Should I find a job or become a full time internet marketer?

Ndegs21

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I recently graduated with a bachelor's degree in a third-world country. I'm not sure what path I should follow hence the name of this thread. I have two options; look for a job or become a full-time IM. I currently have two websites that I believe can be scaled to four and five figures respectively. But the problem is that I'm kind of broke.

To be honest, jobs in my industry (what I majored in) aren't paying enough based on the hours you put in. So if I was lucky to even get one, I'd have to give up IM. There would be no time to work on my sites and the pay wouldn't be sufficient to hire writers.

I've read successful journeys in this forum and others on the internet and I know IM can be lucrative. If you were in my position, would you write for your websites for months or even years until you succeed or would you look for a job that you probably would hate? Any advice is welcome.
 
You obviously don't have to give this information if you don't want to, but it would probably be helpful to know what you majored in for your degree. That changes what some of your options are, which is important because chances are that you don't know what all of your options are in the first place (hence you making this thread).
 
IM is a great game but there's no guarantee of success.

Focus on securing a pay check so you've got enough coming in to put a roof above you and food on the table. Then focus on your sites. Otherwise you'll be stressed and anxious as hell, because these sites take a long time to start earning.

Earning a paycheck could be as simple as writing online for other site owners, until you've got enough to transition to writing solely for yourself. Your writing is definitely good enough to be hired.

If you take a normal career, most 9-5 jobs will leave you with enough time to still build a site. Especially if you work remotely. Personally I started mine while working 8-5.30 in an office - working early in the morning and on weekends. It's a real grind to get started, but you're young. Within a few years, you can earn your freedom.
 
In the best-case scenario, you are not going to have any regrets. But think of the worst-case scenario which is what you should plan for.

You start a site, put in your sweat and blood for two years, and it tanks. What's your next step? I was in this exact scenario back in 2009/10 - I spent 1.5 years trying to build the next TechCrunch, and it all came dashing down when Google released Panda.

What I did next was to use my experience in internet marketing and my degree to secure a business management role at a dotcom company.

So, to answer your question - if you can afford to not get a paycheque for the next two years, and work on your site, sure go for it, as long as you know what you can do if and when your business fails to take off.
 
Imagine not believing in yourself enough to go waste time and youth in a job you already hate before you even have it.

Why not just believe that you are going to win and then start winning?

Everything is mindset. If you believe you are going to only make $1000 a month then you will. If you believe you are going to make $10K a month after 6 month, then you will. If you really want it badly enough.

The reason people give you advice to go the "safe route" is simple because they don't have enough self-belief in themselves.

Their whole lives they were told to take the safe route. WHOLE LIVES. And what's that gotten them?


Fear is real. "But this scenario can happen here (Google Update)". So? You can walk outside and get hit by a bus tomorrow. "No risk no glory".

Decisions made out of fear, scarcity mentality, and lack always lead down a dark and depressing road.

Also FYI, the OP said nothing about "SEO".

There is a whole wide spectrum of internet marketing that generates money/revenue faster than SEO.
 
Most of the journeys you read, it took those people 10+ years to get there.

You'd be better off getting a job as a internet marketer and then doing it on your own on the side at night and on the weekends.

After 10 years, come back and let us know.
 
If it were me:
I'd look into online freelancing as a way to bootstrap your full-time IM career.

But I'm not you. You know your local market, available time, risk aversion, skillset, and ambitions.

Hating your current job is fine. Most of us have been there.
Hell, let the hatred of your current job be your motivation.

Just don't give up your dream, even if that means long hours and late nights side hustling while working-full time. It'll all be worth it in the end.
 
It all boils down to what you want out of life and what you're willing to sacrifice.

Are you willing to not succeed for 10 years and be a complete bum, while your college buddies who want to see you pay for your meals so they can squeeze off an hour with you before they go back to their wife, kids, cars, and home while you're in some cruddy apartment or living with roommates or your parents? Do you really enjoy the Taco Bell value menu?

If you can stomach that (not the idea of it, the reality of it) then maybe I'd suggest quitting your job or not getting one or whatever. Maybe you succeed right off the bat. Doubtful.

I can tell you that the grass is always greener on the other side. People without an income wish they had one. People with one from a day job wish they had more independence but aren't willing to give up the income stream or are tied down by a lifestyle.

There's also the stress of it all. It's harder to succeed when you have no cash flow and you're worried about next month's rent payment. It's harder when the weight of the business is on your shoulders and you're so far behind you think you'll never catch up.

A day job IS progress if you're smart. It's funding to outsource the work and to get ahead faster. In fact, you may get ahead faster doing that (buying people's time) than you would doing it all yourself, which is what you'll do from day one with no income streams.

Are you idolizing going it on your own and making it big and being self-made and all that? Or do you actually want to win. There's a lot of pie in the sky thinking out there. Everyone I know wants to do what I do but nobody wants to eat the shit before they eat the pie. How hungry are you, you know?

You also don't get time back. I found success finally after over a decade in the trenches. Finally bought a house long after my family and friends. Mine will be paid off in a literal fraction of the time theirs will. But I missed the time in the house. I don't have a romantic partner right now because I missed out on a ton of social interaction. No kids either. You don't get that time back.

It all boils down to what you want out of life and what you're willing to sacrifice.
 
This is a very good question!
For me, I'd stick to the regret minimisation strategy:

"I knew that when I was 80 I was not going to regret having tried this. I was not going to regret trying to participate in this thing called the Internet that I thought was going to be a really big deal. I knew that if I failed I wouldn’t regret that, but I knew the one thing I might regret is not ever having tried." Jeff Bezos

But you can't really rationalise your way out of this, can you? There's something holding you back... otherwise you'd already be tinkering with different things to bring in revenue. And maybe even work a part time job to make up the cash you need.

Remember a time when you had an idea or a project that just gripped you, and you pounced on it, working tirelessly to get it done? You did not ask questions. You didn't ask for permission. You just stayed at it till it got done.

Whatever's holding you back is only known to you, and the pursuit of an answer can unlock a wealth of knowledge about yourself. Frankly, I think the answer is already inside you, only waiting to be uncovered.
 
I can relate a lot to this dilemma except that I'm already making multiples of what I could ever make as an engineer here where I live. I'm torn between getting a job to gain some official XP just in case (I'm 24, never worked in the industry) and continuing to focus on IM. It freaks me out that time is passing by, especially when I see my peers settling into their nice comfy careers. At the same time, IM gives way more freedom which is the absolute most important thing to me. It's really hard to make a decision.

If I was you I would definitely get a job first to pay the bills.
 
Im with @Ryuzaki and @bernard here.

Why cant you do both? Use the income you generate from your job to facilitate your sites. As @Ryuzaki said this will allow you to outsource and get you where you want to go faster.

If IM is what you truly want though then don't let your job become everything and forget what you really want. But if you really want it you wont forget about it in the first place.

I came from another career in which I still work in part-time which allowed me to have extra income to invest into websites. I am nowhere near a pro or where others are in this forum but I am glad I have the resources to invest in sites and outsourcing.

I do have the belief that with resources, time and determination someone can succeed in whatever they want. Will they fail several times? Sure, but that's why you need all three of those items to truly succeed.
 
To mitigate risk, I got a job in internet marketing to basically learn the ropes on someone else's dime. The whole time fully knowing I'd branch out on my own after a while. Could I have gone full throttle into IM on my own initially? Maybe and I probably would've been richer by now. But my way worked out too. Just don't get comfortable with the monotony and averageness of a corporate IM job.

Everything you do at a job you should do selfishly to learn skills and achieve experience you can leverage later on for yourself. Fuck the clients and the company. Be selfish cuz the decision it's costing you the resource you can't renew: time. Do not get fooled into thinking the company cares about you either - and screw coworker relationships. I've seen so many people not quit a shit job cuz they "feel bad for leaving friends"...WEAKNESS.

You're the captain of your own ship, no answers here mean shit it's up to you and what you know you are capable of.
 
Determine whether marketing is the right career for you. Take a personality test to learn more about your preferences. 16personalities has a test that is comparable to the popular Myers-Briggs test, and there are many others. This quiz will identify your preferred work environment. Examine how your tastes align with the skills required of an Internet marketer.
 
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