Adsense and what to do after college?

[ccb9856]

I'm at a crucial cross road in my life as I'm about to graduate college in the Spring with a BS in Computer Science. For the last 6 years, I've been running a site in my spare time thats made around $50,000 cumulative and is currently averaging around $1500 a month from adsense. I know, great money for a college student :)

So I'm trying to decide if I should get a job like everyone else or dedicate myself full time to my current website and a few other projects I have in mind that I haven't had time for. I can't see myself being happy doing programming for a big company or anything like that. In fact, I did it over the summer for 12 weeks and absolutely hated it. Creating my own websites is what I really love to do. The downside of course is the volatility of not only adsense but the industry as a whole which was ok for spending money but is a whole different story if I want to make a living.

Then again I see this as the perfect opportunity as I'll only be 22 with no family or other obligations and I can probably live with my parents for a little or move somewhere with cheap rent. If I do get a real job I may never have enough free time again to know if I could make it or not and I'll always be wondering.

Just wanted to see what others thought and what they would do in my situation. Also, I've been on here for over a year so I didn't just signup and post this. Just changed my name cause it was too closely related to my site.

[emodo]

"sth real"?

[dj_webm]

Sounds good 'making living from the internet (and you will), but I would advise to get a job or to continue your studies if you have a will, and also continue to work with you websites.

Why? I'll try to answer in short:

suggestion to get a job - you are only 22! by getting a job you will get an experience how business is run, how business dealing are done, you will meet new people etc... experience in a real world counts! and having steady income of 1500 for now lets YOU choose a future employer, you are not in rush so to say ;)

Studies - if you have a will to continue your studies, thats would be the best move in my opinion. of course only if you want! by spending extra few years around university you still will meet new people, get new ideas from the real world, and most importantly - knowledge never hurts ;)

Sounds tempting to start you own AS business at 22 years, but because you're only 22, thats why i would suggest you to get a real life experience!

[Jane_Doe]

I don't think authority sites have to worry about nuking

That's what a lot of the people who lost their only income source thought, too. Just spend sime time reading the past update threads.

Even for white hat sites there can be bugs in the algos causing sites to drop out of the index, algo shifts can favor some types of sites over others, competition may heat up in certain sectors making it hard to rank, deep pocket coporations with large staffs of professional writers can build a network of sites sites in your area and outrank your sites, spammers can move in and take over the top rankings, competitiors can try to sabotage your site, etc. Lots of things can happen to sites over time.

If you look at the serps for the competitive keywords in any major search engine, in most cases they will have changed a great deal over the past several years. Not all of the sites that were the main authority sites in a given area 4 years ago will still have that status today.

[jhood]

No one with talent should ever get a job unless they are on the verge of starvation. Our young friend has already proven he can make money on his own. Once he no longer has to show up in class now and then, he'll have more time and energy to devote to building his business. Don't think of it just as a site, cdb -- think of it as your business. You can expand, diversify, etc., at your own pace. From what you've done to date, your biggest problem in a year or so is likely to be that you're working 18 hours a day trying to keep up with your growing business.

As for health insurance ... assuming you're healthy, you can get a high-deductible, major medical policy that would cover you for catastrophic illness while you pay out of pocket for routine care. You should be able to get one of these for less than $500 per month. If you structure your business properly, you can deduct it as a business expense (talk to a CPA about this).

If you feel you must do something besides building your business, go back to school and get an MBA. It is 90% BS but the other 10% is worth knowing. Or go get an MA in journalism. If you pick a good school, you'll learn a lot about the publishing business in general, including non-Web media (which can also be a valuable source of future income, promotional opportunities, etc.)

Among the many failings of gainful employment, it can take you years to get to the top. As CEO of your own venture, you're already there.

Or as my vanity plate used to say, "jobsux."