You Will Not Get Rich From This Blog

I thought I’d break away from my life for a few minutes to write another “Where the Hell has Phil been?” post.

Well for the most part of last week we were without internet. Not because there was a glitch in the system, or our computers broke down or anything. Simply put, we couldn’t pay our bill. That’s not true. Actually we could pay our internet bill on say Tuesday, it’s just when we went to pay it, two other bills or financial thingy’s came up.

Yup.. we’ve been playing the “first bill to get to the bank gets paid that day” game for the last couple years.

So since I was without internet ( not counting my Droid ), I found the time to read a short book I started a year ago called “Rich Dad Poor Dad”. I remember the first time I attempted to read it I don’t think my attention was on what the book was telling me. I think I might have been looking for tips or insights on how to make more money. I don’t know, I just didn’t absorb what I was reading and half way through I stopped reading.

This time around, absorb it I did! Well at least the first half.

Assets Vs’ Liability. Of course. It doesn’t matter how much money we make, it’s how we manage, use it and grow it. We can make all the money in the world, but if we constantly live beyond our means without creating “Assets” to cover our “Liabilities” then we are just in this constant cycle of trying to keep up.

Here’s my example.

A couple years ago I lost my job of ten years. At the time my wife and I were bringing home over $7000 a month after tax’s. A few years before losing my job we bought a house that we could afford and filled it full of furniture. We were on top of the world and spending money because we had it. We had great credit and lots of credit to spend if we needed to, or didn’t need to. Our house doubled in value and we refinanced the first time to buy a new 4Runner for me ( which I still have ) a new computer for me ( which I still have ), and to pay off all our debt. We then had no debt, no car payments, and if I remember correctly an extra $500 per month after all was said and done.

Yet we didn’t take advantage of that opportunity to save money. We just kept on going with no financial safety net. We just kept spending money because we had it. Not building asset’s and assuming that we were secure. Until I lost my secure well paying job.

Losing my job was crushing to me. Being part of our recession was even more crushing since I couldn’t find a job for seven months. Holy Crap! I’ve been working since I was 15.. how could “I” not find a job.

The good and bad news is that I had enough credit built up to keep us afloat for almost a year. Yet during that time we didn’t really change our spending habits. We had money so we spent it!!

Until the money ran out and reality hit. We couldn’t pay our mortgage. We had no more credit and no savings.

We lost our home through “short sale”. We rented a larger home for $1000 less per month and thought we were safe.

Damn those “Liabilities”!! They just kept creeping up. All those bills and accounts we could no longer pay for. Which is why a simple $50 internet bill didn’t get paid for three months. It’s really humbling and embarrassing and I know that I’m not the only one that is going through this tough time.

Ya know though, I’m only blaming myself. I think back on that first refinance and how we could have made better choices. I think back on my naive days of internet marketing and how I could have made better choices.. I think back a lot.

But today is today and I can keep dwelling on the past and losing sleep, or I can move forward.

Moving forward. We’re Moving Again!! Too a smaller house with a fantastic backyard. Lot’s of gardening space for me, and a large lawn for the kids to play. Cheaper rent of course. It really sucks to move and to move into a place that is half the size, but part of our recovery is to make sacrifices and to move “forward”.

In my absence over the last year I’ve come to realize what an asset this blog has become. Even though I haven’t written much I still get referrals for various programs almost daily. Although I’m not making $1000′s per month, it’s comforting to know that my past efforts have helped buy food, gas, and the occasional beer. My blog pays for itself and then some. Even when I’m not writing for a month or two.

After our move into the new house I want to make it even more of an asset. Even though I’ve been firmly against sponsored advertising ( google, yahoo, etc.. ), I’m seriously reconsidering. Revenue is revenue and who am I do deny someone from finding an opportunity that fits their needs and possibly improving there lifestyle while increasing my financial well being as well. Fighting myself on this one.

Anyways, just thought I’d break my silence by sharing and venting. I’m off of work tomorrow to move into the new house. Looking forward to my new back yard and listening to SF Giants games while I garden next spring and summer.

Talk to you soon

Phil ( philsfault ) Ames

Okay, so a lot of you daily clickers won’t like the new ClixSense feature at all. Your used to opening two or three browser windows and a couple tabs in each window. You then spend a half hour or so clicking your ads for the day without a care as to what advertisement your clicking on.

Although, I do this as well. I really don’t feel guilty about not paying much attention to “most” of the advertising out there. I do pay attention to ads that catch my attention or ads ( and FACES! ) that I see consistently. I’ll often click through and hope to find a new blog or check out a new opportunity.

Mostly though I just click my ads and earn my few cents for the day.

Some might think this is unfair to the advertiser or the program owner who places the ads. As an advertiser myself I don’t think it’s unfair at all. It’s the nature of the beast and it’s up to me to get people to stop and pay attention to what I have to say or promote; which is why “branding” is so damn important.

Like I mentioned above, most of us will click an ad, move on to the next tab or window and click the next ad. This is really good time management and allows us to earn a bit of extra cash in a short amount of time. Lets face it, we are dealing with pennies here, so it makes “cents” to earn as much as we can while spending the least amount of time doing it. Then of course moving on to our other tasks and daily goals.

Today ClixSense introduce the new “View the Ad or don’t get Paid” feature. Meaning, when you click an ad on ClixSense, you have to stay and until the timer runs out. If you click on another window or tab the timer will start over. Forcing you to stay put and view the ad that you’ve clicked on for the duration of the exposure time the advertiser has paid for.

As an advertiser, I think this is an innovative and awesome idea.

As an ad clicker it sucks!

At the end of the day, it really benefits the advertiser more.

The clicker is forced to do what he ( or she ) is supposed to do; entertain the advertisers offer and not be distracted by ten other pages and get paid for viewing that advertisement.

As an advertiser, it makes sure that your ad is seen and not just clicked. Awesome!!

I believe that other sites will follow and the PTC industry will continue to evolve.

After all, it is all about Advertising, isn’t it.

Phil ( Philfault ) Ames

I remember a radio commercial recently that was advertising for a sales position with their station. The one line I remember from that commercial was, “How much money will you make? You’ll make as much as you earn!”.

Makes sense. The harder you work, the more advertisers you bring in, the more money you make for the radio station ( and hopefully the advertisers as well ), and of course more commissions for you. I’m pretty sure someone selling “radio advertising” doesn’t make a whole hell of a lot hourly. So commission’s are crucial.

In online marketing. It kinda works the same way. The harder you work at generating sales and commissions, the more money you’ll make. If you do nothing, then nothing will happen. Meaning, you’ll make little money. If you do nothing more than click a few ads or read a few emails, maybe even complete a survey once in awhile. Then you’ll have a nice little hobby on your hands and you’ll make a little extra cash. Nothing wrong with that. Your making what you earned!

So whats my problem?!! I have a semi popular blog. My list grows everyday and I’m making a bit of money from my efforts. Actually more than a “bit”. I can do more though. Much more!

I can use the excuse that life is busy.. blah blah blah. I can use the excuse that I lost my private office when we moved last November, but honestly I’ve had many moments when I chose to play a game or two on SwagBucks, or watched a video or three on YouTube, or even spent too much time checking my stats and earnings. Instead of writing new posts.

Pathetic, I know. Especially since I usually have plenty to talk about; both online and offline.

although, playing games on SwagBucks is both rewarding and fun!!

So I’m going to start writing again!!

I’m not always going to write blockbuster posts, but I will write. Even if it’s just a couple paragraphs. Might be meaningful, might even just be me ranting for a few minutes about something that pissed me off or got me all warm and mushy inside, but I will write.. I promise!!!

In the meantime, today I worked two real time jobs and still found time to write this post. Perfect! That’s what I need to do to rise above. In an honest way of course.

As always, thanks for all the love and stuff. All the emails, comments, concern and encouragement really mean a lot.

Phil ( philsfault ) Ames