10 Business Lessons From a Snarky Entrepreneur (Blog)

[TeroMiettunen.com]

11. Business Lesson:

Forget about having multiple streams of online income and trying to hustle your way to success by spending little time here and there to make a little money.

Your mind will feel a lot clearer and I and many others think that you'll be much more successful if you only focus on building one big business. Of course you may want to first experiment what kind of business that is.

I tried to go the multiple streams of income way but when I switched to focusing on one business, I've been getting a lot more work done.

Note that this isn't originally my advice, I'm not qualified to give this advice alone. This is a multi-millionaire's advice which was agreed to by many other entrepreneurs.

[elainevdw]

Might I add that I'm greatly enjoying the increased popularity of the word "snarky"?

[Erin Pavlina]

I too feel that the word "snarky" deserves much wider attention for being a great, descriptive word. Much like the word, "squirrely" that I also enjoy employing upon occasion.

[Erki]

What does snarky mean at all? None of my good ol' dictinoaries want to give me the answer.

[Savage]

Originally Posted by Erki

What does snarky mean at all? None of my good ol' dictinoaries want to give me the answer.

snarky - Definitions from Dictionary.com

[Tigrou]

Very very good rules everyone should apply.
And the chair is ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT POINT.
I've just broked my ass during decades. Now I've a good one.

Thanks a lot, From France, Côte d'Azur !

[Dimitry]

Originally Posted by Dan.Linehan

Amazon.com: Aeron Desk Chair, Full-Featured PostureFit, Color - Carbon, Large: Kitchen & Housewares

We have these at work and I didn't find them as comfortable as some of the other chairs available. Specifically, I like a more hardback style chair.

[Inquisitive Raven]

Personally, I need a chair that forces me to move about a bit. If I sit still too long, my back stiffens ups. I'm drooling over this chair(more of a stool really) from a place called "Relax the Back."

[Gene]

Originally Posted by Inquisitive Raven

Personally, I need a chair that forces me to move about a bit. If I sit still too long, my back stiffens ups.

I need to get up and move about. I sometimes set a timer to remind me that it is time for a little break from work and walk about.

I now have a biological timer named Dave who is two years old and wants to play.

Life is good!

[humppadoll]

Hey everyone,

I really enjoy reading Steve's blog and learn a lot from ist. But now I have a question.
I think there is a contradiction, when he says in his list at #10, if you don't make money with your work it is just a hobby, and on the other hand he said in other posts, that you have to give your knowledge away for free.

I am thinking about this now for some days. Can anyone help me to sort it out?

I have been writing a blog myself for nearly two years for free. Is it greedy to now add Adsense or affiliate programmes to it? On the other hand it has not yet contributed anything to my income...
And how long do you have to try until you can tell, whether it is a hobby or a profession?

Thank You in advance

[Adrienne]

Originally Posted by humppadoll

Hey everyone,

I really enjoy reading Steve's blog and learn a lot from ist. But now I have a question.
I think there is a contradiction, when he says in his list at #10, if you don't make money with your work it is just a hobby, and on the other hand he said in other posts, that you have to give your knowledge away for free.

I am thinking about this now for some days. Can anyone help me to sort it out?

I have been writing a blog myself for nearly two years for free. Is it greedy to now add Adsense or affiliate programmes to it? On the other hand it has not yet contributed anything to my income...
And how long do you have to try until you can tell, whether it is a hobby or a profession?

Thank You in advance

I never really saw it as contradictory. How I took it was, I can do what I want, do what I love, do what makes a difference, I can do what I would do for free (a hobby) and turn it into something I can make money on (a business). It all depends on what you want to accomplish and how you want to accomplish it (Steve wrote a great blog entry on the medium vs the message).

For example, you want to monetize your blog. There are a ton of ways you can do this. Steve decided that at this point (I extrapolated this from a few of his post, I am unsure if he has said this direct words or not), what was important was reaching people; well if it is free, you reach more people then if people pay. You can:
- Add ads
- Add affiliate programs you like
- Keep you blog free but add a pay members section
- Write a paid newsletter
- Ask for donations to help with hosting and other expenses
There is a lot more. Chose what is best for your readers. Do you think they would rather pay? Or do you think they would rather have a few ads? Heck, you can ask them with a poll or ask the question and let them comment.. See what your readers reactions are. I myself never mind ads as long as they are not popups, animated gifs, or intrusive. I don’t mind Steve’s animated gif because it is so out of the way, my eyes go right over it.

Every blog is different. I think the point Steve was trying to make is you can make money doing what you would do for free. Now do you have to? No. For example, I am a volunteer EMT. I could run at another department and pick up and extra grand a month for the amount of hours I run, but I don’t do it for money, I do it to give to the community. So, your motivation plays into it as well.

Hope that helps, a bit
Adrienne

[humppadoll]

Thank you Adrienne. That really helped me.

[Adrienne]

Originally Posted by humppadoll

Thank you Adrienne. That really helped me.

You're welcome glad to help

Adrienne

[The Wise Turtle]

Adrienne, don't forget about asking for donations! It's the shareware business plan, give it away for free, but make it clear that your policy is that people should pay if they find the the service useful. You're probably not going to become super wealthy off this business model, but it's definitely an option that will make you more money than just giving your work away for free. (And has so far made my business more money than ads and affiliates combined.)

Also, Steve, might I be able to convince you that it would be better to get a good chair for free, rather than having to buy one? I've gotten several different chairs for free that were being discarded, and I had the luxury of being able to try them all out before settling on the one I liked the best.

Now I'm in search of a good bean bag chair to go with my new "Zen style" desk, where I can sit on the floor and use a low coffee table as my desk. Right now I'm using one of those gamer's chairs that looks like a sports car seat and has no legs. It's ok, but a bean bag chair would be more flexible. (I tried a Zafu, but it was just too rigid for me.)

Peace, Love, and Bicycles,
Turtle