My Experience with Online Writing to Make Money with Associated Content, Part One

Like so many other people, I want to be able to make money working from home. After searching the Internet for months, maybe even a couple of years, I decided to try on-line writing. After all, Ask.com was practically my best friend, providing me with useful information about any subject I could think of from hundreds of different sources. It never occurred to me that I could make some money being one of those sources of information.

This writing opportunity especially appealed to me because I can do it whenever I want and there are no expectations or limitations placed on me. I don't have to meet any minimum number of assignments, there is no fee to sign up, no phone calls to make, no product to buy and no commitment to make. Whether or not I make any money depends on how many articles I publish and how many people read them.

Finding time to make extra money isn't easy since I already have a full time job and my commute to work is almost an hour long, adding up to ten hours away from home. Add five children into the mix (my two, ages 13 and 9, his two, ages 9 and 6 and ours, age 3) with homework, extra curricular school activities, the dinner ordeal, playtime, bath time and bedtime. Squeeze in some quality time to spend with my partner in life, just the two of us, after the kids are asleep. Find time for laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping and exercise...oh yes, and a little thing called a good night's sleep. I'm not really sure what that is and haven't been since my second child was born!

Obviously, like every other family, there just isn't much time leftover. But the thought of giving up my dependable weekly salary to have all the free time I need for a career of my dreams with little or no immediate income is just not an option I can consider. After all, I like to eat and I really enjoy sleeping with a roof over my head so I'll do what I can for now. Hopefully I will build up to an income I can depend on while spending my free time doing something I really enjoy and making some extra money at the same time.

Finding topics to write about really isn't a problem for me, so far anyway. I have a list of at least a hundred different titles to write articles about. It's finding the time to research and write the articles that is the biggest hurdle. I also don't have the extra time or the real interest to find out what is new and fresh to write about and what will be "searched for". I will probably always write about things that interest or concern me because that's what I enjoy. If that leads to more page views then good for me, if not, well...there is no guarantee that all that careful planning will pan out either.

But even with all the searches I've done here at Associated Content, I haven't found any articles from people like me. People with a very limited amount of time to spend writing on-line articles. My questions are, "What can I expect to make writing one or two articles a week?", "How long does it take other people to write one article?", "Do you spend time researching every published article?", "Do you submit every piece of content for upfront payment?", "How many page views does an average person start off seeing?", and so on.

I hope to answer those questions in this series of ongoing published content and I hope to see some of your answers as posts after the content. I don't want to brag or toot my own horn, so to speak. I just want to provide some honest information about actual earnings and the difficulties that are faced with fitting in my on-line writing with a full time job and a young family to care for.

Will it be worth it for me financially to invest my time in on-line writing? I really don't know the answer to that question but I'll keep you updated with how I have been rewarded as time goes by in this series of articles.

Oh, I started this article around 8pm while my 3 year old was eating his snack. I had to break for high chair cleanup, bath time and our bedtime ritual, which altogether took about 45 minutes. It's ten minutes to 10pm and I'm just finishing up. I will be submitting this article for an upfront payment. I'll let you know what happens!