How Associated Content is Changing My Life

A lot of people are out of work these days, and I'm one of them. Associated content has provided me with an opportunity that I didn't think I could find. The following is about how this site is changing my life.

So many people are out of work these days for various reasons. Due to their skills, some people are finding it nearly impossible to bring in money and support themselves or their families. I thought I was going to be in the same boat, but luckily being a writer and artist, I have been able to find things to do online. Placing my art on Zazzle has helped a bit, but Associated Content is really making the biggest difference, and I feel that it is going to be getting even better as time goes on.

You see, I used to write how-to articles for eHow as a way to try to bring in some income. It was very limiting, but I have done all sorts of things in my life, so I ended up having quite a lot to write about. I was able to make about $40 per month with them, but with both my husband and myself out of work due to health issues, that just wasn't going to cut it. I had been looking around for other places to write, but nothing seemed to be worth the time.

Then eHow was taken over by Demand Media, and people started leaving the site in droves because most of us didn't want to lose the copyrights to our work. It was at that time that I started seeing people talking about Associated Content. I liked the sounds of it. At AC a writer can write about any topic they want (not just how-to), you only give up the copyright if you want to, and you have the option of up-front payments as well as performance pay for the views your work receives. I decided to join and see if it would work for me.

I signed up for the site and promptly moved all of my ehow articles here as view-only. Then I started working on writing up all the things that I had planned to write for eHow. I was amazed to get articles accepted right away, and I got up-front pay for them too. It was really exciting to get money right away like that. The payments were low, but for someone just starting off, it felt really good.

As time has gone on I've continued to write for AC, and I absolutely love the fact that I can write anything I want. Ehow's format was so limiting, and I prefer writing in a more conversational style. I have submitted over 100 unique pieces to AC in the month that I've been here, and I have been holding at a 98% acceptance rate with no pay under $2.00. I did submit some of those pieces as view-only, so there was no up-front pay, but in my first 30 days I made over $130 in up-front pay, and a few more dollars from views.

So how is this changing my life? Well, for one thing I get to take a skill that I am highly unlikely to get a "real" job with, and make use of it. It's something that I love, and something that I'm good at. Add to that the fact that I get paid on a regular basis, and it starts being a really good thing. Add to that the fact that my income is really only limited by my imagination, and it becomes a possibility to earn a really good income.

I have tons of stuff in my head that I can write articles about, and I seem to come up with new ideas to add to my list every day. I have to keep notebooks all over the house to write down all the things that come into my head. The best thing about AC is the fact that my pay is dependent on the quality and quantity of my work, not on whether my boss likes me or how many degrees I have or any other factors that could be out of my control. The more I work and the better my work is, the more I'll get paid. I can advance at my own speed and no one else can really hold me back.

Now, do I think I can make enough money off my writing at AC to support two people? I'm not really sure about that. My first month looks promising, but we'll have to see how things go over time. Do I think that Associated Content is going to add a large chunk to my income and help ends meet a whole lot more easily? You bet. I even got my husband signed up and he's started to write. A fellow geek, I know that he has the potential to add a great deal of quality content to the site.

AC has already increased my confidence and my income, and I think it is going to do more of both over time. I don't know what I'd be doing right now if I hadn't found this site. I thought I was going to be losing income, but I ended up tripling it in the first month, and it looks like it's all up hill from here. My thanks to AC for providing a way for some of us to make desperately needed income with our skills.