I did spend some time writing on the Internet in March, but I placed my work on low or non-paying sites. Of the 27 articles I wrote, 21 were placed on low paying sites and 4 articles were placed on sites that don’t pay at all.

The non-paying sites don’t pay because I haven’t placed ads on them yet. I’m looking to experiment with different ad networks to see how well they pay. I’m still in the research stage. While I’m researching, I’m slowly adding content.

The Beauty of Past Work

If it were not for the work that I put in over the past 5 years, I wouldn’t have been able to earn over $3,200 of residual income in March of 2012.

I know I’ve said it before, but it’s something that’s worth repeating. Even if you are strapped for cash and must write for up front pay, do yourself a favor and squeeze out some time to write a few residual articles. You won’t get an immediate income boost, but it will grow over time.

Losing a Little Steam

It looks like April isn’t starting off where March left off. My numbers seem to be a little lower, but it’s really too early to tell. In the meanwhile, I’ll continue writing at my current pace. It seems to be working for me right now as I slowly regain my writing mojo.

How did March treat you?

His comment inspired me to back up a bit and outline my inner struggle with residual vs. up front income. You see, early on I realized the value of residual income but real-life situations made it impossible for me to jump 100% into the residual income arena. I’m sure you all understand. We all have bills to pay, mouths to feed and children to clothe.

It’s impossible to pay bills, buy clothes or food on future promises. You need cold hard cash and you needed immediately.

Squirreling Away Time

When I came to the decision that residual income was way to go, I had to give up a few things. I had to give up some immediate cash. I also gave up a higher income. I know for a fact that I could have earned a lot more money early on if I had continued to write for up front pay. Eventually I would have sought out higher earning gigs and spent my time seeking and writing.

On the flip side, I chose the residual path because I didn’t want to continue writing more and more. Writers tend to get burned out when they’re not following their passion. I’ve found I could write for money for a certain amount of time but eventually I hit the wall. When faced with the wall, it’s impossible to write another word.

Residual income is a nice blanket to have when facing a wall.

Time and Patience

Below are numbers taken from my spreadsheet, which tracks my passive/active earning percentages. This section shows how I wrestled with passive vs. active income from 2007 to November 2011. You will note 2010 was a particularly tough year for me. I spent way too much time on active income.

At the end of 2010 I made a vow to myself. In December of 2010 I wrote the following on my spreadsheet and have held true to it, sort of:

eHow is no longer an option and Suite has been Pandalized, so now I concentrate exclusively on my own sites.

I know the year is not over yet but I do want to share some numbers. The numbers below outline my income/article count from January to mid November 2011:

In case you haven’t figured it out, the active income came from Demand Studios. As you can see, it’s really foolish for me to write for up front pay unless I get a minimum of $71.29 per article. I’m also at the point in my freelance writing career where $71 to write for someone else is just not enough. Remember, when you write for somebody else you don’t get to set the rules. When I write for myself I make up the rules.

A Personal Decision

You can float around the Internet reading forums and blog posts about the dangers of writing for content sites. It’s nice to read what other people think, but until you make your own decision and choose your own path, you’re burning valuable time.

While $25,000 in residual income may not be enough for a family to live on, but as my dad would say, it’s better than a stick in the eye.

Things to take from this post:

• You have to decide what kind of freelance writing career you want.
• You have to implement your plan of action and follow it (tweak it when necessary).
• Track your progress. This helps you to know whether or not you’re moving in the right direction.
• Keep planting residual seeds.
• Be patient.  Residual income takes time.

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I haven’t taken a leave of my senses. I’m excited because a long time ago (March 8, 2010) I mentioned that I wanted to earn minimum wage. Although I haven’t met the goal as outlined in my earlier post, I’m on my way.

While playing around with numbers the other day I realized that last year my daily residual earnings averaged $62.69 a day. In general, I work (if you really want to call what I do work), 4 to 5 hours a day 5 days a week, except in the summer when I work 4 to 5 hours a week if at all.

Let’s say I put in a 25-hour workweek. At a rate of $62.69 a day, 7 days a week, that’s $438.83 a week. Divide the weekly rate by 25 hours and you get…drum roll please…$17.55 per hour. Eeeyowzaaa!

Since minimum wage, as of this writing, is $7.25 an hour, I could conceivably put in a full 40-hour week and still earn more than minimum wage.

The Kicker!

Notice that I quote my earnings for last year. Since this year isn’t complete yet, I won’t use this year’s figures. If you take a look at my October earnings graph, you’ll see that this year’s daily residual earnings exceed last year’s.

Quitters & Naysayers and Everyone Else

For the quitters, I’m glad I didn’t follow you when you gave up. To the naysayers, I’m so glad I didn’t listen. To everyone else, don’t quit or listen to the naysayers. If I can do it, you can too!

Oh, did I mention that I’m only talking about residual earnings?

If you enjoyed this post, why not sign up for NJFM’s Motivation for Writers Newsletter. A dose of motivation will be sent to your inbox every Monday.

October was an interesting month. I’ve been a little frustrated because my earnings have been hovering a couple of hundred dollars lower than my best month.

My best residual month was March 2011, just before Panda hit the first time. In March my earnings were $2,799. Since then, I’ve had a drop and a steady increase and then a plateau followed by a bit of a decrease. October’s earnings were $2,591.

All in all that’s not bad, but I got into this online writing and residual stuff for increased earnings, not decreased. If I wanted my earnings to decrease I could have gone back to the traditional job market.

Frustration Spurs Action

You guys know that I’ve been brain storming and coming up with a host of new ideas of things to try. I could try to do more of what I have done over the past few years, but I don’t want to work harder for the same results. Besides, I’ve grown bored with what I had been doing. It’s time to switch gears.

I’ve been working online long enough to know better than to expect immediate results. I’m doing a lot of research, learning and seed planting. The best part about switching gears is that I’m excited about writing again. I had lost my Mojo for a while but I believe it’s back with a vengeance.

How was your October?

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Making the Decision

After the Panda algorithm change I spent a lot of time rebuilding my own residual income. I didn’t write for Suite because they were hit hard and financially it didn’t make sense to place more articles there. I had to spend my time placing articles where I could get the most bang for my buck.

In the meanwhile, I kept my eye on Suite and the changes that were occurring. There were a few things that I observed that helped me to decide to return to Suite:

1. Suite’s management is doing everything in their power to restore Suite 101 to its prior standings.
2. They showed that they value their writers by changing the bonus system, the minimum article writing requirement and the minimum payout threshold. Each of these changes makes writing for Suite a bit more attractive.
3. Most importantly, the earnings drop seems to have bottomed out and earnings seem to be picking up again.

Those three observations plus my long history in writing for the site were enough to help me make the decision to return as a Feature Writer.

During My Hiatus

During my hiatus from the site my articles earned a few hundred dollars. The last time I wrote an article for Suite was May 2011. Between May and October my articles continued to earn. Overall, my lifetime per article rate with Suite 101 is a little over $56 an article (I’ve been with them for 4 ½ years). That’s not a stellar per article rate, but not bad for online writing.

Because I like calculating my earnings based on the current year (can’t pay the mortgage on last year’s earnings), my current per article rate for 2011 is a little over $155 per article. No matter which way you slice it, I have little to lose and much to gain by returning to Suite.

My Freelance Writing Arsenal

My arsenal has reduced in size when it comes to online writing sites. Adding Suite back to my arsenal makes it the only non-owned content site I write for. At $155 per article, I’m willing to make the sacrifice.

Everyone’s experience at Suite is a bit different. On occasion I get the question, “Is writing for Suite 101 worth it?” I have a history with Suite and it’s definitely worth it for me. Is it worth it for a newbie? I still think it is. As I’ve mentioned before, the editorial feedback from Suite’s editors helped improve my online writing style. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t be where I am today. That kind of feedback is invaluable.

UPDATE 10/18/2011:   After writing this post, Google released another iteration of its Panda algorithm.  Suite 101 came out on the bad side of this algorithm.  As a result, earnings have plummeted. Yesterday my earnings were $0.28.  You might want to wait until the dust settles before joining Suite.