a job than work!). My boss is teaching me the ways of making money on the internet a little bit each day (and I pay it forward through tutorials and articles I write showing others how to do it (without divulging any of his resources or secrets).

He's already a millionaire so I'm not just taking advice from some yahoo who sold a course or a friend with a "great idea". This is the real deal, the guru who started back in 1995 when search engine optimization wasn't even a word yet.

He was one of the first few people to figure out that technology and he's a wealth of information. I've learned more this year and every day I still plant seeds.

One of the hardest things to give up, and my boss had been advising me to do this for almost a year of the 18 months I'd worked for him thus far at the time, was HubPages writing. I thoroughly became addicted to writing hubs, but it was digging into my wallet to write hubs since I wasn't making more than a dollar a day writing hubs, and could write in the same time it took me to produce a hub, about 60 blurbs or 25 articles.

To date my best day I wrote 36 articles of about 500 words each... Not sure how I did it and haven't been able to duplicate that record! I think it was the piracetam because the only thing that changed was taking that and feeling amazing!

It was hard but I weaned myself off of HubPages to pursue more instant money making concepts. I was still not yet making anything on HP, but I persevered... I did take a year off to pursue more money writing for my boss, but a funny thing happened the day I quit "hubbing". I lost my will to write.

It seems HP was actually acting as a motivational force and when I stopped, writing became more work than fun and my checks started to decline (not my salary but my writing work checks). I was at 2173.00, then the next check was 1600, then 1500... down to almost 300.00! It was like my first 4 months happening in reverse!

Ironically the next step in my journey has come and HubPages was a factor in this. This introduces the next half of this article. I write this article by the way for nostalgia and some me time, and I thought I'd share my journey with my followers and anyone out there who thinks the make money online thing is bs, it's absolutely not, but it's not easy to reach a point where it's all butter- but you do get there and it is amazing!

In the last year (2010 at the time of this writing) of learning from my boss I've acquired some valuable insights into making money online but one that I really enjoy is writing for money. Although Id' done the website flipping thing, and a bunch of renditions of the idea (like using flippa, making adsense sites etc...) but I always returned to the 2.0 properties for the challenge.

It's a lot harder to earn money on one of these sites than to build an off site empire- but it's possible to make 2-3k a month here, people are doing it on HP all the time and when Wizzley is a bit older, more mature in the sense of having more authors, articles, and rank juice, we'll make even more because this system is MUCH better, more efficient, and built around the very writers that keep it afloat. HP seems to forget who THEY are really working for.

I'd been wanting to share my HubPages insights with the world of hubbers for a long time and had learned a great deal while I was there. Much of what I learned I put into hubs over the last year or so. They were eventually taken down to put in the book.

I'd received so many comments applauding the insights (shared in hubs, on forum posts, in comments of other hubbers etc...) that I decided to make an eBook to offer old and new hubbers a consolidation of my insights (first 2 years I really paid attention) both here on HubPages and in the guru world outside of HubPages (but still online).

A No BS book about how to navigate the realm, what to look for, and how to decode the HP algorithm  Before I could actually market or sell it, I was banned from the place I used to call home, the place I started and gave 5 years to for simply publishing too many articles in a short span. I was going to go in and add images and whatnot later but I never got a chance- they plugged me as a spammer or something because my articles were not up to THEIR standards, they were well written but they didn't care.

No explanation, no real reason, I was just banned as part of a bunch of others banned for making simple mistakes and only on a few hubs. I wasn't making the bulk of my income there but I was crushed by the disloyalty I received. I was several thousand dollars poorer because of a bad management decision of probably a minimum wage moderator who was having a bad day.

I won't go into the gory details of that debacle  but needless to say them banning me was one of the most amazing things (I didn't know it at the time mind you) that could have happened. In hindsight Wizzley is where my work belonged and is respected. And I'd of NEVER left hubpages to learn about Wizzley had I not been forced to find a new home for my last 4 years of writing. In the end it was a blessing, to be free from the site that acts like big brother but kicks you in the shins like little sisters!

I quickly signed up for Wizzley here and have been migrating my work over since. If you want to join us and aren't a member click that link and sign up- I'd be happy to vet you into the industry here on Wizzley!

My book was written about hubpages specifically but the bulk of the data in it is applicable to any web 2.0 property so I'm planning on building a wizzley version (retrofitting it) and maybe give it away free to my fan base and offer it for sale on Amazon Kindle. It's a brilliant read. My boss, actually, proud of my hubpages finesse, wanted me to draft him a 1,000 word document explaining how to make money as a hubpages author, as opposed to what he normally tells them- to use HP as a backlink source, write some good content and add a link to your money page or site... this lead me down a 14 hour writing fanatical.

I wrote the entire eBook in one shot, I passed it to my co-worker (Bob) and he edited it down and PDF'd it... The book was a bonus for signing up to Super Apprentice, but I was given permission to sell it, give it away- do what I will with it, but since I was technically paid to write it, it was his decision. I panicked when I saw how good it looked when Bob sent it back to me "did I just give away a masterpiece for nothing?" I thought. But My boss is amazing and said, it's yours. I ended up rewriting it adding a lot more to it, so it's not the same book anymore- it's better and all mine.

I segwayed there to show you that once you get real good at this business, it's easy to punch out great educational books to share your knowledge with the world. It's a path that almost everyone inevitably lands on. Student becomes the teacher.

I wanted to build a book that would give a comprehensive view of HubPages and writing for money in general. I find 2.0 sites a phenomenal training ground for writers of all types, and for boosting your ability to make money out there where the real money is.

I came up with the eBook idea a year into hubpages and mapped out the concept outline but didn't do anything with it. I came to realize I wasn't ready for such a book yet, I was still wet behind the ears. 

I had put the HubPages eBook (working name of "HubTronics" Soon to be "Wiztronics" aside and decided to in my spare time "store" my book on my account. I wrote the pages but didn't publish them; I planned later when I caught my breath to pick it up again. I learned a wealth of information on how to make money on HubPages, but as luck would have it I learned 100x more thanks to my contacts over the last 4 years. With that, I also acquired some contacts that were willing to once written, partner up with me to market said book. The whole deal fell apart when I lost my writing edge and needed a serious break from working at home!

It wasn't until 2-3 years later that my boss asked for the 1,000 word document and that was the break I needed. I didn't even realize I was about to write a book, I was out to do 1,000 words and before I knew it I was hooked and kept writing like in a trance. 10k+ words later I had a book... written in one day, edited in 3 by Bob, and ready to go within the week! I built a site to gather interested parties to let them know when it came out- hubofopportunities.com, but with the hubpages ban I saw no point in actually marketing the book- I lost my credibility right? Wrong. But this isn't about that book, just the struggles of learning the game.

Always dream. Never let anyone or anything stop you from accomplishing these dreams. It was only 5 years ago that I decided I wanted to make money from writing in some way, and today I'm fully engulfed in my dreams success.

It is getting better and better and there were many times I wanted to give up… I persevered and continue to persevere.

Enjoy the rest of your day, and if you got this far, thank you for visiting my article. I didn't have a lot of time but wanted to write this article as today’s list of things I'm grateful for. Attitude of Gratitude is the secret to success! So is patience! (source: The Secret DVD)

Cheers!  

____________________________________________________________

So there it is. My Internet marketing career of a sort had come full circle and I now deem myself a seasoned writer, marketer, and workhorse ready to help others gain an edge and powerful education in writing high earning articles (after seasoned etc...), as well as using all skills learned to break out of the training wheels of HubPages and to go out and make the real money, the incredible money...

You could say the student has become the teacher. But make no mistake, I teach humbly, I know I don't have all the answers, and I still have much to learn... I'm perpetually growing like all of you, I dedicate most of my wisdom in writing this book to my teachers, guru's and fellow writers actually. A great deal of my early training was acquired by many of the pig headed forum "elders"(from hubpages) who, god rest their writing souls, can write very well but have much to learn in the humanity department.

Nonetheless, I have a sneaking suspicion that outside the forum, in real life in France, Germany, England, Australia, or wherever else they are... I bet they're really cool blokes. They gave me tough love. I learned a lot, and now I want to give back.