I started this blog around 2.5 years ago. At that point I knew that I wanted to make money online I just wasn’t sure how I was going to do it. In fact, it took a whole lot of failure before I finally discovered what I was capable of sticking with.
I think that’s a good lesson in how different we all are. You might love doing one of these things that I am awful at and you might earn good money doing so. Likewise, you might absolutely hate what I currently do.
Different strokes for different folks, I suppose.
Without further ado I’m taking a walk down memory lane and digging up all of my failed business ideas from the past two and a half years. (Yes, this is slightly embarrassing. But hey, you live and you learn, right?)
Selling On Facebook Yard Sales for a Commission
One of the very first money making ventures I wrote about on this blog was selling on Facebook Yard Sales. And I wasn’t selling my own stuff, I was selling my brother’s things for a commission.
We posted some guns and ammo he had gotten good deals on and they immediately sold. I was pretty psyched and was determined to start a Facebook selling business for commission. I listed a few more things for my brother and then after having to make multiple trips to a public parking lot to meet buyers I soon grew tired of my FB business idea.
This sure didn’t last long.
Writing Business Directory Descriptions
When I first started trying to find freelance writing jobs I would look on Craigslist and apply to anything that caught my eye. One of those jobs that I ended up getting was writing 100-200 word business descriptions for directories.
I was paid $2 per description and would have to write 20-50 different descriptions for the same business. This was when I was still working both day jobs so I would do this from the time my girls went to bed to wee hours in the morning.
My late nights must’ve made my descriptions too sloppy because after a while they guy I was working for hired a new person and stopped giving me work.
When that happened I decided I’d replicate his business model and sell these services to local businesses. I made up some flyers, printed them out, and then never handed them to a single business owner!
Website Flipping
I thought website flipping would’ve been the perfect setup for me, and it could’ve been had I not been so cheap!
I bought a website off of Flippa.com for $55. The website had an okay theme, horrible scraped content, but good rankings. After about two months of owning that website it lost the ranking I was worried about and, therefore, it’s value in my eyes. (For all you bloggers this blog was built off an expired domain name which had a PR3. Shortly after buying it Google did a page rank update and it went down to 0.)
I wasn’t interested in building it back up. Especially since this site was called Defeat Our Debt and I’ve never had much debt at all.
Niche Websites
Another idea I was extremely excited about was creating niche websites. But OMG that takes a whole lot of work.
The niche website pros like Pat Flynn and Spencer Haws make it look easy but in my opinion a niche website takes just as much effort as a blog that you actually enjoy writing.
My niche sites (you may remember The Coon Hunters Club) ended up being more trouble than they were worth. I ended up breaking even with the one mentioned above but I let that domain expire after discovering it was better to go all in one idea rather than spreading myself so thin.
Selling on Amazon FBA
Not too long ago I decided to try selling on Amazon FBA. The truth is it probably could’ve been a successful endeavor. I had a whole slew of products to pick from at my Dad’s store and almost everything I sent in sold. (The old Thomas the Tank Engine toys sold for premium dollar!)
But I guess selling physical items isn’t really my thing. Which is surprising since my entire family has retail businesses. I lost interest in the project fairly easily despite the small amount of success I had.
It Takes A While to Figure Out What You’re Good At
I think this is a good reminder for anyone who has been looking to start their own side business or make money from home. It can take quite a few tries before something “clicks.” And even after it clicks it takes a little while longer to make profitable.
After all I’m still here blogging even though it took a couple years before I could consistently pull in $1,000 a month from this blog. And I was rejected probably 100 times before successfully filling a roster of freelance writing clients.
So if at first you fail, or just absolutely hate the business idea you chose, learn from it and try, try again!
Thanks for the great reminder, Alexa ! Our culture talks about the wins … not the tried and didn’t quite work. You were able to take the bits that you learned from each thing and keep applying them to the next.
I totally forgot about Pat Flynn. That guy always seems to be making money for telling everyone else they can make money. I don’t think I’ve ever understood the difference between a blog and a niche site.
Yeah, I really like Pat Flynn. I think he has good intentions. However, I now think it’s better to look at any site like a regular blog that’s going to need a whole lot of work and a whole lot of time. I think the way the word niche site has been used it makes it sound like something that’s going to be easier than a “regular” blog. Not true!
I am looking at doing a niche blog but it is a topic I am excited about and think I could have lots of fun with. So hopefully it can make me some money but be something I am proud of. I am still trying to figure out things like how you get ads on your site etc. I am so tech un-savvy but willing to learn.
If it’s something you’re excited about then it can definitely work out! If you haven’t already you need to sign up with Google Adsense (top left on ad on my site) and Media.net (blue blocks above the post) They are both easy to get into and have been the most profitable for me. Then you can place the ads on your sidebars through a text widget or download the “post adverts” plugin to automatically put ads inside of your posts 🙂 Hope that helps at least a little.
Thanks Alexa, your generosity always amazes me. I’ll let you know when I am up and running.
Thank you 🙂 Good luck!
This is what has happened to me. I remembered my very first earning was $1.50 for writing an article of 200 words for a person online. Then I decided to create a blog just for the fun of it until I discovered that you can generate revenue on the blog. Failure is the first part of being succeed.
Yes I agree. Most people fail multiple times before finding what sticks!
I firmly believe that most people need to find their way to what they love by first figuring out all the things they don’t love and don’t want to do. Thanks for sharing.
Yes that can be a good strategy. I (obviously) at one point or another thought all of the above ideas were great until I tried them and didn’t like them 🙂
Despite the outcome, you should be proud! Most people would have never even tried or attempted to get as far as did. At least you gave it a shot and know better now.
Hi Alexa,
I stumbled upon your blog and absolutely fell in love with it. Just like you, and most people who visit this blog everyday, I too am tired with my day job, or probably my night job I should say. I have been working in the support or operations industry for 2 years now, and got tired of it due to health issues. I’m planning or learning to be a blog or content writer, and you and your blog is an absolute inspiration.
As I’m a newbie to all this writing kind of stuff, I think it’s a long way to go, I feel I should learn things first. I don’t know the difference between a blog, an article, copy writing, content or technical writing. I would really appreciate if you can simplify these things to me so I will follow and learn accordingly as I’m doing everyday from your blog.
Cheers and Wish you the best for your blog!