Make Money Online

Since making the decision to take a break and use existing online tools and programs to make money online, I’ve gotten a lot of questions from family members who just can’t understand my motives. Have I prepared for this? Are our savings sufficient? How can you possibly support yourself? What will you do when this fails?

I’ve realized that these same questions (and undoubtedly many more) may arise from potential readers of this blog as well. While future posts will detail a bit more of my background and my current financial position, I want to give you more of an idea of what this journey is and is not.

1. This is a part-time effort.
   I will be approaching this journey as a part-time effort. I want to show that you can earn good money online without dedicating every waking moment to your effort.  I will be dedicating a maximum of 10 hours each week to Lugnut as I build out this model, and hope to demonstrate that with focused effort, you can achieve success in short order.
2. I will not just be creating a blog about how to create a blog.
   I will be using this blog to chronicle my online activities, and certainly hope that I will be able to generate some income from it. However, I will be building out other blogs/sites around certain areas of interest that will take up the majority of my efforts. I will detail these more as I get closer to launch.
3. This is not a short-term experiment.
   My intention is to make this a life-changing event. After having spent the last 10 years building 3 businesses, I’ve realized that I’ve missed much (most?) of my family’s development. My marriage has certainly taken it’s hits as well. While I certainly expect much of the first three months to be a whirlwind of activity (starting new businesses usually are), my hope is that my kids will shortly be able to experience their father without a laptop on his lap during most moments of the day!
4. I don’t have a huge nest egg or savings to support the start of this journey.
   I would not wish my current financial position on anyone. Credit Cards all maxed out, and collecting 34% to 39% on over $10,000. Over $100K in friends & family loans from the last 7 years of building businesses. To top it off, I’m sure my credit score is in the tank (This will be another post), so any traditional business loans are pretty much out of the question.Make no mistake, I need to start generating income from Day 1 in order to make this work. I estimate my current monthly "nut" to be in the neighborhood of $5,000 to $6,000 (our house payment is roughly half of that at $2,500/mo).
5. This will be a learning experience.
   Yes, I have a background in PR and Marketing. Yes, I have owned and operated an Internet consulting firm that has built and deployed large e-commerce solutions for large corporations. However, I will be learning much as I move forward, and getting dirty in the areas of Search Engine Optimization, Affiliate Marketing and Social Networking. I will document it all through this blog in the hopes that I can show others a path to success.

So the decision has been made. April 1, I will be adding a new activity to my place - blogging.

I have long held the belief that with passion and follow-through, you can use existing online business opportunities to replace your current income and create more freedom for your family. After 10 years of building online businesses and consulting for other businesses, I am excited to be proving this belief to myself.

This will not be a full-time endeavor.  I hope to be able to track this process online through this blog to provide (hopefully!) a blueprint on how people who currently have a job can replace or supplement their income through online publishing.  I will hold a strict 8 to 10 hour/week time limit for this activity.  My other companies - StashSpace (and to a much lesser extent, Online Video Service) take up most of my waking hours, especially as we have been experiencing tremendous growth and opportunity over the last six months.