Virtual Earner

I’m having one of those days today.  You know the kind of day I am talking about - one of those days when you work hard for the entire day, and at the end of the day, you feel like you didn’t do anything.  I don’t like those days.

I blame Wordpress.

“Why Wordpress,” you say?

Well, I blame Wordpress because it has become like a treadmill that never stops.  First of all, you have a never ending parade of updates to the software.  As soon as you update to a new version and get all the kinks worked out, it seems like there is a new, critical security update that you have to do immediately!  If you don’t update on time, it’s like running around in public naked - you just don’t do that!

Here’s what happened today.  I had a couple of improvements that I wanted to make on one of my sites.  When I went to that site, I noticed that the Plugin panel on Wordpress was telling me that two plugins were out of date.  Oops!  I better update those right away.  So, I went and downloaded the new releases on these plugins, and installed them.  What the….   I just checked my blog and the whole top half of my screen went black!  Hmm… turns out that one of the plugins didn’t work!  So, I reverted back to the old version, it worked fine.  That second upgrade that I did didn’t work either.  So, I eliminated that one.  I have dozens of blogs, so all of this piddling around took me half the day (or more).

The thing is, I am feeling like with Wordpress, it is getting to the point that there are so many Admin tasks that need to be completed, that I rarely have time to produce the quality content that I want to share with my readers!  If I had one blog, maybe two it would not be a big deal, but I have more than that.  It is making me wonder what I should do.  Abandon some of my sites?  Find a new software to run on?

I have been playing with the idea of moving to Drupal.  Today I took the step of installing Drupal on one of my inactive domains, and playing with it.  It only took a few minutes when I realized that if I changed platforms, that meant that I had to re-learn the whole system again!  I had to create a lot of new templates.  Hmm… I have sites with thousands of posts on them, which means that I had to import all those posts into a new platform.  Importing thousands of posts usually doesn’t go as smoothly as it should.

Hmm… I don’t think I want to change platforms.  I also don’t think that Wordpress is the right platform any longer.  Updating plugins and platform software doesn’t bring in any money.  However, if you don’t do the updates, your site will end up getting owned by somebody else who hacks in.  Either way, you haven’t written content that keeps your readers coming back.

For me, the call comes down to what direction to go in order to make the most money.  Problem is… right now I can’t figure out which direction will achieve that goal.

What do you think?

A friend of mine has a saying - “Nothing lasts forever.”

How true is that statement?  Well, it’s very true!  I used to believe in it less than I do now, but events over the past few years have illustrated to me how true it is.  Both in my personal life and also in my business life things have happened that time and again show me that nothing lasts forever.

However, there are things that you can do to stretch the lifespan as long as possible out of whatever it is that you are trying to preserve.

Let’s look at business, since that is what this site is all about.  I have a business that I started up about 7 years ago.  It’s been a super business.  I have made some really nice money from this business.  It has kept me happy, healthy, with food on the table, etc.  There was a time when I thought that the business was invincible.  A couple of years ago, I decided to concentrate on the business less than I had been.  I thought that this particular business was so well established that it could prosper even just with the guidance of my staff.  Of course, I would keep an eye on it, but I would involve myself less and less in the day to day operations.

So, I set out on this path a couple of years ago.  It did very well for quite some time.  However, about a year ago, it started declining.  At first, such decline is virtually unnoticeable, because you just count it as a normal fluctuation, the regular ebb and flow of business.  But, it has continued to spiral downwards.  New competition came in.  We didn’t make many changes, just maintained the status quo.  That is my fault, because I put the thing on auto-pilot.

That is a huge mistake.

Now it is time for me to jump back in and get the business back on track.  Honestly, that is something that I enjoy doing.  I don’t enjoy running a business, but I enjoy innovating, making changes, etc.  That is part of the personality profile of a true entrepreneur.  Entrepreneurial people enjoy starting businesses, but then they tend to walk away when things are going smoothly.  That’s what I did.

So, I have come up with a list of innovations that I need to make to hopefully get my business back on track.  It won’t be an easy thing to do, but I am drawn to do it.

What about you?  Do you believe in the statement that I used as the title of this article?  Innovate or die.  Nothing lasts forever.  I just hope that through innovation I can prolong the life of this particular venture.

For today, I want to talk to those of you who want to get a job in the Philippines.  That is mostly Filipinos.  Some foreigners are always e-mailing me though, asking the question:

What kind of job can I get in the Philippines?

I have answered that question so many times - if I had a Peso for each time I could probably retire soon!

But, did you know that employment laws here in the Philippines are much different than in the West.  For an example of this, I want to point you over to my friend Cathy’s site, where she is showing some job opportunities in General Santos City.  Here is a look at a sample job opening:

Warehouse Associate (4)

• Male; At least High School Graduate

• Not more than 30 years old

There are two glaring things that will stick out to foreigners.  First, they are advertising for “Male” employees for the opening.  This would be blatantly illegal in the West.  A male or female must be considered for any job available.  The second thing that blares out is “Not more than 30 years old.”  This also would be illegal.  If such an ad showed up in the States, the company would be sued many times over, and would lose, no doubt.

I want to point out, I am not criticizing Cathy, she is a good friend, and I value her greatly.   There is nothing wrong with what she is listing, because it is perfectly legal here.

That being said, though, if you want to get a job in the Philippines (Filipino or Foreigner), are you willing to put up with these kind of restrictions?  I wouldn’t.  But, this is why I am more open to earning my own living, working for myself.  And, I believe that earning that living online is the way to go.

What do you think?  Isn’t it time to start carving out your online niche and earning money through it?