Okay, now that we know some of the basics, let’s see how I make money online and we’ll talk to some other moms as well. Anyone reading this blog for any length of time knows that I am a bit of a geek. I like computers, I like blogging and I’ve been doing it a long time. Eventually, I became known in my online circle of friends as one of the moms to go to when you needed blog help. This is when people started to pay me, but I didn’t take it seriously.

That’s mistake number #1. Is there anything you do right now that people want to pay you for?

I finally got the picture after Ron and I started Homeschooljournal. I was heavy into figuring out WordPressMu (the multi-user version) and had helped out on their forum so much, I was starting to be mistaken for a developer. This time when people wanted to pay me for my knowledge I jumped at it.

I took the big plunge last November when I actively started seeking job boards and responding to employer requests. I honestly have more business than I can handle – both with WPMU and regular WordPress consulting. A lot of these job leads have come from my tech blog, WPMU Tutorials. I made a separate page there stating my rates and services.

You’d be surprised how many people forget this. If you have marketable skills, and you have a blog, can I as a new visitor easily find how to hire you?

Second to that, if you do have a skill, a passion, an interest – do you have a blog on that topic? Why not?

I mentioned I also make money from my blog. That is mostly through advertising, which you can see in the sidebar. I try to make it way over there and not bug visitors, and when one system’s income level starts dropping off, I search for another to replace it. If it hasn’t brought in any money over a couple months, I get rid of it. I could have more ads plastered all over, but at some point I’d like to get rid of them or have more passive income coming in from other blogs. Over the two years I’ve carried ads, it’s worked out to around $30-35 a month in income. Enough to pay for shared hosting & domains, or a small bill. Not a lot, but it makes a difference for some families. I should also note that the income is irregular, due to payout levels of ad networks. This means I won’t see any money for a couple of months or so, then I get paid all at once. It’s not bad at all, if it’s something you’re going to do anyway.

My biggest income-bringer is consulting. I can bill more in one hour than what I make in a month of ads on the blog. But I also have to work for it. The other down side is by the time I put in a full 8-billable-hour-day, a week has gone by. For now, that’s okay. With a little more effort I can step that up if I ever need to. And since I started writing this, I’ve had to come back and say, yes – I’ve stepped this up. I put in a good two to three hours at least of steady work almost every day.

Editor’s note: I’m up to a good 8 hour day now. :-/

The other thing people forget is that working online involves, well, actual work. You really need to approach it as a real job, regardless of what you’re doing. It’s still a job. You may even think to yourself, “Hey self, I spend a lot of time online during the day, I might as well earn some money while I’m at it.”

I’ll tell you the honest truth: you’ll spend the same amount of time or more, but you won’t be spending your time the same way. You will probably have to give things up.

I heard that gasp. Yes, there was a time when I spent a good 3 hours out of every day on a large and popular message board, socializing with other moms. That’s a lot of time, when you really think about it, but it was clear that I really could afford to spend that much time on eventual productive things. You might call it helping others, or your sanity saver, but ultimately, it’s socializing. Take a good hard look at where you spend your time online.

I’ve since culled a lot of online fluff activities and narrowed my circle of friends. Luckily, these friends understand it if I disappear for a while and don’t comment as much as I used to. (A couple of them are now working too, but we all still lurve each other. Right? Riiight?)

The other thing to remember is my kids are a little older now. I don’t have babies and / or toddlers in the background, and although we homeschool and the kids are home, they are pretty much self-sufficient.

(I knew making them do things for themselves would pay off.)

So in a sense, I caught the opportunity for work at a convenient time in my life cycle. It’s important to recognize not only when a good opportunity arises, but also when it comes by looking for you.

So I was talking to my mom (again) and the possibility came up (again) about her having her very own blog.

She will talk about cats, china, shopping deals, food, and how she’s trying to downsize and live in the country. That last bit will be remarkably like Green Acres, I’m sure.

What do YOU think, audience of mine?