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Right now, I can live a great lifestyle from my adsense income alone. But I'm scared of Google. They're just so unpredictable, in the change of an algorithm I can lose all my number 1 rankings or adsense could go down the pan.
It's such a big risk, I'm sure many must have been at this stage before.
Any advice, is appreciated.
:o)
But maybe it had been all my mistake. It happened October 25th and it stoped March 10th.
In the time when I was filtered in Google, my income dropped to about 45% normal.
But when avoiding mistakes and only white hat CEO, I expect a very good chance to have the income stable over years.
But I don't enjoy it anymore
I had the exact same feeling about my day job. I gave up on it one month ago. So it's way too early to say anything about how it will turn out. I did make some arrangements to work for my old employer couple hours a week. It makes you starting a little easier.
Good luck, taking a tough decision!
Chances are they won't pay as well as AdSense, but they do give you a bit of a cushion if AdSense suddenly fails for you.
Another thing is having enough cash/liquid investments to carry you for several months while you get re-established if the whole thing falls apart. That can help a lot with the comfort level of a new path. (but it does remove a bit of the excitement of the urgency that comes with wondering where money for breakfast is coming from.)
Also take a long hard look at your traffic sources. If all or most of your traffic comes from the Google serps, work on getting traffic from other sources, like the other search engines, direct traffic, and referrals from other sites.
I walked away from my last traditional job 14 years ago and have no regrets. Independence can be a bit bumpy at times, but life goes on and so can you.
Ask yourself this... if you woke up tomorrow morning and ALL you had were the clothes on your back and NOTHING else, would the future look like a nightmare or an adventure.
Your answer will provide a lot of insight.
The problem with Google is that it can be an unreliable partner. Put yourself in Google's shoes for a moment, and ask yourself honestly:
- Is there anything on your sites that is close to borderline?
- Are you blending the ads too much?
- Do you drive traffic to your sites using questionable sources?
- Could your niche and/or your business model become unpopular with Google in the (near) future?
- Are you using gray hat or even black hat SEO methods?
If there is a single YES in your answers, I'd reconsider quiting the day job.
While Google may not be the most communicative corporate in the world (mildly put), they do from time to time make dramatic changes to their policies, or to the execution of those policies. Last year it was the "crackdown" on arbitrage sites, and they violently hit even the biggest and most successful players, regardless of their revenue potential. Would you survive such a shakedown?
What would you do when you receive the dreaded email one morning?
I have quite a good relationship with my adsense advisor. Most of my pages have been examined and nothing questionable has come back, so I think I'm safe on that side. As for my SEO, it's all completely white hat, I value my life and site far too much, to consider using black or even grey hat techniques.
I guess ultimately we can't predict Google but I do believe in Karma. All I can do, is continue to do what I do, for all the right reasons and focus on what's most important to me and my visitors.
Right now, I feel like I'm at a crossroads. I feel the decision I make now, will have quite an impact on the direction my life will take. I know no matter what I choose and whatever the consequences, I can always steer to another path, should I need to.
It's going to be hard telling my boss. He's more a client than a boss. We have a good relationship but he's made some quite unethical choices as of late and I feel uncomfortable.
Oh what a productive day I've not had today! :)
Usually one has to "go for it" to really make it.
You can always find another job, yes you will loose some of your seniority but at least you know you gave it a go.
The chances for you to make a go of it may not be there forever. The chances to work for someone else will always exist.
Also if you do dedicate yourself to your own thing, you can add more things so you aren't just relying on G-Money. You could consider re-selling your SEO services to others.
Good Luck no matter what you decide.
I have quite a good relationship with my adsense advisor.
Is this an AdSense employee or an independent?
If it is an AdSense employee I assume you must already be earning $X,000.00+ per month since I have been earning that figure for years and never once been offered an official AdSense advisor.
I've been self-employed for 40 years now, I can't imagine working for, as opposed to with, anyone/company.
Is there an actual physical side to your site with profitable saleable products or is it mostly informational?
Whilst my trade widgets are extremely expensive and only sold by the full container load our most profitable and regular sales are for widget maintenance products recommended through our trade directory portal.
$X,000.00+
$10k is the magic number (or was historically).
Sometimes in life you have to take risks.
They're just so unpredictable
So is the internet in general. So are consumers. So is the economy.
I think I'm safe on that side
Like ken__b I've been working for myself for a long time, in my case since '82. Multiple sources of income really make it much easier to sleep at night when something goes a bit pear shaped. I've been doing this Internet thing for quite some time and it goes up, it goes down and, upon occasion, even sideways. Depending on one source of income over which you have no absolute control can be a recipe for sleepless nights.
I'd strongly suggest as others above have that you diversify your 'Net income streams. Look into advertising programs; consider affiliate marketing, either stand alone or in conjunction with AdSense; develop new sites in different niches; etc.
And when you do decide to take the leap don't burn any bridges; keep contacts with folks in your last industry. Be flexible, especially in the early going. Pick up any outside jobs you can and sock that money away for a rainy day -- one will come. Heck, I still do four or so weeks of outside work each year that have nothing at all to do with the 'Net. Besides getting me out and forcing me to be a bit sociable, the checks go straight to retirement and savings. It's a nice little nest egg.
Whatever you decide, go into it with eyes open. Good luck.
As others have said, whether to quit or not depends on your unique situation - your fixed expenses, can you get your own health care, amount of savings, etc. One important point is have your site(s) been creamed in the past and were you able to understand what you did wrong, correct the problem and bounce back? If you have that skill then you probably have a better chance of making it long term than someone with one site who has never suffered a set back and doesn't know where to begin when his or her site loses rankings. And the rankings do change over the years. If you look at any competitive category chances are there are major changes in the top ten serps from five years ago (or sometimes even from last month).
Unless you can suffer this and worse without becoming insolvent, don't quit your day job, or get a different day job. But do not rely on current AdSense revenue for your current expenses, that is very unwise. Living hand to mouth, paycheck to paycheck, always a bad idea. Have enough in the bank to live for a year of frustrating tinkering with your site without AdSense.
[edited by: OnlyToday at 4:35 pm (utc) on July 3, 2008]
The job is really flexible and reasonably well paid.
Right now, I can live a great lifestyle from my adsense income alone.
So, how much of these two great sources of income have you been saving and investing instead of living "a great lifestyle"?
If all your money goes towards your lifestyle, then you aren't even close to ready for being your own boss. Learn to live well beneath your means BEFORE you are forced to by a change in the SERPs. Invest your money so that your investments will become your primary source of income. Get rid of debts and pay cash. Once you are on your way to doing these things, being self employed is easy. If you don't do this, and things turn bad, being self employed can be hell.
We lost 2/3s of our Adsense income more-or-less overnight after years of steady eCPM (talking a monthly reduction into 5 figures). Luckily we did not actually lose traffic and had other network advertising in place...but still led to very hairy few months.
It has never really returned but did have a brighter side in that it made us leaner and more wary of any Golden Goose.
So I would say sure go for it but look really carefully before you leap.
You haven't supplied enough info to offer informed advice (sorry to all the others who tried). A lot depends on your age, financial situation and responsibilities, whether you have family to support, savings levels, etc.
HOWEVER, I don't consider that you have a business at this point. You have a way of generating revenue which is unstable with the revenue being totally out of your control. That's not something to base a life on, unless you have no obligations to others and you're young.
Building a business means diversification, but I'll suggest to you that you won't have a "business" unless you have something that can survive without google, and you have a non-Internet component to it.
We don't often hear of the failures in Internet small business, but the percentage is HUGE.
If you go the adsense route, I'd recommend 12 months of saved living money.
Taking chances and risks can be good, but it's always nice to do it properly and increase success, so you simply don't "lose".
Also, if all you can do is put adsense on websites, that's no foundation for a long term business. Do a skills inventory of yourself, and make sure you have skills that can be used on the Internet and off the Internet to make money.
You have a way of generating revenue which is unstable with the revenue being totally out of your control. That's not something to base a life on
I think that is what most people do who have a regular job with one employer who can lay you off at any time. :)
For me, seeing a few big companies I worked for start to outsource and lay people off really decided my fate. I use to think it would be scary to give up my "secure" job and paycheck, but then I realized it was not so secure and regular. Companies can drop you just as quick as Google can. There is no such thing as job security any more, at least not in the industry I worked in (IT).
So I saved up and had about a years worth of cash reserves, I downsized all my living expense, sold my expensive house, bought a more affordable house, went down to one car (since my wife and I both work from home, didn't need two cars) and quit my job... =)
From a job security perspective I feel like I pretty much get the same blanket I had in corporate america. At a real job, if they let me go, I would probably get one to two months severance. In my website business, my ad partners pay out net 30-45 days. This means if everything was to come crashing down tomorrow, I'm still getting checks for 1-2 months.
Another perk, being my own boss and controlling my own company, I can see the trouble coming real-time, and plan for it, as opposed to being a worker bee and not being told anything until it is too late.
Lastly, diversifying your revenue streams is also extremely important. When I first started looking at quitting my job, I was earning about 85% of my income from Adsense. By the time I quit, I had my boosted my income by 50%, and dropped my Adsense dependency down to about 50%.
One last strategy I am pushing heavily now that I'm out on my own is search engine independence. I've been building a mailing list heavily for the last year. It is no where near where I want it to be, but it is getting there day by day. Each new subscriber I get helps me get close to having independence from search engines, and more control over my future. A dedicated subscriber base is something no one can take from you over night. E-mail is not going anywhere... =)
Long story short... prepare yourself and take the leap! Diversify and make sure you have a reserve of emergency cash saved up. Don't forget to budget for things like insurance and self-employment taxes. I tried to reach a point where I was making twice what my corporate job was paying me before I made the leap.
Good luck!
I work from home...great most of the time as I get to see my kids growing up. But sometimes it is a nightmare with the baby crying and me trying to take a call or get on with some work. Plus likes of my wife will have me doing this or that and forget I have to earn a living as well.
Also just adjusting to seeing your partner so much, my wife quit working after the kids were born so we now spend a lot of time together...works well for us but I can see it could strain some relationships.
Also in my case nearly everybody on our staff lives in another continent, so there is no social aspect as there usually is in a 9-5. Though it does give you an excuse to visit a lot of places.
Just thought I would add that as I do miss the office banter a bit and twitter/chat/phone etc just aren't the same as face-to-face.
I think that is what most people do who have a regular job with one employer who can lay you off at any time
That's true, but it's not quite parallel (it depends). If you get layed off, you may have a reasonable number of other places at which you can be employed at the same level, if you have skills. (Obviously this depends on economic conditions in your area).
However, if your entire revenue is adsense, and it crashes (or your traffic does - even worse), the chances are you won't find a similar paying alternative. I know some people have, but I believe many can't. I know that I couldn't replace the adsense revenue, even though I'm fairly diversified because my sites are on topics that pay very well via adsense but do not attract huge traffic, or traffic that would work with other alternatives.
So, it depends. For me I have so many other ways of making money if I choose that I'm not worried if my traffic drops or adsense income drops. I'd rather not do those other things at this point, but I can. It allows a rather stress free life knowing I have alternatives that are pretty much under my control.
To me, whether just starting out or not, that's the target to aim at. From the beginning. Options, control of your own destiny, and continuing to develop non-web dependent skills.
Never burn bridges - you may need them again.
But yes, absolutely.. quit the job. Work for yourself. I took a HUGE pay cut in order to be self-employed and I've never looked back. The freedom I've got now is incredible.
It's not for the faint of heart though...
To me, whether just starting out or not, that's the target to aim at. From the beginning. Options, control of your own destiny, and continuing to develop non-web dependent skills.
Very good point. It is important to keep your skillset sharp, regardless of what you do. You never know when you'll need to go back to the regular workforce. I definitely have not counted that option out. Someday I may need to put food on the table and if my business is not cutting it, I'll put my corporate hat on and march back out there. But to even have a chance at doing that, you have to keep yourself in the loop on what is going on your industry of expertise. I try to learn a few new things each month, read trade news sites, etc.
My one disagreement, I see no difference from getting layed off versus your online business crashing. In both scenarios you have the option to get another job. Some employers prefer entrepreneurs since they bring a whole new level of skillsets to an office. I know my skills as a webmaster far surpass my old corporate job skillset/duties. Today I could seek out a job in a number of areas (technical, marketing, project management, advertising, etc). Before my 8 year stint as a private webmaster (most of that on the side), I didn't have all those skillsets.
But the moral of the story, keep sharp!
Any advice, is appreciated.
You might want to consider going over your savings, expenses and business plan with a financial planner for an outside opinion.
We did that with a friend who is a financial planner a few years ago when we had to make a major job versus own business decision. I think it helped to hear her opinion because she knows so many other's people finances in depth it gave her a good frame of reference to give us advice on how to proceed.
Went from making $50K working and $50K Adsense to $250K+ working from home. Bought a big house in the mountains with a huge office space but also went down to one hunk of metal to drive. I create new content everyday and my GF does the marketing, she quit her $30K job and is loving life.
The extra time makes a big difference when you are not busy making somebody else rich.
If all your money goes towards your lifestyle, then you aren't even close to ready for being your own boss.
I guess my initial Q wasn't very well explained. It seemed easier to call him my boss and not go in to too much detail. I've been my own boss for several years. The boss as I called him is more a client, than a boss.
They hire my services pretty much full time and it provides a good income, but it limits me in running my own business.
My sites have top ranks for some incredibly competitive keywords, my SEO knowledge is quite extensive. Regardless I still don't feel secure with my online income. Whether that's from adsense, affiliates, or whatever else. I just always feel it can so easily be taken away. I have built up a mailing list of close to a million, which I guess is more secure.
I wanted to stop hiring my services out and focus solely on my own business. The competition in my industry is fierce, I'm competing against corporate companies but I'm determined to be the biggest and the best, it's hard work. Especially when I can't give it my undivided attention.
While my business has other streams of traffic and income, none as great as the almighty Google though.
Right now, my business is doing great. I have an awesome team. But I definitely need to diversify more, so that if anything goes wrong with Google, I don't feel the blow, or not as much.
Pardon my ramblings, I'm shattered. Long day.....
Had to cut back on lots of what might be considered luxuries, but I think the benefits of going it alone outweigh the pitfalls. Were you ever sat in your cubicle looking out the office window on a nice sunny day and wish you could just take off for the afternoon, enjoy the weather and the scenery?
Besides, if you have a bad month, you've got a bit of time to sort out some alternative income, even if that is selling something or getting a bit of part time work. It makes life interesting.
Good luck with whatever you decided to do.
Reading your last post though, as your boss is not actually your boss is it not possible just to reduce the number of hours you do for him gradually, giving you more time to build up your own business.
