I cut my online teeth with Geocities many many moons ago. So far back I can hardly remember what I actually did. I know it was a frustrating experience and finally abandoned what I was doing – and the internet for a while too.
I won’t say I have fond memories of Geocities, but I know a great many who will and I am sure they will saddened to hear that Yahoo! has finally pulled the plug.
For those who don’t know, Geocities was one of the first and one of the most successful free web hosting sites on the internet. Successful for a long while anyway. With the prevalence of free blog hosts such as WordPress and Blogger and the availability of cheap hosting, Geocities days have been numbered for quite a while.
One wonders where the internet may go in the future. I can’t see blogger ever being ’shut down’. But will it ever go to a paid only state? It is always a possibility. What about WordPress – will that stay as a free hosting site – or will they fully monetize as well.
I don’t think those options are on the cards at the moment – but you never know what the future holds. I do know one thing – if you’re serious about blogging, or building a web site, you need to buy hosting and host it all yourself. Free hosting is always going to be filled with uncertainty.
I have to wonder how green the Greens are when it comes to politics. And I don’t mean green as in novice – I mean green as in environmental. We have a situation now in Australia where the Government wants to go down a particular path in an effort to reduce green house gases with the big focus world wide on carbon reduction.
Rightly or wrongly, the Federal government wants to introduce a system of carbon credits and carbon trading. The long term aim is reduce the amount of carbon produced.
The opposition groups in the Australian upper house have rejected the legislation and are now proposing changes – basically rewriting the legislation before it comes back into parliament.
The Greens are the political group that have me befuddled the most. We have had ten years of climate denial in Australia. The former Howard government basically denies there was a climate problem. Even I have doubts so I can understand their position somewhat.
We have gone from a position of denial to a position of nothing is better than making a start. At least, that seems to be the view of the Greens. Now my thinking would oppose that. Making a start would get people thinking, talking and acting to make some changes in their lives.
I can understand the Greens want more controls put in place. However, as I stated, a start is a start. Instead, the people of Australia along with businesses both small and large are all being left in limbo not knowing when change will happen, what that change will be, and how much that change will cost us in terms of jobs and our weekly expenses.
What is the biggest fear faced by humans – the fear of change. I don’t agree fully with the legislation either but I do know one thing – once we make a start we can then think about any fine tuning that needs to be done. The Greens? They seem to be more about political grandstanding than actually doing anything constructive about the environment.
There is no set a rules when it comes to blogging. Good thing too since I would probably break them all. However, there are some issues that need addressing at some point by most bloggers. One of those is whether or not to monetize their site. At some stage they may even wonder if they could make a living from it.
If this is you – and you have plans to make a living from your blog, or blogs or online – then is there one golden rule that you HAVE to remember if you are going to be successful. What is it?
To all intents and purposes – you are running a business! Why is this so important? If you continue to treat your activities as a hobby, you will never take that extra step to making a serious income from your activities.
Once you accept the fact that you are running a business, it opens a whole new world of requirements. Most new businesses fail within the first 12 months. Can you survive the first 12 months making little money, or at best breaking even? If you’re running a business, chances are you will need to spend money to make money. Are you prepared both financially and mentally to invest your own money?
If you treat your online activities as a business, it becomes easier to justify the time required. If you are still treating it as a hobby, chances are you will let distractions take you away from what you need to achieve each day.
Do you really want to make a living from the various streams available online? If the answer is yes then start to think and act like a small business owner because that is what you are – and that is what you need to be to succeed.
photo credit: Mexicanwave
The world economy is a strange animal sometimes. We have just experienced one of the worst – yet on of the quickest – recessions in many decades. I wonder if former treasurer Paul Keating would label this the recession we had to have. He would probably be right too.
Just over 12 months ago the Aussie dollar was trading in the 75-80 US cents range. Nine months ago it was trading in the 65-70 cents range. In fact, it managed to get down to 63 cents at one stage.
During that period, US$630-US$700 would equate to A$1000. Today the exchange rate is over 90 US cents. This means I now have to earn over US$900 to receive that A$1000. So, to all intents and purposes, I am losing money as the economy recovers.
What makes it a little harder to swallow is that as I work a little harder and increase my earnings, my actual take home in Australian dollars is going down. It is an interesting phenomenon and you have to take the good with the bad – ride the hard times and enjoy the good – and work harder and harder.
Has anyone else found that their income is actually dropping because of the economic recovery – even though they are earning more?
photo credit: Unhindered by Talent
Comments (6) 
