Is running your own sites really more profitable than client work?

[Makaveli2007]

One of the things I hear a lot from the few voices in the SEO industry I listen to (or well their blogs) is that running your own sites is so much better than client work, and that every good/decent SEO would be far better off just running their own sites or working towards doing only (or mostly) that.

On the other hand, I know quite a few SEOs who have been doing what theyre doing for a decade or so, who are not successfully running their own sites but prefer client work.

It makes me wonder: Do the people who say it's simply so much more lucrative and that really any decent SEO can do it overestimating the ability/work ethic of people other than themselves?

[leadegroot]

I think the main difference, rather than income is people contact.
Its quite possible to make large amounts of money either way, so its the other differences that define the choices.
Working on my own sites I don't have to satisfy anyone but myself, and I don't have to worry about finding next month's client. It suits me - I've never been very good at finding clients, anyway!

I'm sure some people would hate that, and want to be on the phone to different people all day everyday, and would find working on the same sets of sites month after month awful.

If we were all the same it would be a very dull world. :)

[Makaveli2007]

Hi - thanks for the reply.

I can't believe you replied to this 2 weeks ago - college is keeping me way too busy LOL (havent checked my WebmasterWorld threads since the day I posted this) - I hope only coming back to this thread, now, doesnt seem impolite!

Do you really think that is the main difference, though? I would say the majority of the SEOs I know of would prefer to do nothing but work on their own sites instead of working for a company or as consultants....but in reality the majority of them does work as consultants, and only a few seem to work on their own sites more than on client's sites.

My guess would have been that only the very best can pull off working on nothing but their own sites, whereas most have to work as consultants or employees (whereas those who "have to" work as consultants are still doing pretty well financially and overall) - as in that its not mostly a people c ontact kind of thing, but that most just dont have the level of skill to pull it off...?

[leadegroot]

I only know that I have no clients (ok, I host a couple of people...) and I seem to keep bread on the table but I really don't think I am the very best.
I was never very good at finding clients, anyway, so this is easier for me.
Just different strokes for different folks, I'd say, but it looks like no one else is interested in the topic anyway, so perhaps I am not far off?

[Makaveli2007]

Hmm..interesting! Personally, I hope I'll be able to focus on my own sites, too, once I'm out of college...so maybe it's not that unrealistic :-)

thanks for your input, anyway!