This guest post is by Danny Iny of Firepole Marketing.
A few weeks ago, I wrote a post here at problogger.net about how Firepole Marketing makes money.
I explained that even though we’re less than a year old, we’ve already made over $20,000, and that over half of that came from offline sources.
We wanted to know how other bloggers make their money. Is it all online, or do they make their money offline as well?
In other words, we wanted to know if they were Semi-Local.
In October 2011, we surveyed 153 people; 107 who were already Semi-Local, and 46 who aspired to be. We asked a number of questions to find out what was really involved in becoming and being Semi-Local. Here are the highlights of what we learned.
The first major finding was about how many hours per week people who were already Semi-Local (current SLs) spent working, versus how many hours per week people who aspired to be Semi-Local (aspiring SLs) spent working:
Notice the discrepancies on either end of the spectrum: 31% of aspiring SLs work less than 20 hours per week, versus only 12% of current SLs. On the other hand, only 15% of aspiring SLs work 50+ hours per week, versus 28% of current SLs.
Do you think people are idealizing the Semi-Local life, and expecting it to be a lot easier than it really is?
Another interesting finding was about take-home income:
There’s definitely more money in being Semi-Local: 39% of current SLs make over $60K/year, versus only 22% of aspiring SLs. The majority (60%) of aspiring SLs make between $20K and $60K/year, whereas the majority (60%) of current SLs make between $40K and $200K/year—a big difference!
There’s some interesting data at the edges of the spectrum, though. 25% of current SLs make under $20K/year, versus only 18% of aspiring SLs, and only 2% of current SLs make over $200K/year, versus 4% of aspiring SLs.
One of the most interesting findings (to me, at least) was about how people actually go about becoming Semi-Local:
The majority (71%) of aspiring SLs expect to achieve Semi-Local status by creating an offer that is substantially different from their current offer. In contrast, the majority (60%) of current SLs did it by selling exactly the same offer to a new market.
The lesson here is pretty clear—put away all of the shiny objects, and look for new customers to buy what you’ve already got!
This is one of the top questions for anyone who’s thinking about becoming Semi-Local: how long does it take to launch?
There are really two “categories” of results here: the first category is “under 100 hours,” and the second category is “100+ hours.” Seeing the results in these two categories, we can draw a couple of interesting conclusions:
Current SLs have a stronger preference for smaller projects as a means of getting going (76% of current SLs, versus 70% of aspiring SLs).Current SLs took a lot less time to launch than aspiring SLs expect it will take (46% launched in under 40 hours, versus 34% who believe they can do it in such a short time).That’s the question that we should all be asking before opening up our wallets for the latest training program on blogging and online business:
This is the most striking finding: 63% of current SLs said “no,” versus only 43% of aspiring SLs. The message here is very clear: you don’t need training, you just need to get off your butt and start working!
Do you want to see more of the numbers? Review more of the answers that the respondents gave us? Then download the full report—it’s free!
Danny Iny (@DannyIny) is an author, strategist, serial entrepreneur, expert marketer, and the Freddy Krueger of Blogging. Together with Guy Kawasaki, Brian Clark, Mitch Joel, he wrote the book on how to build an engaged audience from scratch.
News reporting has evolved drastically over the last century. Changes in technology and media formats have taken journalism from print media formats to the invisible air waves of television and radio to personal computers and the Internet, where an influx of new information is made available to millions of homes. This amazing compilation includes three vintage newspaper reporter films from the olden days of communication! Topics Include: News Reporter, Journalism, Newspaper Writing, Copy Editing. Table Of Contents: (1) Journalism (1940) - This is a classic vocational film about the various careers in journalism, from news reporter to copy editor - 11 Minutes (2) Newspaper Story (1940s) - A great film about a news reporter who writes a news article about a Boy Scout who finds a missing child - 16 Minutes (3) Betty Boop's Rise To Fame (1934) - This is a fascinating newspaper reporter interview with Max Fleischer, the creator of Betty Boop - 9 Minutes
Written by a pre-eminent travel writer and bursting with invaluable advice, this inspiring and practical guide is a must for anyone who has ever yearned to turn their travels into saleable tales. Packed with insider hints and tips, practical writing exercises and examples of travel writing excellence, this guide helps you bring the dream job of Travel Writer within scribbling distance of reality.
Master kindergarten teacher Cindy Middendorf shares her strategies for creating a nurturing, choice-based learning environment where all learners thrive. Packed with research-based tips, model lessons, photos, and student samples, this guide shows how to teach the kindergarten curriculum in a way that engages varied learning styles and taps multiple intelligences. Middendorf also shares expert advice on how to establish an effective classroom management system that supports differentiated learning.