have you seriously considered getting a 9 to 5 job in the past few months?

Before so-called "black hat" went mainstream no one particularly became obsessed with Google. If you could get traffic from Yahoo, you took it. If you could traffic from MSN/Live/Bing, you took it.

If you could game AOL, you took it. If you could inject javascript or take over sites, you took it.

The most unhealthy thing in any environment is consolidation, because latecomers to the game get tunnel vision. This is why I have agitated against Adsense for so long. People running Adsense almost always have no secondary form of monetization. Same sort of tunnel vision.

There is a TON of opportunity out there if you're willing to think outside the box a little.
 


EvilPenguin said:
I know, I have a lot to learn from you guys who are able to diversify traffic sources. I have had acute googlatis for several years, I see only google left and right and nothing else. I'm obssessed with google. :stonedsmilie:
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The irony if these updates is that Google is making is so IM also look at additional sources of traffic, which takes away the absolute control they've had on this industry.
 
I'm assuming like many people who started online businesses, you left a 9-5. Ask yourself if you REALLY want to go back to that. Will the 80k be worth no longer being your own boss?
 
Nine to five is how to survive - I ain't trying to survive, I'm trying to live it to the limit and love it a lot - Jay Z
 
Some of my clients have taken hits from the Google updates, though a lot of my clients have also been doing very well this past year. SEO will never be "dead," it's just the meaning of it that changes. Survival is always about adaptation. Some people will give up, but others will succeed.

I tried really hard years ago to find a 9-5 and having to survive impoverished for a couple of years turned out to be a great thing in the long run because it helped me get around to doing business here on WF. I have met so many great people here - a lot of really courageous people who are hell bent on living free. Some of them still work 9-5 jobs, some of them don't. I wouldn't have had the opportunity to work with such courageous people in an office.

I do think if you pursue something and your heart isn't really in it there's a good chance it's not going to work out, and that includes looking for a 9-5 job if it doesn't suit you.

That being said, I think there is a lot more opportunity to create jobs than to fill existing roles, and a lot more job security in the long term investing in yourself than in any job someone else can give you. Nothing wrong with a 9-5 if it's helping you toward liberation, but giving up on building something for yourself is a recipe for regret.

K.
 
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lschmidt said:
A nine to five isn't necessarily bad if you find something you like. I technically work 9 - 5 but I'm a programmer in a startup division at an established company. So it's not like most 9 - 5 jobs. It's more like, fucking awesome. We are a small team, we all have an entrepreneurial mindset and have our own side projects and whatnot. In fact, I've realized that I have infinitely more potential because now I've met other people who I can collaborate with. My mindset used to be a lone wolf outlook, what do I need partners for? Now I've realized that was naive.
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This. I've had the same great 9-5 for years. Work from home, flexible schedule, side projects/business allowed, work with cutting edge telephony technology, great salary. Tell me again how awful 9-5 jobs are...
 
I recently did 9 to 5, and I'll admit that financially it was a good thing. Because I lived like a tightwad while making good money I was able to put a lot of cash in reserve for my current forced retirement. This gives me the freedom to work with freelance clients of my choosing, while I develop my own offers. I regret not working more towards my goals of independence while being regularly employed.

Here's my top 10 list of what happens when you work 9 to 5:

1. There's a constant feeling of remorse on Sunday night because the next day is Monday.
2. Wednesday is worth celebrating as something special because it's "hump" day.
3. You need permission to take a day off, and prepare to be docked.
4. Assholes are everywhere, and they're often in charge. You'll have to be pleasant at all times to people you'd like to punch in the face.
5. You'll be asked to give 2 weeks' notice if you decide you want to leave. But they'll not hesitate kick you out the door at any time, without notice, if they want you gone.
6. You'll often struggle with a nagging feeling that today is the day they want you gone.
7. If it's a job you have to commute to, the time you spend on the road steals from your real-time hourly wage.
8. The work you may be asked to do isn't what you were hired for or within your skill sets. You may be punished or fired if you don't do it well.
9. Employers often promise much and deliver little. They may decide to fire you before you can collect any of the perks and bennies.
10. You will probably be asked to do work that is soul-sucking just to pay your bills.

GLB
 
There is nothing wrong with a day job, it is what you do before and after that will determine whether you're filling time or trying to get ahead.

I started my first online thing in 2002 while I had a steady 60 hour a week job. I worked another 40 hours a week on the side business until it grew to be self-supporting and profitable.

The nice thing about real jobs is that if you're hungry, they can give you a base to work from, and provide the stability you need to get something off the ground.

I don't think I could work a 9-5 today, I am not very employable because to work for someone, I have to respect their expertise and smarts, and there are very few people like that around. Just punching a clock would make me very unhappy.
 
Op, another way to think about it

If your SEO empire got smashed to pieces and you can't put it back together, then what value are you going to add to those clients and business you're working for? Most of the guys here are entrepreneurs. Can't speak for the rest, but I'm more taken back by "geez, this guy could be one of my employees someday." than "ewww, he's talking about 9-to-5 jobs."

Pick up some freelance work in something besides SEO if you have to, but go get your game together before you leech 80k off someone else. Then once your SEO skills are back on top you can go get more than 80k by getting your own clients... but probably by then you won't need them anyway.
 
& if 80% of your SEO monies are causing you to think about a salary as your escape route, it sounds like you may have a wrong mindset with how you're spending your money. Your spending would likely increase with a higher salary and not build up the bank you're planning on. Just a guess from your post & not coming down on you - it's just that I've just done it myself.

You did it once. Do it again. Hopefully you'll build it on something more solid than exploiting algorithm holes but even if you can't right now, there are plenty of other holes in markets - paid traffic, building our your backend with email, list goes on.
 
I don't think I've even tried to make a dollar with google since like 06 ... whats the fuckin point .. they clearly don't like affiliates. There is a fuckin retarded amount of places to buy traffic out there ...take a risk and buy some. Free traffic is only part of a strategy, people who rely solely on free traffic .. are pussies
 
Not pointing any fingers, but the ease with which one could make a decent income through 'tricks' like Seo -> Adsense and before that, Flogs/Farticles, enabled a lot of people to stay in business who really have no place there. This recent set of updates is just the same as a recession in the real-world economy - it culls the weak, and makes more room for the strong.
 
lol funny how OP thinks it's easy to just go out there and land a 6 figure SEO job. This is how the interview with OP will go...

Hiring Manager: I see that your last 9 to 5 in a corporate environment was a long time ago, what have you been doing for the past couple years?

OP: uhm, been trying to make coin online.

H.M.: how did that work out?

OP: oh pretty good, I made some really good monies doing SEO and shit.

H.M.: so why you here now?

OP: uhh... well... hmm... I...

H.M.: next!
 
^

H.M: So why are you here now?

OP: Hey, can we skip this human resource crap and let me talk to someone who actually produces anything of value?
 
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