Blog For The Broke And Unemployed
So here I am… 34 years old, supposedly have a genius IQ, and I’m unemployed and broke. A quick synopsis of my last five years is that I have had a series of 3 dead end jobs, the last of which resulted in being laid off by those bastards at Dell (buy an HP!) when their new call center in the Philippines was up and running. I’m sure I will go into more detail regarding my last 5 years in a future post, but for my first post I would like to tell you what I am going to do about my situation.
What you see in the picture above is my first unemployment check. I am bringing home a whopping $245 a week for up to 26 weeks. So I have 26 weeks to either find another dead end job and continue to muddle my way through life, or turn this blog into my living. Why a blog? Startup cost for me= $38 When you have $245 a week to work with, this is doable. And the potential for monetizing a blog is almost limitless. Just like a newspaper, magazine, tv show, etc., providing either useful and/or entertaining information to build a large readership=advertising money. So I will definitely be providing useful information on how to setup and market a blog as I learn along the way, providing a blueprint and inspiration for my readers. Also, I will hopefully be entertaining for you as well. Not in the form of my last post in 26 weeks showing a picture of me in a Burger King outfit, but entertaining in regards to my outlook and smartass attitude towards the world in general.
So here goes…my first post. I’ll go into detail tomorrow about exactly how I set everything up, but for now I would like to do my first experiment regarding traffic and rss syndication. Since I have $132 in the bank until Thursday, I guess you can imagine I am going the free route. I am submitting this post to delicious, technorati, digg, reddit, and stumbleupon. I ask each of you to submit as well with the little links below that took me 10 minutes to set up…I would honestly like to learn how many pageviews it takes to shut this thing down for lack of bandwidth. I also would like to ask you to click on my rss feed(feedburner) at the top right. Hopefully by the time you read this it won’t still be at 0 readers. Most blogs don’t like to advertise their number of readers until they have a fairly large amount, but I am going to be open and let you know where I stand every step along the way. I would also like to ask you to post comments because I am not only going to be giving advice, but would like as much advice as I can get. So there you have it. I’ll let you know how many pageviews I got tomorrow.
submit to: del.icio.us | Reddit | Digg | Technorati | StumbleUpon
February 25th, 2008 at 7:43 am
First post! Really, I wish you well. I’ve been there.
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February 25th, 2008 at 8:54 am
Signed up for the feed AND submitted to digg. Hope you can make it work. If you do, i’ll try then quit my job.
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February 25th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Thank you for getting me off of my ass to do the same thing.Your new blog has inspired me to start my own dealing with the bias towards fathers in Maryland.I wish you all the luck, and will be following along with you.
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February 25th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
Scott, I am humbled to hear that I have actually inspired someone with my first post. Although I have never been married and have no children, I do know that unless the mother happens to be as #%ed up as Brittany Spears, there is definately a serious bias in our judicial system. Having a passion about what you are blogging about is the key to success…..while I have a passion for the technical aspects of the internet, I hope I can help you in spreading the word about something that is meaningful to you. Soon, I will go into detail about how to set up and market a blog and hopefully help you in spreading the word about something you are passionate about.
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February 27th, 2008 at 12:41 am
I read and commented. Count me as 1.
I guess I should wish you good luck.
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February 27th, 2008 at 9:24 am
Thanks, Rose!
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March 2nd, 2008 at 4:33 pm
[…] announces the launch of his blog, the best of luck to you […]
March 2nd, 2008 at 7:32 pm
Thanks for the plug, Alan. My first plug!! I would recommend http://www.theratingblog.com/ to anyone.
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March 5th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Hey Nate! Just found your blog through a comment you left. Wanted to ask you, are you located in the Philippines? Anyway, I read a couple of your posts, and, well… you appeal to me. I am in a similar situation, have just started blogging, and really hope to one day get to make a living out of it. I wish you best of luck, your are sincere about it and admit to being broke and unemployed. I’m not quite broke, or unemployed, but am far from being financially set. I think it’s an amazing first hand experiment for me to keep track of how your blog will grow and change your life. I don’t like to make promisses, but I will really try to be with you all the way, as a faithful reader, from this point on, until you reach your online wealth. We, blogging “newbies”, have to stick together, right?
Again, best of luck to you!
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March 5th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
Thank you, Anca. I’m not in the Philippines, but that’s where my former job went.
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March 8th, 2008 at 9:32 am
blogging or online site is very good way to make money. I wish you will write a blog post on this blog something like “From broke and unemployed to Millionaire”. Good luck with blog. There are tons of adsense success stories and adsense here are few for your readers:
http://www.adsense-make-money.info/
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March 8th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
I have a fulltime job and have to say I work harder for my blog! I sometimes work more than 8 hours a day , just trying to learn some CSS, marketing basics and researching for my articles. I also keep in touch with other bloggers, that also say blogging takes up a lot of resources and time. So, if you’ve ever been serious about blogging, you’d know it’s not just “type, type, type” (unles you have a MySpace account). You’d als know about thousands of people that make a better income this way then from a regular JOB.
Nate, I admire you for having the courage to think out of the box, and actually do something for yourself, instead of working for corporate America. If my kid will “work” on a blog (meaning learn CSS, web design, marketing, and other, plus have the skills to write grammatically correct, use no slang and bad words like…other kids in America), I will be very proud of him. And I’ll teach him that you’ll never have a fortune with a JOB, but if you “type, type, type” you might just get there…
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March 8th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
I’m not sorry for this person because i know how it feels. I’m 38 1/2 years old and single mom who lost her job that I worked for over 23 years in the food industry as I was a Swing Manager for this companyand they fired me? I only get from unemployment $210.00 from them and i been out of work about 2 month’s, but how do you pay off any bills with this money or for rent and put any food on the table for me and my son who is a 16 years teenage!!!
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March 8th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
The difference is that Nate has no kids, or a wife. This means no responsabilities, so it’s easier to take decisions with only your future in mind. If you have a kid and you’re the only one supporting him, of course I wouldn’t agree with not providing for your kid. But this is not the case here, so how Nate pays his bills or rent is his business, at least he’s trying to change his life for the better, it’s not like he can’t get a job. To be honest, I’m jealous of his courage, most people are too scared to quit a dead-end job and get old without ever fulfilling their dreams. When we’re young we have dreams of being financially independent and making money from what we love doing, and then we grow old, have kids, and get scared to leave the “comfort zone”
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March 8th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
If you get fired after 23 years of working for corporate America, isn’t it obvious that a JOB is not the answer? Some people don’t know what else to do other than a JOB, so they go back to the system, work another 23 years, and retire. Some other people think outside the box
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March 8th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
Kudos!! and Good Luck with this…
I was fired from my healthcare job after 15 years of service.
Although I was denied unemployment, I opted for the legal system to
assist me retaliate (that’s not what I told my doctor and attorney though).
It paid off after 2 years, but by then I was well into another job, same type but less pay than before but not by much, but I think I got my point across.
If you’re going to fire someone for doing what everyone else is doing too, it won’t
look good to a judge and jury. So, this job I have now is money to play
with. Why work? I enjoy what I do, plain and simple. Early 30’s, single
male, no kids, own my home, new car, no credit cards; just nieces and
nephews to spoil rotten.
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March 9th, 2008 at 7:16 am
Thanks, TAZ! You sound like you are doing pretty well.
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March 9th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
Please don’t degrade/CURSE— people/company’s in your BLOG. It looks SHAMELESS…..I’m not a genius but I wish you well. I don’t know how all this blogging works. Especially in earning a living. Anywho, good luck. “Sometimes, you have to just get up and do it”.
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March 9th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Thanks for the comment, wkares, and you do make a good point about not trashing others on my blog. I’m seriously thinking about editing out my former employers name….but I am still pretty mad at them. And just follow along here and you can learn about blogging, not only from me but from my readers.
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March 10th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
I say leave the comment….HP is better anyway.
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Nate reply on March 10, 2008:
I have so far….still thinking about it.
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March 14th, 2008 at 12:10 am
Forgot to tell you Nate… I own an HP laptot and just bought my pride and joy - a new HP desktop. Love my flat screen!
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March 14th, 2008 at 9:20 am
There are no doubt many people the world over who can relate to your situation and i wish you the best of luck with your site heres hoping it really takes off for you the best of luck.
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April 10th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
You are without a doubt a rich man in my book. I was laid off, went back and finished my MBA with and A average and then finished about 20 computer engineering certifications. I have spent months daily looking for anything but all without success. I’ve been to the job seminars and developed my portfolio, been on interviews, etc… but nothing results in a JOB. Funds are running very low now.. I cashed out my last IRA (paid penalties and taxes on it too) and I wonder how it will all end. Oh and my congressman said everything’s fine in his last letter to me. He said to pass on the message that offshoring, outsouring, and insourcing are making for a better America and unemployment is going down. I was shocked. But then us unemployed WASPs don’t get much of a hearing I’m afraid from elitists in Washington. Saw a good website though. The Paleo Conservatist. Hope this educated WASP can make it to the other side of the unemployment line somehow.
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October 4th, 2008 at 10:36 am
Just wanted to add my 2 cents here. First of all I hope that things have gotten better since this posting, yeah, I know its been a while. Second I do want to add that I’ve been there as well. Unemployed with a wife and a kid - overqualified for nearly everything and underqualified for everything else. Took me six months to find something and five years to start over from the bottom.
I just wanted to say that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and wish everyone in the same boat all the luck in the world.
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January 13th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
I can relate to the unemployed after many years on the job. I guess the only thing that makes my case different is that I retired from the Air Force after 20 years, I would have stayed longer but they would not let me reenlist due to health issues… Anyways I have a check coming each month although after child support that leaves me with $210.00 a month… I am getting unemployment for $165.00 a week… But I have 2 step kids, anda wife none of us have a job right now just moved to small town and not alot of options anyhow if this idea works for you, please feel free to share your info… thanks Bo, and good luck to you
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February 3rd, 2009 at 4:18 pm
Hi Nate,
I’m a reporter with public radio’s business show, Marketplace. I’m working on a story about long-term employment trends. I’d like to speak with you about your experiences, then perhaps set up a formal interview. If you have a chance, please email me or call 213-621-3462
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Nate reply on February 9, 2009:
Just sent you an email, Jeff.
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May 28th, 2009 at 5:22 am
I don’t know how I landed on this site but hope that things have changed for the better for you. Online wealth is evasive for sure.
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July 4th, 2009 at 9:12 am
How is the Blog life Nate? In the past year I have watched my industry slowly crumble to nothing and now I’m unemployed. I have no kids, bbutI do have mortgage payments. I’m really curious about how your blogging experience is doing.
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September 24th, 2009 at 6:03 am
I am 61 yrs old and unemployed. My benefits have run out. I was terminated from my previous job by a vindictive supervisor and, therefore cannot qualify for extended benefits. I have, literally, no money and, if my rent is not paid by Oct 9th, I will be homeless. The local employment office will not consider any help until I have worked for, at least, 4 weeks. I am therefore on the horns of a dilemma. I was offered a job in a manufacturing plant but I am not physically able to stand on my feet for 8 hours a day, in one place and had to turn it down. I need help and I need it now! Can anyone help me or tell me where to turn? I will be homeless in about three weeks, unless I can either find help or a suitable job.
SOMEONE, PLEASE HELP ME!!!!!!
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February 2nd, 2010 at 10:34 am
Liked the blog.Very informative and to the point.You will surely see me around your blog quite often as I like improving my knowledge.
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