Let's Start At the Very Beginning...

 At the beginning of this blog, I had a day job. I wanted to become an independently published author, which would replace my day job. I could wake up when I wanted to and do what I wanted while earning a passive income. No matter what I did, I could only earn very little, but most of the time, it was just crickets. Seriously, I never did earn an income to replace my former day job. So what did I do? I tried anything and everything that I could to earn money.

Mistake #1

 Rehashed information

Everyone who tells you how to make money online is not always telling you the truth. I would do free programs and some paid Internet marketing opportunities to make money. I was scammed so many times it would make your head spin. I didn't buy every gimmick, but some I did and it cost me big time. Do you want to really learn how to make money online? You must go to a verified source.  Look in your public library, but if the book isn't current, don't bother reading it. Here's one that got over a hundred good reviews. 

Mistake #2

Internet Marketers 

I'm not talking about the people who tell you that if you don't buy their $1,997, $997, $497, etc. course then, you just don't want to help yourself. The kind that tells you it's okay to use your credit card to buy their course. DON'T DO IT.

Mistake # 3

Applying for Loans to Pay Off Your Credit Card Debt

All it does is ruin your credit and have all sorts of companies accessing your personal information. Big mistake. 

What to do and What I am Doing Now

My new game plan is to have weekly pay,  at either a side hustle or another day job while I am building my publishing business. Ever since the pandemic hit and I lost my job I have been to dozens of virtual job fairs. I even applied to a few jobs, did a couple of interviews, but to this date, nada. I recently applied somewhere else and I'll see where that takes me, but I am now promoting affiliate programs so on this blog some links will be affiliate links and I may get a commission if you decide to make a purchase.  I am also doing surveys.

So, yes. I am still Chasing the Life of Riley, and time is speeding ahead. I have to be successful this year or I am in big trouble depending on who will be the next president of the United States. So, there you have it, and I know I've been horrible at keeping up this blog, but I am going to do three posts a week, unless 'Life' happens, which means work takes second place. I'll be keeping updates, and seriously focusing and continuing my journey Chasing Riley.

Saving Lives, Staying Home and Very Much Determined

I hope all of you, your familes and friends are safe and healthy during this strange time.  I live with my mom and sister and we are all okay.... BUT  the  day job I had for years is now gone. I was working at home  for two weeks and two days, in March, then I was called and told I had zero hours.

Now, I have always wanted to quit my day job. I have a college degree from Syracuse University, and have been accepting a low salary for years ( under $10K) because I could find nothing better. I had watched several employees-some just new hires,  get promotions in a few months time, while I who had tried many times got nothing. I won't go through all I had experienced there, that is not the point I want to make here today.

I had no way of getting anything better in my city, so along comes COVID-19 and now I am at home. Am I going stir crazy? No! I love being at home with my family, and now have the time to get all those  time consuming jobs and projects around the house and in the yard done. Most importantly,  I have the time to make the life of my dreams come true....to be a successfully published writer. I have sold ebooks,  yes, but not successfully. So now I have all the time in the world, and I am going to focus on one thing at a time, and get the job done!

While I wait for my first unemployment payment (you can guess how crazy that is..*eye roll*) I will be focusing on becomiing better and marketing my books.. I am so bad on keeping up with this blog but, I will post at least once a month to keep you posted.

Take care, and remember to wash your hands.

Getting Closer To Catching Riley

*Sigh*. No, I'm not yet close to getting my music out yet, but a way to become financially independent is. Well, one good thing is that I do have a publishing contract for a series. My first book will be out in October. Instead of endlessly searching for things to do to make money, I have focused on three things:

• Writing(my publisher+ Kindle, Smashwords and other websites like them)
• Teaching(online)
• Crowdfunding

 So, I am hoping by the end of next month to be debt free, and therefore able to purchase the software and equipment I need to get my music online and heard by millions of people. So, you will hear from me once more this month, and will hear the final verdict next month. Will I have caught Riley? Will I finally be able to just wake up every day and work at home? Stay tuned and find out....

New Years Resolutions

Okay! It's been a few years since I've started this blog, and although I have not yet caught Riley, I am one step closer to doing it. I've had one success last year, and that is I have found a publisher that will publish three of my books. One this year, two next year.
Even though that is part of my dream coming true, it still does not allow me to just work from home, and all(as far as I know) digital publishers do not give advances, just royalties. The debt I spoke on in earlier posts is still there. It's gone way down since then, though, but it is not gone like I want it to be. So I've found a few ways to make money, but it's very slow going.
One thing I want to duplicate, that I know would get rid of all the debt, is publishing on Kindle. I have twenty titles on there now, and only six are consistently selling. None of them are fiction titles, though. So, right now I am working on writing fiction for Kindle. It would be nice to reach the success that Amanda Hocking has, but even if I have just a fraction of her success now, that would mean I would be at least debt free.
So! In the next three months, this is what I want to accomplish:
1. Become debt free
2. Have enough money to quit my day job
3. Make a consistent $5,000+ a month
4.Jump Start My Music Career
My plan is just to write, write, write until the following is accomplished. If John Locke can sell a million books in just five months, I figure I can do at least have as good as he did when I put some effort into it. I do have
another trick up my sleeve that will help get rid of the burden of debt, but I will only mention it in April when I will report the results of my New Years' resolution.
As for music, it still all boils down to getting software. I'm kind of afraid to use other peoples "free" royalty free music, or public domain music. I did a video for Youtube, and I get an email from them saying that the song I used belonged to some company! I didn't dispute it, but I checked the song on my hard drive. The person who gave me the music called it 'PLR' or something like that, and said that I could put my name on it
and use it as I wished. So, I am going to have to buy my royalty free music and I just don't have the cash now. So, this plan has got to work for my New Years' Resolutions to come true.
As I continually say, I will try to post at least once a month, so at least let you know I am still actively working.
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