I haven’t been blogging here or anywhere much because of my tutoring job. That is where I make most of my income now, and with Hurricane Gustav last September, end of school schedules have been all over the ballpark. My last student took the last final exam on May 26. Summer tutoring just began on June 1.

The tutoring company I work for closed as of June 1, so I’ve been busting my butt to get clients on my own, which has been easier than I thought it would be. I was informed on May 21. The former company owner will continue to give out tutor contact information and all former customers were informed of the closing so they can keep in contact with us themselves. I have all their contact info so I will email them in late July reminding them to start signing up when school starts. I also have lots of places to advertise free, and I’m getting a lot of inquiries, if not for summer, then for the fall semester, which starts in early August. The good news is I get a big pay raise by dealing with clients on my own. The bad news is I have to deal with clients, but I’ll manage.

I also have to write up a contract so I can have clients sign up and commit to tutoring month-to-month, and pay in advance of the month. That way I don’t get stiffed. That has to be done very soon, at the latest before the fall semester so I have my business and paperwork for clients in place. I also need to put up a website. That won’t take much time with WordPress.

The sites that make the most money are actually the sites that need my attention least. They have nothing to do with internet marketing or blogging. They are good, low competition but high demand niche sites. I make most of my money through eBay sales on several sites, Amazon on a few, and paid advertising on several. I do promote programs when one of my mentors has a new launch of a program I’ve studied, and May is a big launch month. I make a few sales here and there and those programs are recurring monthly income. It’s not a lot but it adds up when you have lots of sources paying a little.

I’m working on other areas of my online business when I have the time, which isn’t often. I’m working on my own products: a podcast and an ebook. I’m considering opening a membership site as soon as I find a niche without too much competition that will attract a decent sized membership. It won’t be in internet marketing or blogging. Content production will take a lot of time, but not all at once. It can be stretched out over time and I can put it first if I need to over any other content production.

I also freelance on building WordPress sites for others and helping local small businesses take advantage of free and low-cost marketing and advertising on the internet. That’s a growing niche. Lots of offline local businesses need help finding what the internet can do for them and make a big impact.

I am in a holding pattern because my bankruptcy is about to go to the trustee as soon as my accountant finishes my 2008 taxes. I’ll need to check with him Wednesday 6/4 if he doesn’t call me before that. He hasn’t finished because he required more info from me that I wasn’t able to deliver until early last week. I’ve also had to get all the paperwork organized for the trustee and get all end-of-May letters, statements, balances, etc. together now that it’s June.

I’m about to put up a May 09 debt report and a post I’ve been working on that replaces Google Adsense as an ad publishing platform. I hope life will settle down in the next few weeks and I can get back on a regular blogging schedule again.

Thanks for checking up on me,
Sherri

When you started the blog, I thought you were being very open and direct in dealing with an unfortunate personal situation, so I stopped by to learn some techniques. But I can’t help but take note that you haven’t updated it for a couple of months now, and most of your attention seems to be focused on attempts to promote blogging for money. Very few people are able to make an actual go of that, that I am really quite surprised to find that you are Twittering about Yaro, and a lot of other topics, but generally, your debt and finances seem to have been on the back burner, except the recent notation about some paperwork for your BK.

In fact, it seems the money to be made in blogging is in selling blogging systems, not in blogging itself… but even that market seems to be saturated and a tough road…

So, is the cash flow from blogging now going to put you over the top and become a full time career? Or do you find yourself spending more money and time on the latest fads, so that it is in truth a very expensive and time-consuming hobby/distraction? If it is really working for you, then showing the expenses/income and cash flow would be very instructive as you update your debt and other fiances as well.

Keep your head up!

R.C.

Regards,
Dorcia Wellington