The question of the importance of money seems to be cropping up quite a lot recently in various blogs and forums I read. There are plenty of very successful people out there who believe that money isn’t a significant motivational factor for them when it comes to online/business pursuits.
I think that the thing about money is that it’s a key indicator of success quite early on with a venture. For the luckier people, it seems to become much less of a factor – at least in a personal sense – further down the line.
When it comes to the web, a lot of people see making money as their ultimate goal, and often smaller successes – such as publishing a blog post, building links, creating logos and branding themselves and their website – get sidelined pretty quickly. They don’t count as achievements, they are simply things to tick off on a list.
I have to admit that I’m guilty of that. I’ve always viewed money as a measure of success and can’t really see that ever changing. I’m not obsessed with money, and I won’t compromise on my beliefs or what’s right, but it is a way to determine whether something is worth your time – and if so, how much of your time it’s worth. It’s not easy trying to juggle a million different things, and I’m sure we’re all guilty of not replying to that comment or private message or tweet that we probably should have. It’s hard to keep up.
As with everything else in life, it’s all about the balance. If money is your only motivation then you’re probably going to give up on some things before you should or never even attempt them in the first place. Blossom.nu has earned very little money over the years, but then that was never its purpose. As a teenager my blog was a place to talk about my day, my life, my experiences, and although many years later it’s split into web and personal stuff – with my professional portfolio on a completely different domain altogether – I’m still motivated to write here. Not every post makes it; currently there are about fourteen post drafts sitting in WordPress and only a couple of those will ever be published because the others just aren’t right.
One of the advantages of websites and online services is that there are so many different metrics to measure success – visits, comments, subscribers etc. etc. – who don’t need to buy anything. It doesn’t even matter so much what the numbers are, as long as they’re heading in the right direction and/or you’re happy with them. Sometimes just knowing that you have a small piece of your own world that others can get involved in is enough. And if it’s not, then just experiment until you find something that makes you happy and is important to you.
Are you motivated by money? If not, what’s your motivation for websites and projects?
Like you, I do measure success by money… Although I agree with you that money shouldn’t be one’s sole motivator. It’s very nice to have money, and have a lot of it (I guess, I don’t know since I’ve never really had that much of it lol), but like everything else: too much is never good. You should enjoy other aspects of life too. But I guess money is a pretty big motivation when it comes to work…
I am motivated by money when it comes to real life. But with my website, no. I don’t blog to make money. When I get get money for my website, it’s just a bonus. But money I make online, I don’t really consider real money. I never get to hold that money in my hands. I keep it in my paypal account to pay for other online stuff. It pays to keep my website running and it pays for my netflix. So as long as I make enough to cover my online expenses, I don’t need more than that.
I’ve never made money from my site but that was never why I got into web design and blogging in the first place. I’ve been doing this for so long now, since before there even was a market for making money off of your blog. I count my success in number of visits. It’s nice to know that people take interest in what I’m doing.
I wanted to earn money from my site but it never happened so far. Yes, I motivated by money and I believe everybody motivated by money. But I may be wrong.
I personally would never do anything for only the motivation of money… But I guess money is where everything begins, hey?
I haven’t spoken to you in such a long time Jenni.. I hope you’re well! x
Money? Nah, really, money and my websites don’t really link. My website is for fun, it’s a hobby. I measure my website’s success in the amount of visitors I receive and in the comments I receive. It’s nice that some people out there like to read what I have to say. I don’t mind that I don’t gain money from it.
I don’t think money really motivates me to keep my job. I actually love my job. While I do want to stay for longer hours, it’s usually because I know there’s lots of work to do and it feels good completing it, or just because I want to chat with my colleagues when they haven’t quite settled into work, or when the day is winding down.
Honestly, I’ve always wanted to earn some money online. I’ve tried websites like Cashcrate & all that, but with my current website right now I don’t make any & would like to, but just can’t. But yeah, I do sometimes feel how you feel. Like I feel like I’m just wasting my time on the computer when I could be doing better things because it’s not like I’m getting money for this. But at the same time, I also do it for fun. When I get really bored, I like to play around on Photoshop & blog just to express my thoughts when I have no one to talk to. Haha.
My truth? “Sometimes just knowing that you have a small piece of your own world that others can get involved in is enough.”
I had to quote you. THAT is the first drive to do anything — the passion, the joy, the confidence that people will come see your hard work and SMILE. That’s what counts.
Then, as a consequence, money comes. I was recently hired as a SEO, writer and logo designer by an important client who doesn’t just need a person who can do the job… but a person who has the passion and the inner motivation to do all that. The plans are intensive, but she and I are on the same frequency wave, we understand each other and what’s really needed to do things properly and that benefit people.
Also, advertisers usually love my blogs, because they can have fun with them.
This is the mingling of personal drive and money I’ve been looking for for years. I found it, and I’m sticking to it.
I could no longer tell you what I do for love and what I do for money, because the two things have become so strictly interrelated that they’re no longer separable.
I’m happy. ^__~
~ Luana S.
I’m motivated by the equation
Money / Time
There are lots of things that I could do to make more money with some of my sites, but some of them would involve
a. spending more time; and
b. losing the flexibility I have with my time
..both of which have an incalculable value.
If you have websites that make decent money and allow you to structure your day how you want, you’d need a hell of a lot more £££ to compensate you for being chained to your office 24×7.