Google Adsense: Afraid of success?

December 5, 2005

Author: rfung
Source: WebmasterWorld.com

For those who may still remember me, I was on my way to $300/day, but took a bit of a nosedive about 7 months ago. I’ve been since then travelling around Europe, and currently in Berlin, about 2 weeks away from returning back to the US. In the meantime, I’ve done a bit of work here and there, doing maintenance, putting up a couple sites, but nothing major in terms of dedication. The end of this stage of my journey got me thinking, about life, goals, and of course, the means to still continue to do that.

Basically I have plan right in front of me that could potentially boost me up to $500/day very easily. It’s RIGHT THERE. My list of great ideas is huge. I can succeed beyond the income of the average worker, fully realize the “American Dream” in a couple years of high profit, reinvest everything in real estate and other less risky ventures, live off the rent/interest/etc and enjoy life for the rest of it.

But, I’m not motivated. Right now I’m living an easy life, spoiled by my ‘early success’ and I know I should be doing more. Yes, I should work my ass off right now while the good is still good. Yes later it will be harder. Yes things could tank over just as it did 7 months ago. Yes, yes, yes. I know.

I know I won’t get too much sympathy fom my plight, but if you (think you) have the key to your financial independence, and you’re not doing what you should to get there, what’s the freaking deal with that!?!?…

Hi rfung

We have talked before.

“reinvest everything in real estate and other less risky ventures, live off the rent/interest/etc and enjoy life for the rest of it.”

Well I am back in Spain for the winter. It takes a few years to do as you want, but stick at it and it is realisable

Get a dreary 9 to 5 cubicle job. It’ll cure you of your lack of motivation real quick, I promise.

Thismight motivate you.
I have been working 80-100 hour weeks for 10 years, but am keeping myself going because I know that continuing to work will allow me to enjoy a life of leisure very soon. I surround myself with posters of my heros, motivational quotations etc. etc. Find out what motivates you and keep reminding yourself that winners sacrifice short term pleasures for long term success, whereas the average Joe (do you want to be an ‘average Joe’?) do not have the tenacity or willpower to sacrifice short-term pleasures for long term happiness. From what you’ve written, you’ve done well before, so I’m sure you can motivate yourself to get your new venture going.

Get a permanent office where you can nest. I find it very difficult to work on the road.

Turn up the tedium level a little. Having an interesting life is nice — for a while — but in order to accomplish anything worthwhile you need solitude and the willingness to work long and hard. At least for periods.

Get excited about your project. Research it to death and use some motivational tools to get yourself pumped up - Anthony Robbins, Guy Kawasaki, Napoleon Hill, “Challenge” posters… Whatever works for you.

Keep in mind that the whole free traffic/affiliate marketing business model could be dead in five years, and you could be left with negligible revenues and no marketable job skills. This is what really keeps me going. I figure I have to earn enough to retire on before everything evaporates. I’m not going back to Cobol programming, LOL.

P.S. Here’s one more great tip to keep you working hard: Get some dependants. I’m earning for four, and failure is not an option.

It is just simple middleage crysis.

You should get over it or you’ll be lost.
The biggest danger is you already earning quite a lot of money - you think there is no motive to make more.

At this period we all think - “What am I doing?”
“Why am I wasting my life for such crap?” and so on.

Just know - you are not alone.

I dont think cubicle job will help - too late.
You should find REAL motive -
build (buy with mortgage) a BIG house NOW, buy a nice car -
make yourself feel lack of money but being secure meanwile.

Good luck.

I am currently in the same type of situation as you (age, cashed up etc.) but things haven’t taken a nose dive.

As jomaxx mentioned having babies to feed may make the difference. I know that if I had dependants I would be working 18 hours a day 7 days a week for a long time.

Maybe set yourself some barely achievable goals and go for them

Read “Getting things done” by David Caroll (I think) or visit a site like 43folders.com. He shows a pretty good system for keeping track of what really needs to be done rather than the things that aren’t actionable.

There’s a sense of accomplishment from crossing off things on your todo list, not to mention you know that each item is important rather than just spinning your wheels.

Sean

Maybe you’ve realised there’s more to life than making money.

Very much so true. As far as a job goes, building sites is something I enjoy doing, but I can’t say that it’s my passion, and being able to work whenever and wherever doesn’t give you a sense of structure or stability. It’s still a ‘job’. Albeit a very nice one, it needs to be done and looked at as such.

The money being taken out of the equation, deep down I’m still struggling to find the one thing to give life purpose. I’ve looked into becoming, among other things with more human touch, a part time masseuse…go figure. But those questions are probably a bit off topic here at WebmasterWorld… unless that M is for Massage…

I posted a similar message on here once and the best advice I got was to spend more money. It sounds counterintuitive, but a low bank balance is some of the best motivation ever.
The ways I acheive this is to:

1. I put one of my biggest monthly checks directly into a savings account that I pretend isn’t really there unless emergencies happen

2. I got life insurance.

3. I max out a SEP IRA every year (which has a great tax benefit) and I get my brokerage to automatically deduct an estimated amount from my account each month towards this.

4. I get my brokerage also to automatically deduct an amount towards a mutual fund investment.

5. The last few months I have been buying stock each month. This is new for me, so I am stil getting my feet wet and going slow, but it gets some money out of my bank account, and so far, I am doing quite well.

6. I bought a house and I am overpaying my mortgage every month. Even if you aren’t ready to “settle down” in this way, you can buy rental properties, pay to have someone else manage them, and generate a modest positive cash flow while building equity too.

It can be tempting to just build up a wad of cash, but for me, seeing that my checking account is getting low makes me feel somewhat more “normal” like my peers and gives me that “working person’s” ethic that keeps my motivation high. I have built up a pretty good safety net of money too–it’s just spread out and in places where it’s hard to see/get.

Good Luck!