And so it begins...

Well, actually, it started a long time ago. I don't remember exactly when, but I'm willing to bet it's been about two years since I first decided I wanted to make a living online. I had some great help from some great people back then, but eventually I grew tired of trying to compete with all the Internet Marketing Gurus and realized I was never going to make it in the world of safelists and traffic exchanges.

I tried. I poured money, time, frustration into it and went days without sleep to try and make a few dollars online, hoping that one day one of the many programs I'd signed up to would make me rich like they promised...

Now, though, I've smartened up a little bit. I'm no longer buying into those "get rich quick" schemes at all. I don't have the time that I used to have to spend hours a day surfing, racking up credits in traffic exchanges to promote my newest affiliate link. I'm not bothering with matrices, cyclers, lists and referrals. I've turned my attention to the one thing that has remained a constant in my life since I was about twelve years old... Writing.

Over the last few months I've researched to find out just what it takes to be a successful writer online. I'm not talking about this blog, either. I've come across some handy little sites that I'm going to be using to try and make a living working from home alongside my studies. I'm not looking to make a fortune. I don't want to be a millionaire; I just want to be able to live comfortably and have some sort of income instead of waiting for my student loan to come along every three months.

I don't have the time to find a part-time job in the "real world". The last one I had wouldn't let me work less than twenty hours per week. That may not sound like a lot, but when you add in eighteen hours of class time, two to three hours traveling per day to school/work, and then another eighteen hours I'm supposed to spend on doing my assignments so that I can actually come out with the qualification I'm studying for, not to mention the extra-curricular activities I take up to go along with my course (managing a band, promoting shows, scouting for a record label...) that doesn't leave a lot of time for eating, showering and sleeping.

I've already decided on the sites I'm going to focus on to try and make some money to live on, and I'll detail them in separate posts so that this doesn't become an essay. I'm not expecting to become rich. In fact, I'm not even shooting for what a regular part-time job would give me. For now, I just want to work my way to making a couple of hundred dollars a month.

Now, I  know that's going to take some time, but I'm focused and determined and, with a combination of these three or four websites, I should be able to get there eventually. It may take three months, it may take six... Hell, it might even take a year or more. As long as I'm earning SOMETHING, it's better than where I'm at right now.