Ricky’s Online Business Blog

So you want to be a full time professional blogger or problogger?  Do you really think it’s a dream job?

I’m not against becoming a full time blogger but I guess those who have such ambition need to beware of a few traps and how to overcome them.

First, our lifestyle will change, hopefully for the better.  But it’s not always the case.  Since we don’t have to be at work from nine to five and we can work anytime we like, we may just sleep, wake up and eat at the wrong hours.  And you know our human body has been designed to follow a certain biological clock.

Second, our health may deteriorate since our lifestyle is not right.  Night may become day, and day may become night.  We may watch TV more.  We may just relax at home gaining weight.  We may just sit in front of the computer screen too long time and harm our eye sight and posture.

Third, we may become more and more antisocial.  We humans are not designed to be islands.  Since we don’t have to meet people that often as at work, some of us may just slowly leave the crowd into isolation.  But relationships can make or break our life.  We still need real connections with friends and people around us.

Fourth, we may just stop to grow mentally and develop ourselves.  Again, of course we can still read up on the Internet.  But real growth comes from real life experience and interaction with people, not virtual one.

Fifth, we may lose meaning and purpose in life.  Full time bloggers may be earning a lot.  But some of us may just think we have retired and lose the drive to go on to achieve more success and meaning in life.  Do we live on this earth just to blog, achieve good money and do nothing else?

Sixth, do you really think blogging can be a long-term job?  Let’s commend that blogging and earning from advertisements such as Google Adsense and other PPC works pretty well now.  But is this business model going to be sustainable a few years down the road?

Seventh, some of us may depend too much on blogging money.  But to be really wealthy, one may need to have multiple sources of income, instead of putting all eggs into one basket called blogging.  Since we are so free everyday, why not do some other things to generate more sources of income?

In fact, an Internet guru recently talked about “blogging less but earning more” by having other sources of income.  By blogging alone and doing nothing else, one might miss many other opportunities.

In summary, I suppose we human are designed to work, not to just sit there and wait for heaven.  When I say working, I mean keeping ourselves active.  We can work for a charity cause, take up some responsibility in some non-profit organization or carry out some activities to spice up our life.  When we stop working, our mind, body and soul start to deteriorate.

So as full time bloggers, let us not fall into these traps.  Let’s keep our life active, do some exercise, keep on connecting with other people, do something worthwhile, and leave a legacy for our life!

Thanks to Neowave’s guide here. I have set up online chat service without paying a single cent across my sites. I can chat with web site visitors using Windows Live Messenger (MSN)!

Check the the left sidebar of this blog and you will see a little orange box. If my company’s MSN account is turned on, it will read “Click to chat”.

Simple click it and you will be given two options – either to login to your Windows Live account, or chat anonymously. Either way, you will be able to chat with us.

And I was delighted to see an incoming chat within 2 minutes of setting it up on NextLevel Tutor Network web site!

But I have two Windows Live accounts, one for business and one for personal. I wish to put on the personal one for this blog, and the business one for other sites.

The problem is how do I access both accounts at the same time in Windows Live Messenger? Any idea?

Over the past one month I’ve been obsessed by a new business idea to do Internet business consulting. For those of you who have heard the plan, you know it is actually not a business, but an income generation and distribution scheme for anyone who want to learn to do business on the Internet.

Maybe I was a bit too ambitious, thinking to help people earn more income to cope with the rising living costs. I thought of not only helping them to earn, but also equipping them the ability to earn by arranging training for them. I was even thinking of charitable giving to contribute to the society. Suddenly I became so drowned in all these seemingly “noble” purposes.

The business is a kind of affiliate marketing scheme with twist, where the members refer clients and earn money. If you know the business plan, you should know the profits are to be shared by members and given to charitable organizations. I myself maybe the owner, but I’m still one of the members who earn like all other members.

Most people to whom I shared the scheme agreed to join. Some were excited about it. Some said they would consider. But recently I met up with someone who is looking for an opportunity in Internet marketing who criticized the idea even before I went into the meat of the business.

I admit I had a really terrible presentation that night, and I failed to recognize that he came looking for a certain kind of business and with a certain motive. In summary, I just failed to communicate. On the other hand, I guess he may have judged too fast and misunderstood a few things.

But anyway he did lead me to an important discovery that now I decide to scrap the plan for now. Somehow my eyes have been blinded to see this. And I must thank him for the revelation.

While it maybe easy for the affiliate members to earn money – just refer clients, I as the coordinator will work like hell having to do the selling and manage the myriad of projects and clients. But do all these efforts justify my time and resources?

It will not be too much a problem if it is a standard product or service with minimum customer support. But a consulting business is time, labor and brain-intensive. I will be wasting much time having to coordinate among clients, web developers and SEO experts. Moreover, I would have to bear great responsibilities especially in making sure the clients are able to sell and earn money on the Internet.

The “business” actually seeks to serve the needs of the members by distributing income generated from the clients. While the income generation part of the idea maybe quite interesting, the source of income may not be sustainable. Internet business consulting service may be a wrong service chosen for the purpose. It is a wrong mean to an end.

Having decided to drop the plan, I’m now quite disillusioned and have to face the members whom I had so convincingly talked into believing in Internet consulting. Sorry my dear members. Please contact me for alternative arrangement if you are still keen.

Throughout my years doing Internet businesses, I have been resisting the idea of doing web sites and Internet marketing for others. I’ve been wondering for those “experts” who know how to market for others, why don’t they market for themselves? And for those “consultants” who teach people how to earn money online, why not earn for themselves?

But how come now I myself fall into the trap and become one of them?