Ramblings
Don’t Be a Clickbank Douchebag
When you put a product out on Clickbank for sale, it is done usually for ease as well as for access to the affiliate network. You don’t expect people to take advantage of you. Click Here To Continue Reading »
Twitter Is Responsible for Soggy Rice Crispies
First, we have Fox News running a stupid story about how Facebook leads to lower grades in school. Then, to top it off, CNN runs a story about how Twitter leads to – are you ready? – immorality.
From the CNN story:
New findings show that the streams of information provided by social networking sites are too fast for the brain’s “moral compass” to process and could harm young people’s emotional development.
What do you say to something that stupid?
You know, I always find it interesting how we can so reliably count on the news media to take successful things down a notch. The story on Twitter came from this story, which sources the University of Sothern California. Go figure.
So, be careful when you tweet. If you send that tweet, a puppy dies.
Ask Dave Any Question About Blogging
My regular readers know that I make my full living online as a blogger. I know a little something about it. And I started this blog to help people do the same kinds of things that I do. So….
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Dealing with the Distractions of a Home Office
As a problogger, I work from home. I have a home office and that’s where I spend my time working. This, of course, means I am subject to the many distractions of home: kids, wife, phone, doorbell, refrigerator. Yep, all of it! What to do?
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ContactThem Network FAIL
I have gotten these things so many times.
Hi,
We’ve seen your website at http://www.pcmech.com/signup/
and we love it!We looked at your traffic rank and your link popularity.
With that kind of traffic, we will pay you up to $4,800/month
to advertise our links on your website.If you’re interested, read our terms from this page:
http://www.contactthem.ws/hit.php?s=10&p=2&w=13049Sincerely,
Karen Cook
The ContactThem Network
What a collossal example of pure idiocy. Its a frickin’ SALES PAGE!
It is obviously a stupid form mail, and they don’t even make a decent effort in making it believable. And I find it funny how they ALWAYS offer $4,800 per month. At least mix it up a little bit! Idiots.
Is Blogging Doomed? Why A-Lister’s Are Quitting and Dan Lyons Is Just Plain Wrong
We are most definitely in the midst of an evolution of the blogosphere. The recession is causing reality to hit home. Some of the A-List bloggers are leaving the business. What’s going on here?
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What Are Your Biggest Challenges To Making Money Online?
As this post goes live to my blog, I am currently on a cruise ship. My wife and I are somewhere in the Caribbean and my blog is on automatic (gotta love the future posting ability of Wordpress). So, instead of me talking too much today, I have a question for you…
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I’m One Slot Away From Dot-Com Mogul Status
Tonight, I found a pretty funny post over at the blog of Jamie Harrop. He uses John Chow’s own criteria for being a dot-com mogul against him and points out why Chow is a fake. Of course, it is all tounge-in-cheek, but it was pretty funny.
The criteria are:
- Your income is made from the Internet
- The minimum Internet income level is $10,000 per month (you can not add income from other sources to hit this $10K level)
- You have no jobs outside of the Internet
- You have a personal blog with your name as the domain name
- Your blog must be updated at least once per week
- A Google search of your name must be at the #1 spot
- You must be willing to help dot com mogul wannabes
So, I was pounding my chest thinking I’ve made it. But then, DENIED. I ran a Google search for “David Risley” and up comes – not me – but David Risley Gallery. I guess some guy with my name runs an art gallery in Denmark. While I own #2 – #10 position in the first page of search results, this guy owns #1.
So, of course you know this means war. 
David Risley in Denmark, you’re going down! At least to #2.
Which Is More Secure – The 9-5 Job Or Self-Employment?
In my wife’s interview of me, and in her blog post about what it’s like it being an entrepreneur’s wife, she asked me about how I plan for my “golden years”. In other words, am I planning for my retirement? Do I worry about not having a pension plan or a 401(k)? Do I worry about not having a steady paycheck? In her blog post, she says:
So I guess part of me does feel somewhat insecure about having a blogger for a husband. I do think about what it will be like when we get old and have no 401k or any other income to fall on, I think about the $2500 we have to shell out of our pocket before the health insurance kicks in if any of us gets sick. I think about the economy and how it is going to affect our small business.
She also mentions my small ordeal in getting approved to buy my first house. This is true. In retrospect, I may have stressed about it more than I needed to, but I did have to jump through a few more hoops to get approved for that mortgage because I did not have traditional pay stubs. Plus, they saw my income (from my tax returns) go from a small amount (due to a college job) to a full-time income even though I was technically unemployed. It didn’t make any sense to them because I didn’t fit the normal template. Who knows, maybe they thought I was a drug dealer or something. 
All of this speaks to the various “downsides” of running an Internet business and being self-employed. But, are they really downsides? I put that word in quotes for a reason.
Is The 9-5 Job Really That Secure?
I think it is an artificial faith to think that having a 9 to 5 job makes your finances more secure. With the economic worries happening right now, you may worry about whether your company will lay you off in order to save money. If you get a 401(k) or other retirement plan, how secure is it really? There are quite a few people out there who have lost a lot of value in their retirement nest eggs because of the stock market fluctuations. If you need to make more money, what do you do? Beg your boss? Cross your fingers? Kiss the right butt?
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Gawker Should See Consequences For The Palin Email Post
Just a short opinion on the Sarah Palin email leak.
The people who hacked into her email account broke the law. Period. Gawker is knowingly publishing images from this hack job – images which they know full well were illegally obtained. In my opinion, it should not go without consequence. They said on their post:
Here are the screenshots of the emails saved before the account went dark, along with the contact list. It’s newsworthy and we will not be taking it down!
Well, shame on them. I don’t care what your political persuasion is, there are laws about privacy for a reason. Just because a person is a political figure doesn’t mean they are exempt from privacy protections. And if the authorities don’t pursue this because of the political backlash, where does that leave us? Does privacy not matter anymore? Does the law mean nothing now?
I guarantee you the asshole who hacked this account would be up in arms if it was their account that got hacked. If it were anybody but a polarizing political figure, this story would be treated differently.
Rock on, freedom of speech. But that freedom comes with responsibilities. And Gawker has dropped the ball on that one all so they can whore themselves out for more traffic.
I'm David Risley. I've been making my living as a blogger for over a decade. Blogging is my business and how I support my family. With this blog, I'm just gettin' REAL and telling you how this business works. 
