Set it and Forget it

I have to admit that I don't remember exactly which infomercial this phrase came from. I think it had something to do with Ron Popeil and a chicken roaster, though I can't say for sure. The words, however, convey truly sage-like wisdom. "Set it and Forget it." How many parts of our lives could we apply this philosophy? I know I can think of a few, starting with my writing.

I've realized this philosophy is what I have been lacking as a freelance writer. Though it can be helpful to analyze one's earnings, I find I spend so much time checking and obsessing over my stats. If I would just spend that time writing, I probably wouldn't need to spend as much time worrying. It is always so much easier though to stare at a revenue chart and hit refresh repeatedly in hopes of new income. I, however, am now choosing to "write it and forget it", at least in the short term.

I need to really earn some money from this endeavor now, and the only way I can do that is to write, write, oh and write. So now I am going to spend the majority of my online time typing away at the keyboard and adding to my residual earnings.

But what about writer's block? Isn't that why so many of us end up squandering time online? Well, I have discovered that some sites require more writing effort than others. I can bust out five to ten Bukisa articles in two hours, whereas I might just be able to write one good Suite101 article during that time. If I find that I'm hitting my head on a brick wall at one site, I can always switch to the easier sites and get in some fast articles. Either way, I'm making money instead of just staring at the computer in a fog.

I hope to someday not need to write so much in a day, but I need to make money and this seems like the best way in the short term to do it. I want to have a substantial residual revenue stream and that only comes with a large amount of quality articles. So, with that in mind, I'm going to write, write, oh and write my way to a steady income from residuals.

100 Suite Articles and My One-Year Anniversary

Today I published my 100th article on Suite101 and it has apparently taken me about a year to write all of those articles because it is also my first anniversary with Suite. So I thought I would provide a little run-down of my progress over the first year:

Articles Written: 100
Residuals Earned: $264
Bonus Money from Contests: $101
Average Earned per Month: $22
First Month's Earnings: $1.39
Last Month's Earnings: $29.95
Promotions: Became the Ceramics Feature Writer

Even though my monthly earnings have started to slow down a bit, I am still happy to be writing for Suite101. They have some of the best editors around and a supportive writing community who are quick to answer questions and give advice. I'm hopeful that my residuals will rise as I add more content and my older articles begin to mature and rise in Google searches.

For now though, I'm happy with the added experience and opportunities I gain from Suite. It has been a wonderful tool for me to further hone my writing and network with great people. So I raise my glass and say, here's to another sweet year at Suite!

Broke, Busy and Bustin a Move with Bukisa

Well, as the title above indicates, I'm pretty broke right now. Sure, I'm paying the bills, but my goal is to increase my residual income, and it seems to be stagnating. So no time for moping around, I'll just work harder and evaluate my goals.

Originally, I was spending most of my time writing for Suite101. Though I'm still writing quite a bit for the site, my earnings seem to be standing still. Who knows if this will turn around in the short term, though I'm sure that the earnings will pick up over time as I write more content. That said, I need to put my eggs in a few different baskets. With that in mind, I have decided to pursue another 100 article challenge.

My next goal is to publish 100 articles on Bukisa and track their earnings. I primarily use Bukisa as a place to promote my articles for other sites. Their 200-word requirement makes writing articles a breeze, and I have seen some decent earnings for the minimal amount of work involved. I might as well track those earnings and see just how profitable Bukisa actually is.

I have already done this experiment with eHow articles, and it will be interesting to compare my earnings from eHow with the earnings from Bukisa. I'd like to get 100 articles completed within two months, but this is also a very hectic jewelry-making time for me, so we'll see how things go.

Anyway, feel free to try this experiment with me. I would love to see exactly how much one can actually benefit from the earnings on Bukisa. I'm excited to track the progress. Be looking soon for my 100th article announcement.