Secondary Jobs

Considering I slept in until 2 today and suffered with some bad back pain, I still managed to get some things accomplished in the realm of what I'm starting to think of as my secondary jobs. Doing these jobs makes me wonder if I would ever have the motivation to actually try working from home. I know a few people who do it, and I'm envious that they find the self drive to get anything done.

I like my little secondary jobs, but I don't think they'd ever pay the rent, at least not with what I'm doing right now. The first of my secondary jobs, and one that I've been doing for several years, is as a content writer. I started with Associated Content shortly after I moved from Sault Ste. Marie as a way to bring in a little extra income. It wasn't alot of income by any means. I think the most I ever got for an upfront payment was ten dollars. But over time, I've built up a nice little portfolio of articles, and the page view payments have been nice, bringing me an extra thirty to forty dollars a month. More recently, I've started writing content for Triond. When I first started at that site, I gave up after a few articles, realizing that I was only pulling in about 3 cents per month. Recently, I revisited and realized that I needed to change my outlook a little bit. When you find what people are searching for, you can get alot of page views by tweaking your topics. I can still write about what I want and get a few cents per article if I promote what I'm writing (thank you Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr). In a couple weeks, I've gone from 3 cents a month to 54 cents a month. It's not alot, but it's proof that my articles are being read and that the more I write, the better chances I have of bringing in money.

The second "secondary" job is as a ChaCha expeditor. I gave this a try after hearing some people talk about it. Again, this isn't a job that's going to make you rich, and it can be tedious. But it can also be addictive if you're in the right frame of mind. For anyone who's ever lost two or three hours on Yahoo! Answers, it's the same idea, only you're making a couple cents for every question you answer. There are other jobs at ChaCha, including generalists/specialists and voice expeditors, and the different jobs pay at different rates. A couple friends of mine are generalists/specialists (a job I don't envy because I've seen some of the questions we expeditors send them...). ChaCha only pays at $150 which seems like a bum deal, but if it's not money you're counting on as part of your budget, then the pay cycle doesn't matter so much. I have yet to receive a payment from them, but I'm getting there. In fact, I've already decided that this "unbudgeted" money is going towards the eReader I want (as long as everything else is paid up at the time).

I have this fantasy of working from home in my pajamas, but realistically, I'm not sure if I could give up my 8 to 5. Besides the stability of having a steady paycheck, I need an outside source of motivation. While I can self motivate for a short time, I tend to lose interest in things really fast. Those of you who've known me for awhile know that I've gone through other writing phases only to drop off after a few months and remain silent for as long as a couple years. While ChaCha is great while I'm working toward a goal, if I don't keep that in mind, I won't commit any time to answering questions.

It may be possible in the future to try to work from home, but right now I'm going to continue working by day, writing and ChaCha-ing by night. Also...and I'm not going to say much about it at this point...after the New Year I'm going to be trying out another business venture with a friend of mine. It's not something I ever thought I'd do, nor am I sure I'm going to last long term, but I'm willing to take the risk for it. Trust me...once it happens, everyone will know about it.

On that note, it's time to go get some sleep in prep for my day job. Everyone have a happy Monday and a great week!

ALF