Sunday, November 13, 2011

Make $250K blogging online (Not a scam - I promise)

 For more information, you can check out the link but I will give you a real life story.   http://successfulworkathomecareer.com/766/make-money-writing-for-about-com/#

We receive these types of emails all the time, work from home (medical billing) and make millions.  Or my favorite, that with only $1,000 I can buy real estate and make millions.  The truth is that such a scenario exists and it exists in the digital media world we live in.  There is no doubt that the Internet is the first place that people go to get information, but who is writing the content and how much do they get paid?

As a financial advisor I met a client, we will call him Ryan, who had a very comfortable job working for Google making $150K a year.  Ryan is a single New Yorker originally from Texas, who has a passion for remote control cars.  He knows everything there is to know about remote control cars and many times contemplated quitting his job and opening a store selling remote cars and accessories.  His job at Google was never in jeopardy in fact he was due for a  big bonus at the end of this year.  What Ryan did next, with the recommendation of his financial advisor (me), was to quit his job 2 months before receiving his bonus and leaving behind a good salary with a Fortune 500 company.
Was Ryan crazy to do this, during one of the worst job markets in the past 50 years?  Or was his financial advisor looking to rollover his 401K?  

The fact is that Ryan has been blogging on "About.com" for the past 2 years on topics relating to remote control cars.  Instead of opening a store he decided it would be less costly and more enjoyable to write articles for people looking to get into the sport.  Because of sites like About.com and our need for information from experts in their respective field, Ryan is making $250K a year and working 5 hours a week.  Yes, he works 5 hours a week and making more than 50% of Columbia University graduates.  So what does Ryan do for the rest of week, how does it work and can I do that too? 

Ryan travels the world with his laptop and since he does not need an office to work from, he can be in Morocco (as he is this month) writing his blog from a huka bar while playing backgammon with strangers.  To me he sounds like the James Bond of the digital media world and he is writing about what he loves to do.  Steve Jobs would be proud and it is something we can all do with a little homework and a passion/knowledge for a subject matter others are interested in.

From the link above, you can inquire that About.com pays writers to blog on a range of topics from skin care to removing stains from carpets.  You first have to select a topic of interest in which you have a lot of experience in and pitch it to About.com.  Homework and research at this stage is very important, because they want to know if there is a client base that will read it and whether you are the right person to write about it.  If About.com feels it is a good topic, then the interview begin.  You might have brought the idea but they interview potential candidates to ensure they get the right balance of writing skills, personality and Internet appeal.  The Internet appeal is very important, as your picture is on all their sites and the image of the blogger must resemble the image of someone who would be involved in that topic.  Luckily for Ryan, he looks like you would expect someone would look playing in their basement with remote control cars. 

One you a selected for that blog, you negotiate the terms of compensation.  For example, how many cents per click, base salary, number of new posts, etc...  To put some numbers behind this story, Ryan makes .05cents for every click on his blog, $500 for every time her blog gets mentioned on another website and a base salary of $25K a year.  As you can see from the numbers, Ryan has over 1million clicks on his blog and has numerous appearances on remote control car websites and magazines.  This is not easy and Ryan will be the first to tell you that it took him a long time to figure out who to utilize the Internet to work for him. 

This is one story but I am sure there are others like this who have used digital media to make a living while following their passion.  It is possible and that is what makes "Digital Media" courses so valuable if leveraged just right. 

Miguel Gonzalez
EMBA 2012

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