The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up.

— Paul Valéry, French Poet & Philosopher

There are people in your life that influence your decisions. Maybe you’re aware of it, maybe you aren’t — but it inevitably happens. When making a decision you’re often wondering how your parents, significant other, friends, or loved ones may react. If you expect them to react poorly to your choice, then you’re less inclined to make it.

What’s tough about this is that sometimes you want to do something for yourself, but the opinions of your onlookers cause you not to. Maybe you’re interested in a school that’s far away, but the person you’re dating wants you to stay close to home. Maybe you’re interested in a simple career, but your parents encourage you to do something more prosperous. Maybe you’re miserable at your job and want to quit, but your spouse is unsure of what the future will hold once you leave.

I had a college professor who tried explaining this “living to please others” idea to me. Before finding his way and becoming a professor, he too was confused about what he wanted to do with his life. He asked many people for advice, and ended up listening to his grandfather.

His grandfather had worked as a general laborer and stonemason, and said that if he had the chance to do it all over again he’d work for the military as an enlistment recruiter. Although I’ve forgotten the details, his grandfather basically convinced him that this would be a good career path to take.

My professor ended up pursuing it, per his grandfather’s recommendation. After spending a few years fulfilling the necessary requirements, though, he eventually realized how being a military recruiter was the last thing that he wanted to be doing. He was living someone else’s dream.

Later, he embraced his own dream of helping young people into adulthood. He became a college professor, and taught classes aimed at introducing students to different career options so they’d have a better understanding of what they wanted in life. His lectures were often based around his own experiences, and included life lessons that students could benefit from — as long as they were willing to listen.

I must not have listened very well, because I made the same mistake. I went into the computer industry because it was what people I knew expected from me. I chose something that I was capable of doing, but didn’t enjoy doing — partly because it was a lucrative career field, but mostly because I wanted other people’s approval.

It can be hard to go against the grain and do what you want, especially when nobody agrees with your dream. I know this because I made a life choice in an attempt to please others, and ended up leading an unhappy life because of that decision. I should have been more interested in making choices to please myself.

Now, it’s entirely possible that you may not take this advice to heart. I understand completely — because I received this advice at an early age, but didn’t process it at the time. I needed to experience it firsthand in order to truly learn it.

That said, I still want to encourage you to be TOTALLY SELFISH when it comes to your life’s choices. You are responsible for your own life, and you should be living your dream — whatever it may be.

If you want to be a surfing instructor, do it.
If you want to teach English to children in Japan, do it.
If you want to run your own business, do it.
If you want to live in Paris, do it.
If you want to design roller-coasters, do it.
If you want to photograph wildlife in Africa, do it.
If you want to be a filmmaker, do it.
If you want to write books, do it.
If you want to be a chef, do it.

If you want to DO ANYTHING, do it — and remember to do it for yourself.

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Sometimes people ask me how to find what they love to do. They explain how they don’t have a goal in life, and don’t know what to do about it. I point out what is often a hard truth: if you need to ask someone else what your life’s calling is, then you’re doing it wrong.

Nobody is going to be able to tell you what your passion or goal in life is — it’s for you to discover. That being said, if you have no clue what it is, you need to try out more new things so you find out what you enjoy.

Your passion is something that causes you to feel most alive when you’re doing it. It’s what you’d do forever if there was an eternity, or what you’d do for free if you were a multimillionaire. It’s something that you think about doing when you’re doing other, less enjoyable things.

For some people it’s really easy to identify, but for most people it’s extremely challenging. You’re spoiled for choice and you’re unsure why you can’t make one. Really you just have to open your mind to new experiences. Read the following “manifesto” and see if it motivates you:

Still confused? You need to try new things in order to find out what you like and what you don’t. Experiment with different options, and it’ll help lead you to your life’s calling. Let me offer some suggestions:

Try learning an instrument. Do you hate this? Move on.

Try meeting up with a martial arts group. Do you hate this? Move on.

Try going to a surfing class. Do you hate this? Move on.

Try writing a fiction novel. Do you hate this? Move on.

Try attending a toastmasters group. Do you hate this? Move on.

Try buying a project car and rebuilding it. Do you hate this? Move on.

Try learning a programming language. Do you hate this? Move on.

Try building a simple robot. Do you hate this? Move on.

Try a cooking class. Do you hate this? Move on.

Try attending an improv class. Do you hate this? Move on.

Try an apprenticeship in a place that restores antique furniture. Do you hate this? Move on.

Try making a zero-budget movie. Do you hate this? Move on.

My point is that others telling you what their passion in life is won’t solve your own dilemma. You need to discover your passion on your own by experiencing life. If you’re not pursuing your passion in your daily life, then you’ve missed the point of life completely.

Find it, get great at it, and rule your passion.

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Do you hate your job? Do you want to change careers but don’t know how to do it? You’re not alone.

Maybe you want a job that’s more challenging. Maybe you want to do something more fun. Maybe you need something that’s more personally rewarding, or financially stable. Whatever the reason, we’re all after the same thing: a job you’re proud of.

You can’t be proud of a job that makes you miserable. You need something that makes you eager to get out of bed every day. You need a career that you’re anxious to tell strangers about when they inevitably ask “So, what do you do?”

When you’re working a job you hate, you feel trapped. You look at people working jobs they love, and get jealous. You consider your own situation, notice that you’re five to ten years into a career that you don’t like, and wonder how the hell you got here. Jim Benton captured this phenomenon perfectly in his comic below:

I sympathize with the man in the comic, because my life has played out similarly. As a kid I wanted to be a pilot, but that idea dissolved as I grew older. When applying to college I was overwhelmed with the pressure to choose what I wanted to do, because I didn’t know what it was yet. I went into computers, and after I had my degree I bounced from job to job always thinking “I guess this is okay for now.”

I’ve met so many people who are stuck in this “good enough for now” mentality. They consider themselves lucky to have a job at all, or they imagine how things could be worse, or they suggest different reasons why they should stay put:

“The economy’s tough right now. I can’t leave the job I have, because who knows how long it’ll be before I find a new one?”

“I need to stick with this job for just a few more years to help pay off my debt/student loans. I can tolerate it for a little longer.”

“I have a family to support. I can’t do what I want because I need to think of their needs first.”

Each of these statements can go either way: they can be a legitimate reason for stagnating or they can be an excuse for spinning your wheels. You’ll have to consider your situation and decide which applies to you right now.

Personally, there was a time where I legitimately felt trapped in a job I hated with no options other than to stay put. My girlfriend was diagnosed with cancer, and I was her primary caretaker for the duration of her treatments. When I lost my job that same year, I knew that I needed to find a way to support both of us through the rough road ahead. I was grateful to find work quickly, even if it wasn’t work that I wanted to be doing.

These things happen, and these are the things you cannot control. Something that you can control, however, are your efforts to work towards new career goals.

Consider this: In order to successfully change careers, there are three methods to get the job you want. I’ll illustrate these three methods using a virtual chalkboard:

Simply put, you’re in one spot but want to be somewhere else. At your current job, you possess the skills and experience required to do the work, but you’re not happy. At your future job, you don’t yet have the requirements for that career, but you will be happier there.

The objective, naturally, is to navigate the squares in the diagram above so that you can get the job that you want, and experience happiness in your daily life. In order to do this, you simply need to choose your path. Each potential path in the diagram corresponds to a different method.

Method 1: Gain the knowledge you need

This path is hard. It often requires that you stay at your current job, but in your spare time you will take classes, start an apprenticeship, or even start a second part-time job where you can learn the necessary skills set for the job you want. I call people who use this method “The Movers.”

Movers recognize that in order to change careers, they need to educate themselves. Although they previously didn’t have the skills and experience necessary to compete for jobs in their new career field, they made changes in order to gain the knowledge they needed. With their new skills set they qualify for the job that they want, and seek it out.

Method 2: Make your current job better

This path is going the other direction, and it is harder. Instead of changing yourself, you’re changing your job. To clarify, you’re not “changing jobs” — you’re actually shaping the job that you have into the job that you want. This requires stirring the pot at your workplace in order to make things better, so that you’re happier about the work you’re doing. I call people who use this method “The Shakers.”

Shakers understand that drab work environments can be changed, and broken work processes can be fixed. After recognizing that they’re unhappy at their jobs, they make efforts to change things around until they’re satisfied. Shakers will need the cooperation of their managers and colleagues in order to succeed, but supposing they attain that, they have effectively transformed their existing job into the job they’re looking for.

Method 3: Do nothing, get lucky

This path involves skipping the in-between steps, and it is difficult to impossible. Granted, there are people who have successfully changed careers this way. They are able to apply transferable skills set from the job they have in order to get the job that they want, but don’t do anything other than wait for the new job to fall into their laps. I call people who use this method “The Waiters.”

Waiters either get lucky or they don’t. In order to successfully change careers without getting educated or making efforts to create positive change, you must have an overwhelming amount of luck matched with an abundance of opportunity. I’m not saying that it never happens, because it does — but I’m convinced this shortcut is a rarely traveled path. Consequently, I’ve marked this path in the diagram as a dotted line. I also can’t recommend this path, because chances are you’ll wait forever — ending up like the old man in the comic. (“pew pew pew”)

My point is, if you’re truly interested in changing careers, then don’t wait until it’s too late to start your path towards change!

Now that you know the methods, I want to mention some ideas that will help inspire you to make the first step. I believe that happiness trumps all when it comes to the work that you’re doing. I believe this because I’ve done the alternative, where the money was good but the work involved was complete and utter bullshit. For the sake of my own sanity, I have constantly needed to be a “mover” or a “shaker” in order to be happy in my daily life.

Maybe it meant leaving a dead-end job. Maybe it meant offering to take on additional responsibilities. Maybe it meant revamping my work schedule so that I worked only part time, or traded longer workdays for longer weekends. Whatever the solution, the problem was always job satisfaction.

I have explained time and time again that the purpose of life is a LIFE of PURPOSE. If you don’t have that, then you’re missing out on your life’s calling.

Know that to abandon a job that isn’t deeply fulfilling is to abandon nothing at all. Think this over, and then decide if you have some changes to make.

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I have an interest in becoming a better writer. I say “better writer” instead of just a “writer” because I’m not exactly sure where the line is drawn when it comes to actually being a writer. Some say that through the process of writing, by definition you are a writer — but others like myself consider the title to be a bit more privileged, requiring validity before you can honestly use the label.

I’m currently unpublished. I imagine a future where I have an actual book in my hand with my name on it, and the thought blows my mind. To me, having a book published is evidence that you’ve truly added something to the world, and I’m determined to get there.

How I’m going about accomplishing that goal, though, is another story entirely.

There are a lot of questions, fears, and even excuses that come up whenever I check my progress towards this accomplishment. The most significant question is also the simplest: What am I doing?

I get mad at myself when I realize that the answer is “Not much.” Actions speak louder than words, so it doesn’t matter how many times I tell myself or other people that “I’m trying to be a writer.” Saying it implies that I’m spending my free time writing, and for a long time this simply hasn’t been true.

I recall a story told by one of my college professors, who is close friends with a professional writer. My professor could call his writer friend on the phone really early in the morning, because he knew that he would be awake. Apparently 5am to 8am was his dedicated “writing time,” and this was a daily ritual. Even if the writing that he produced turned out to be crap that he’d throw away later, it was important to get something out on paper as often as possible. The hardest part about writing, it seemed, was finding the time to write.

I can relate, and I’m certain everyone else that has ever shared in this dream to write knows what I mean. When I mention my interest in writing I often hear people admit “Oh that must be fun. You know, I’ve always wanted to write.” The thing is, there really is no other way to do it! In order to write, you must write one word at a time, one word after another. The only thing separating me from my goal is time — and I’ve wasted a lot of time on other things.

I’ve heard about this “morning routine” strategy from aspiring writers and professional writers alike. Getting up early grants you a few quiet hours to focus on your writing project uninterrupted. Brian Kim describes the benefit of waking up early on his blog:

Because I woke up early, I was able to breathe in the cool crisp morning air, see the sun rise with all its glory, listen to the serene silence of the world sleeping, be alone with my thoughts, and have some extra time to spend.

I’ve had similar mornings, and I know exactly what Brian’s talking about. When you wake up early, you reap the benefits of not having to rush out the door. You can cook a hearty breakfast, put the kettle on, and start your day off a little bit earlier. The extra few hours helps you stay ahead of the game.

But what if you’re not a morning person, and you’re not conscious enough to write coherently if you dared trying to write before mid-afternoon?

The “morning routine” strategy is only one suggestion. In order to be a better writer, you may benefit from having a rigid routine and a dedicated writing time — but remember that there’s no telling exactly when inspiration will strike!

I’ve experienced many nights where I’ve woken up from a vivid dream thinking “Oh man that would make an awesome book.” I’d hit the lamp and scribble a few sentences summarizing plot points, character profile, or dialogue onto a post-it. Now, sometimes when I review what I wrote down later (when I’m actually awake), it might not make any sense. That said, it’s still important to capture ideas as they come to me. Even if these ideas don’t turn into anything bigger than a scribbled post-it, it’s better than letting any potentially great ideas get away.

Which brings me to the important point of organization. Unlike reading a book, where you go from beginning to end, writing a book brings you all over the place. You write bits and pieces of the book over time in multiple sessions, order them into a progressive tale, and revise, revise, revise!

For example, a book’s concept might start with a single sentence: “My brother died five years ago, but that doesn’t stop me from seeing him every time I look in the mirror.”

Now, is this the opening line to the book? Is this a writing prompt? Is this the start of a chapter that introduces a new character? The writer might initially intend use it as the opening line, but later end up adding a prologue. They might change parts of the sentence, or maybe even scrap the sentence entirely.

Writing pieces can transform this way for many reasons. As implied previously, the hardest part about writing is actually writing, and you may not always want to continue writing where you last left off. Maybe you’ll jump ahead in the plot, and write what turns out to be “Chapter 10” before any of the chapters before it are written. Maybe you’re editing your novel in-progress, and you need to add some back-story to the introduction. Since your story is built progressively in a random order, you must find a way to keep track of all of the randomness in order to successfully finish it.

I’m not sure what the best strategy for staying organized is, but I’ll tell you mine. I write down general ideas for blog articles, short stories, and novels on index cards. I keep these cards tacked to a cork-board in my office. This is my “pile of stuff to write, maybe, if it’s any good.”

When it’s time to write I’ll select something from my board, and start to develop that idea into actual writing content. Once the idea starts to take shape, the index card gets trashed to make room for future ideas. I now have a “work in progress.”

The works in progress are stored on my computer. They may be saved as drafts in my blog’s database. They may be saved as Microsoft Word documents. They may be a special file format for specialized writing software. Two different pieces of writing software that I like are jDarkRoom and Scrivener.

jDarkRoom is a simple tool that blacks out everything on your computer except the text that you’re working on. It reminds me of writing on a typewriter, or an old Apple IIe word processor. It’s designed to help you focus on the words, by forcing you to be alone with them. jDarkRoom is free and it is cross-platform (PC or Mac).

Scrivener is a complete writing studio that helps you organize large pieces of writing by arranging it into smaller, manageable snippets of text. It’s like an outline and word processor combined, that’s on steroids. Unlike jDarkRoom, Scrivener is available for Mac only, and after 30 trial uses it must be purchased for about $50.

These two tools are extreme opposites of the writing spectrum. jDarkRoom is as simple as possible: it’s just you and your text (there’s no Spell Check, and you can’t print — it’s explicitly a TEXT EDITOR used to EDIT TEXT). Scrivener starts you out with a multi-chapter tutorial for how to use all of its different features, and how you can customize the interface to fit your novel-writing needs.

They serve different purposes, and therefore I like them both equally. For short articles that can be finished in a single session, jDarkRoom can come in handy to help me focus. For story ideas that will be hundreds of pages long, Scrivener is my go-to application for writing without becoming overwhelmed.

Of course, there are always other options for staying organized — and they don’t necessarily have to involve computer software. I’ve done longhand before, and for some people longhand is all that they need:

Something about the writing process is more satisfying when when writing manually. It feels more intimate, putting actual words on actual paper. When you’re in the thick of it, and become excited about how your story is unfolding, longhand allows you the thrill of racing to keep up with your thoughts. It’s the most exhilarating feeling to love what you’re creating as you’re creating it, and it’s addictive because once you’re in that mode you don’t want to stop.

Other benefits of longhand include:
Price: A set of writing utensils and a notebook will set you back $5.
Permanency: When something is written in pen, it is hard to erase it. Many ideas are shot down too soon because they’re so quick to erase using the “delete” key.
Mobility: I carry a small moleskine notebook in my pocket for writing on the go.

To reinforce what I mentioned earlier, I’m not sure what the best strategy for getting organized is. Different strategies will work better for different people, and you’ll have to find out what works best for you. The tools and methods I’ve mentioned above seem to be working for me, but I’m always willing to make appropriate adjustments in order to achieve better results.

There is only so much you can do on your own, so at some point you may need to collaborate with others in order to achieve the result that you want. This might mean joining a local writing group, sharing your writing with an editor (even if your editor is your significant other), or pursuing an actual degree in journalism, creative writing, or rhetoric.

Lately, I feel like further education may be the next step for me. I’ve gone a certain distance on my own, but I need help in order to advance to the next level. I have a specific program in mind, the Creative Writing program at the University of Iowa — but since it is a prestigious writing program I know that it would be stupid to not have other options as a backup.

I want to be a better writer, but the desire to be one is only the first step. The next step is to write a lot, and the partial manuscript required as part of the university’s application is my target. So let’s do this. Let’s earn the official title of “writer.”

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There are lots of guides for how to make money online. I’m pretty sure that most of them are scams.

The reason I think this is because they all seem too good to be true. The scammer claims that through some “secret system” that they developed, they are making thousands of dollars a month doing practically nothing.

No details are revealed about the system they’re using to make money, but they do have a bunch of alleged testimonials saying “I was skeptical at first, but I bought your system and now I’m making $500 a day from home! Thanks buddy!” Additionally, there will be a bunch of stock photos of people holding cash, or walking on the beach, with captions like “Holy crap, this can be you!”

“Holy Crap I’m Awesome.”

The scammer goes on to say that you can learn all of their secrets to online wealth… Just pay $20.

But wait, a super special deal is running that just happens to end TODAY! Hurry up and place your order before the end of <today’s date> and take advantage of our 50% off discount. Just pay $10. OH MY GOD THAT’S HALF OF TWENTY!

Let’s get serious.

I’m no sucker. You know how it is when something seems “too good to be true.”

In reality, the scammers are making money online by profiting off of gullible people. Someone who spends their money on one of these scams might receive an automated email message with general tips on how to build a website, and how to earn money from it. This process is called “monetizing your website,” and information about how to do it is freely available all over the internet.

Don’t fall for these scams. Doing a little research with simple search engine phrases like “how to build a website” and “how to monetize your website” will lead you to a number of different websites that will teach you how to make money online. In fact, maybe that’s what led you to my website today.

With this in mind, let me tell you a little bit about how I’ve monetized my website. I’m going to offer you information, and do my best to prove to you that all that I’m saying is true using some pictures. Best of all, I’m not going to ask you to reach for your credit card. I’m just going to explain everything the best that I can, and you can take that info and run with it.

First things first, I will admit that I don’t make hundreds of thousands of dollars each year from my website. At the time of this writing, my website is earning a few thousand dollars a year.

How can I prove this to you?

Like I mentioned before, most sites have a single picture of some random dude walking on a beach, or a picture of a hammock strung between some palm trees, or an ocean view with a few beach chairs. Other sites have a picture of the site’s creator holding a huge check.

I don’t have a huge check. I have a bunch of little checks. Here’s an example:

You can click the above image of me to view the full-size image, but for your convenience I’ve included a closeup of the check amount:

Now, allow me to be the first to admit that $100 is not a lot of money. It’s less than you can earn in a day at a full time job, and it amounts to what you might pay for your monthly cell phone bill plus a nice dinner at a fancy restaurant. This check for $104.28 isn’t meant to “wow” you.

That being said, I do receive one of these checks from Google every month. Here are a few pictures I took of myself over the course of a few months holding similar checks:

Google Adsense Payment from April 2011: $114.98
New Running Total for March – April: $219.26

Google Adsense Payment from May 2011: $118.77
New Running Total for March – May: $338.03

Google Adsense Payment from June 2011: $125.27
New Running Total for March – June: $463.30

Google Adsense Payment from July 2011: $104.84
New Running Total for March – July: $568.14

I blocked out the personal information and tracking numbers in the checks, but I didn’t Photoshop any of the values to different amounts. These are all pictures of actual checks that Google sent to me for participating in their Adsense program, and the amounts are all exactly as pictured.

Once again, I admit that this isn’t a whole lot of money in the grand scheme of the world. I describe it as “extra money” because that’s what it is — money that’s supplementing my income.

What’s best about this money that I’m earning is that it is “passive income” that my website is earning automatically.

I say automatically because it’s $100 that comes to me in the mail regardless of whether I decide to work or not. Let me explain:

In March I wrote two new articles, and my site earned $104.28.
In April I wrote one new article, and my site earned $114.98.
In May I wrote ZERO new articles, and my site earned $118.77.
In June I wrote ZERO new articles, and my site earned $125.27.
In July I wrote ZERO new articles, and my site earned $104.84.

To summarize, I was able to make $568.14 online using Google Adsense, and I only “worked” for three days in those five months.

How is this possible?

The checks above are payments resulting from my Google Adsense account. The Adsense revenue is money that is being generated from advertisements posted on my website.

What’s awesome about making money online from advertisements is that I’ve created an automatic income stream that’s being generated from work that I’ve already done.

To explain a little further, I’ve been publishing articles in my blog since 2007. Everything that I’ve written is freely available on my site, but readers have to tolerate an occasional advertisement, normally at the beginning or end of something I’ve published. The advertisements are the source of my online income: the more people that view my website, the more money I make.

After four years of writing, I’ve published nearly 150 original articles, and my site now averages between 1000 and 2000 visitors every day day. A small percentage of site visitors click on ads, and the Google Adsense program tracks those clicks. The dollar amount that an advertiser is paying for these “click through ads” gets immediately added to my Adsense account with every click. Then, at the end of each month, if my Adsense account has more than $100 in it, Google sends me a check for the my total earnings.

In short, the process is: Create website, add advertisements, receive checks.

Although it really is that simple, please don’t confuse “simple” with “easy.”

Even if you have the technical know-how to create a website, and the technical know-how to add advertisements to it, there is no guarantee that you will be able to attract any visitors to your website. The amount of visitors you can successfully lead to your site will directly influence the amount of money your website will make. The amount of visitors and their corresponding statistics is commonly referred to as “site traffic.”

The larger the amount of traffic you can generate, the larger your checks will be. This is why you see “super bloggers” like Darren Rowse and Steve Pavlina who get hundreds of thousands of visitors every day making lots and lots of money online. LifeReboot is a work in progress, and although my blog earns money online, it is not yet the heavy hitter I’d like it to be.

That being said, if you are capable of earning even ONE DOLLAR online, then you are more capable than 99% of all internet users. I say this because the majority of people using the internet are simply “internet consumers.” They search and view online content, but don’t create or add any of their own. This is the average person, and this is your audience.

If you need to learn how to create a website, what a web hosting service is, or even what “copy and paste” is, then you have many things to learn. Recognize that needing to learn how to do these things to get started is perfectly normal.

When I first started, my goal was to make $1/day in my first month. I would get seriously excited over a single visitor that clicked an ad that made me 10 cents… Like everyone else that wants to create a website that earns them money, you will have to start at the starting line. Know that when you first start out, you’ll be earning nothing — at least for a little while.

If you have a website, and are ready to add Google Adsense advertisements to it, you can sign up for an account at www.google.com/adsense. The way this works is that your site must be approved by Google for their Adsense program. I don’t remember all of the specific details, but to be approved your site can’t have any trickery (no scams), it can’t contain pornography, and you can’t tell your audience directly to click the advertisements.

Once Google approves your site, they will need to verify your account by confirming your address. This process may have changed since I first did it in 2007, but they sent a postcard to my home that had a special web address and confirmation code on it. I had to type the code on the postcard into a verification box online so Google knew my home address was legitimate.

After your account is verified, you can create “ad blocks” to use on your site. An ad block is a designated space where advertisements from different advertisers will appear. When creating ad blocks you can select certain preferences like width and height of the ad blocks you’re using, and you can customize their style using different fonts and colors. There is a limit to the number of ad blocks you can add to a single page (3 ad units, and 1 text link unit).

Initially, the ads displayed in your ad blocks will be extremely generic. Google will eventually adjust the advertisements on your site so that more relevant ads are shown, but it will take some time for their system to understand what your website is about. For example, since this article is about making money online, any ads on this page will likely link to other sites discussing how to make money online.

With your ads in place, you can start to monitor your site’s daily earnings. Here are a few images taken from my Adsense account interface, and the spreadsheet report from the time period I’ve been showing to you. You’ll notice that some of the earnings values for the months match the numbers from my checks in the images shown previously.

Once again, this is money that is being sent to me each month whether I write new content in my blog or not. It’s interesting that even if I don’t publish anything new, articles that I’ve previously written will still attract enough site traffic to earn a $100 check from Google.

With this in mind, I really should publish new content more often so that my blog will attract more readers. Seriously, if I can automatically earn $100 a month without writing anything, then if I were to focus on writing new content often, who is to say that I couldn’t earn $1000 a month? As I mentioned before, this blog is a work in progress, and I hope to get there someday.

So, at this point you may be overwhelmed with the amount of work you have ahead of you, or you may be enthusiastic about the prospect of making money online using Adsense. I will let you know that Adsense is not the only income stream I use on my site. There are also donations from generous readers, and I use a Paypal account for this. Paypal also lets me accept transactions from direct advertisers, who often contact me to add text links or sponsored image advertisements that appears on specific LifeReboot pages.

If you are serious about making money online, then I encourage you to investigate the many different options for monetizing your website. Personally, I prefer the non-intrusive options like Adsense and Paypal, because I want to treat my readers with respect (allowing them to read articles without forcing them to deal with ads that pop-up, or are similarly annoying). Although there are many other programs similar to Adsense that allow you to earn money through online advertisements, I can’t speak to how they work or how successful they are.

As a final note, I want to mention that there was a period of time where I had only a small, out-of-the-way advertisement in one of my site’s navigation bars. My site earned diddlysquat with this tiny advertisement. If you’re serious about making money online, and want to do it using ads on your website, then REALLY put ads on your website — don’t just hide a small one somewhere and pray for clicks.

My original line of thinking was to put ads somewhere unobtrusive so that I wouldn’t annoy my audience, but later I learned that it’s smarter to publish new content without ads at all. As I create and publish new content, my older articles get pushed back into the content archives. I will then go back and edit the older articles to include ads. This way none of my subscribers or constant readers get aggravated by ad placement, but anyone visiting my site from a link or a search engine becomes a greater source of ad revenue.

Thanks for listening. I hope the entrepreneur in you is feeling inspired, and that you’ll soon be putting your plan to make money online into action. I also hope that everything I’ve written is helpful and clear. Let me know if there’s anything that you need me to elaborate on, or if you have any questions!

Edit 9-30-11: After publishing this article, my Google Adsense earnings have increased! Here is my new monthly Adsense check “High Score” which is over $250!

If you liked this article, you may also want to check out my series on earning income online, where I explain what I did to start generating money automatically from my website.

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