If you are new here, please read back so you can catch up on my work dilemma. I’m free-flowing my thought here.
I Realize I’m Lucky to Have Options
Writing this title about being “lucky” is the first time I’ve written in these 12 days in case someone ever reads this. I actually hate that I wrote it. I’m imagining people commenting here about how I should be grateful and how lucky I have to have choices. I need everyone to know where I am coming from lest I be perceived as a brat.
I will say I am lucky I was born into a supportive family. We didn’t have a lot but my parents were hardworking, had a pretty great marriage, and while they didn’t go to college, raised me with the idea that I was going to college.
I was also lucky to have a very strong father figure who believed girls could do anything. He raised me that way… I am a leader, strong in mind, and always believed I could do anything. That’s because of him.
I was also lucky that I learned from a very young age that “the world doesn’t owe you a living” and that “having a job is a privilege, not a right”.
We didn’t have a lot of money for extras, but I had what I needed. To get what I “wanted”, I started babysitting when I was 12 and got my first real job when I was 15.5. I am grateful for growing up with the drive and being able to connect the dots that working hard equals me having options.
So for all of that I am grateful and lucky and beyond blessed. Outside of that, I have worked my butt off and always worked a ton. My twenties (while I was making six-figures some years) are a blur. I have a lot of health problems now because of the insanely stressful decade of working where I worked. Most of my thirties were also spent working like crazy, and earning a decent sum of money in a very crazy, intensive environment.
I worked all through my teens. I worked all through college. In summers, I had 2 – 3 jobs. I worked my entire marriage. I HAVE ALWAYS WORKED AND EARNED INCOME.
So if I have options right now, it’s because I earned them.
Back to being myself and writing for me…
My Options
My options as I see them:
Option 1: Focus on something completely new
I don’t want to go just get any job, as fun as that would be. I love the idea of working somewhere where I do the job and then leave. Then everything outside of that I can use to focus on my family, house, etc.
Right now, I don’t have good separation. I’m always going to my computer to work on the websites. This means I neglect my housework and calling or getting together with family and friends.
While I do like the idea of getting a random job, I need to focus on a career. I don’t have my husband’s income to rely on,.
So, it would make sense that if I didn’t pursue an administrative/clerical/secretarial type role, that I should stay in this world of websites, SEO, etc.
However, I just don’t think I can walk away from these sites as long as they are making some money. If I can earn $25 – $28 on them, that is something.
That brings me to Option 2.
Option 2: Work smarter on both sites
This will be me doing what I’ve been doing for the last several years.
However, for the moneymaker, (Website Two) instead of focusing on new content, I need to focus on making existing content better, removing your money your life claims (YMYL), deindexing poor content, adding real photos, adding real “I” experiences, and figuring out all the technical issues.
For the hobby site, (Website One) this will mean churning out new content and original images. I probably should be doing video, social media, and “creating a community” too.
Who has time to do all of this and work on the moneymaking website?
For years I have been thinking when my kids are off at college I’d have 40 hours, uninterrupted time to really blow out these sites. But now I don’t know if my sites will make it another 2 and a quarter years.
Option 3: Only focus on one website
This is a viable option but I can’t even think logically about this because I don’t know which site is smarter to keep.
Website One
This small site didn’t really get hit money-wise. Can I grow the audience on it? This site never made it past $18 a day and that was only once or twice. It was getting 300 – 600 views a day until last month, March 2024, when it went down to 300 – 450 pageviews a day…
So with the March Google update, it was affected but I didn’t really lose ad revenue. I’m still making a measly $5 – $10 a day on it.
Website Two
The larger site is so much more established. Sometimes it made $200 a day! I used to get thousands of visitors a day. It got clobbered with the September 2023 Google update and hasn’t recovered.
If I was forced to choose one site over the other, I do not know what the smarter decision is. Either way, I’d always think that I could have turned it around.
Option 4: Add other mediums… podcasting?
This is sort of like Option 2, working on both sites still but it involves me adding on other potential traffic sources. I’m thinking podcasting for my smaller site (Website One) would make sense.
But…. do I want to learn all about podcasting to figure this out and start a new channel from scratch?
I really don’t know if I care that much about it. I like the topic but am sort of outgrowing it. In my last decades of working is this how I want to focus my energy? Also, a bigger issue is that it borders on health information. Google is for sure cracking down on people giving advice when they aren’t experts in the field. My website has a lot of health talk in it even though I’m not giving advice directly.
The advantage of starting a podcast in this niche is that it would be authentic. But then I think most podcasts are. It’s the websites that have over been manipulated and scaled with not great content, etc.
Option 5: Become an online reseller
This is totally out of left field because all I’ve been thinking about is websites or working for a company who has a website, etc.
However, I think of reselling as an option because I keep thinking that I’m only making $25 a day now, could I make more than that reselling?
It’s very different than trying to replace $150 a day income.
However, I think I missed my window on this. There are SO MANY people on Youtube explaining how to do it that so many resellers are in the stores now. Also, many donation type stores are taking things themselves as a company to sell online or the employees are getting together and doing it. That’s what’s happening at my local thrift store.
But I love the idea of selling stuff online. Thrifting is one of my very favorite things to do. I don’t have a great source of stores but love love love this idea.
The potential to make money though isn’t great unless I do this on a larger scale. Do I think I can replace the $25 a day I’m making now? In time, probably. But, I would need to spend money buying stuff and then figure out where to store it. Again, I don’t want to throw good money after bad trying to accumulate stuff to hopefully sell.
I love this idea for people who weren’t making any money at all. But if I already have something going and making $25 a day, I’m not sure it makes sense to really pursue.
Also, my kids are older now. I don’t have all the clothes, toys, etc. I would have had. I don’t have anything good of my own to sell either (we downsized through the years and donated because of moving many times and then had a fire several years ago which destroyed all of our things, including anything decent we kept from our move-purges).
So… while I love the idea of hanging out in Goodwill everyday, I don’t think it’s a way for me to earn steady income. My Goodwill is okay but not great.
I so wish I would have thought of this way back in the day instead of ever buying websites and wasting all my time and mental energy on them. I could have been an established Poshmarker and Ebayer and been making Youtube videos telling everyone how to do it and further making money.
Maybe I missed my calling… this is probably what I would like to do.
Update On Yesterday
I tried to be civil this morning. He snapped at me once about meat I thought was old. I got food ready for the kids, then I left to journal here and do some other work stuff.
It’s Sunday so I hated leaving. I’d rather see my kids but I need to avoid tension for them. I was hoping hubby would go into the office room but when he found out I was leaving, he plopped on the chair in the heart of our living space to probably sit there all day. Or on the couch.
Our one son will leave to go to practice twice today. Our other son will sleep in after a very late night out and then probably stay in his room.
Hopefully, husband is not nagging the kids too much. I know my one has literally asked for some space and time alone.