Think of Adsense and affiliates as a computer game
A lot of my friends and colleagues play computer games. Often it is kind of difficult at work to explain what I do during my free time, as I am sure building websites for profit is against company policy. Many people I know, go home to play computer games, not that I am against this in any way as a form of entertainment. I used to play a lot of games when I was younger, but now if feels like a complete waste of time when I think of all things I could be doing.
I find that Adsense and affiliate marketing is probably not unlike any strategical game. For me, playing the adsense game is entertaining, perhaps it is a very geeky game but it is something I enjoy and trying to increase my numbers has never in the slightest made it feel like “work”.
At least it helps you to increase your bottom line, without having to go out and buy the latest consoles.
Man, the more i read your blog the more i discover that we share a lot of views, hehe.
Few years ago a new gambling trend entered Israel, it’s a game in which you bet on 3 or more games, and if your bet wins, you get the calculated odds of all the games you’ve bet on. I’ve got addicted to it. I used to put between 10-20 NIS a day, sometimes 50, 100…during the 2002 World Cup i was putting one or two hundreds a day.
Don’t tell my father, but i’ve lost thousands of Shekels in this game, it became some sort of addiction, and something had to replace that addiction, that anticipation to see if you’ve won or lost, if your crazy bet won or you fell with the easiest.
After joining Adsense i started noticing that i don’t feel the urge to gamble anymore, instead of anticipating soccer games i spent my time tweaking my ads day by day, and waited until the end of each day to see how well my Adsense did. It was like that gambling game, only you risked none of your own money, and you always made some! =)
Allen.H
That could be a video game: Webmaster Tycoon
You can add me to the former-gamers-anonymous(sp?) group! Although I just started investing in domains and developing affiliate sites, I have to agree it is far more addicting. In fact, I would argue it is 10x more challenging to acheive a PR5 than it is to defeat any video game.
If someone gave me a PS3 today, I would sell it on ebay and invest the money in my new business venture.
By the way…congrats on your new independence. I hope that I will be able to quit my job in 5-10 years and join you!
I love this idea. I am very much in the same situation as you, trying to be my own boss. Video games, while fun, are for sure an absolute waste of time. I think I’ll take this article as inspiration and massively cut down my play time. Thanks!
haha…i agree with everything…kinda on the same boat. I’m trying to maximize the profit with adsense.