Finding Time to Start an Online Business: With a 9 to 5 Job

Finding Time to Start an Online Business

Introduction

One of the biggest challenges to beginning an online enterprise, is finding time to start an online business. We all have activities and a daily routine that seems to be at its limit, with very little time to spare for a new venture.

However, if you are determined enough to start an online career for any reason, you WILL find time. Hopefully I can offer you some help with this, as finding spare time may not be as obvious as it should be.

So if you’re in the situation where you’ve had enough of your 9-5 job and are considering an online change, here’s some tips to help you achieve your desired result.

Quick Navigation

How Long Does it Take to Become Successful Online
The Reasons We Find, for Not Finding Time
It’s All About Prioritising
Reduce The Unavoidable
Take The Half Hour Opportunities

Why This Online Change?

Beginning an online career change can be a little daunting for some, for others the escape from a 9 to 5 job is motivation enough. Some people want the change, but are anxious of the thought that real people are going to become their audience. However, if you want this enough, you’ll move on from these thoughts and find a way to succeed. Embracing all that comes with an online business is a critical part of your mindset change.

The lifestyle that an online career can provide is profound. It can allow you to travel extensively, while working remotely. As long as there is WiFi available, you can still be active online. It may just be the freedom of hours that you desire, to drop the kids off at school or go to gym in the middle of the day.

Whilst this all sounds great, it’s not going to come easy. Only those that work hard in the beginning will thrive as an online entrepreneur. Whether you intend becoming an affiliate marketer or eCommerce store owner, you need to find time to set up this online venture.

How Long Does it Take to Become Successful Online

This is a bit of a loaded question, because there are many variations and factors involved. If you take my preferred method of online wealth creation as an example, affiliate marketing will take months to start making money.

This is because the most sustainable, and cheapest method to get visitors, is by organic search results. That means writing article to appear in the search engine results pages (SERPS), such as Google.

Much of it depends on the niche your blog or website is in relation to. If you choose one of the top blog topics to write about, it will take much longer that if you choose a more narrowed subject. So for instance, a blog on “Pacific Ocean Fish” is going to take much less time to rank than a blog topic of “How to Lose Weight Fast”. As you can probably appreciate, weight loss is a very competitive niche, as this gets searched millions of times on Google.

As a brief timeline, I’d use the following as a guide. But don’t hold me to these time-frames, Google does not disclose their complete algorithm factors. These guidelines are based on my experience since I started doing affiliate marketing in 2014, and other experts advice. This is also only a guide for website traffic ranking organically in Google.

3 Months

Small niche – 5+ per day. Possible minor website traffic, infant website.
Large niche – 0+ per day. No website traffic, infant website.

6 Months

Small niche – 100+ per day. Reasonable amounts of website traffic, toddler website.
Large niche – 5+ per day. Possible minor website traffic, still infant website.

9 Months

Small niche – 350+ per day. Decent to good amounts of website traffic, teenage website.
Large niche – 20+ per day. Minor website traffic, starting to grow, child website

12 Months

Small niche – 700+ per day. Good to great amounts of website traffic, adult website.
Large niche – 100+ per day. Decent website traffic, getting better, teenage website

12-18 Months

Small niche – 1200+ per day. Awesome amounts of website traffic, fast heading towards authority site.
Large niche – 500+ per day. Good to great website traffic, mature website.

As I mentioned, various aspects affect different blogs. It all depends on how often you posts articles. If you only post once per week, you will see slower results than in the guide above. 3-4 posts per week should see you achieve much better results.

One other thing to remember, is the education required to learn how to rank article in Google. If you don’t understand SEO, you will need to learn it.

Now, the question is, how will you find time in your day to create these articles?

The Reasons We Find, for Not Finding Time

I used to make many of these reasons for not progressing myself, I used to be a procrastinator. I’d look for reasons why I couldn’t get ahead, as opposed to solutions that would get me to where I wanted to be. I believe that it was a motivating factor that kicked my arse into gear.

I’d been wanting to become an affiliate marketer for several years, but when I didn’t see any results after 3-4 months I’d lose motivation. But things were happening at my work that I was struggling to deal with.

Some of the employees that I often chatted to, moved to a different office. New employees started, with very outspoken politically correct opinions, and a new HR person with an enthusiasm for filling out forms and changing office culture (not for the better). This gave me the impetus to make a determined effort to make a living online. I’d do whatever it took to leave my work cubicle.

I had to work around a few things though, and give up much of my spare time. Family was probably the biggest obstacle I had to work around. I couldn’t neglect my family, and still had to pay them the attention they deserved. This included kids activities which I’d have to help with.

Then there’s the typical house chores, including maintenance, repairs and cleaning. These used to be the reasons I’d give to myself, NOT to forge ahead with an online career. Now, there was no excuses.

It’s All About Prioritising

So where do you start when it comes to finding more time in your busy life schedule? It all starts with prioritisation. There’s enough time in the day for relaxation activities, this time can be used more productively. I understand it’s not as fun to replace Candy Crush with writing an article for your blog, but games like Candy Crush won’t earn you money online.

The same goes for watching television. We tend to sit down and watch TV each night after dinner. Guess what! Half of the time watching TV is actually watching adverts. Firstly, start prioritising what you want to watch on television. Instead of searching for something to watch, sit down and write a blog article.

If there’s a TV show that you’re really missing, record the show and watch it another time. Obviously you can skip the adverts if you do this. You’ll actually be surprised that you won’t really miss many TV programs.

Another time waster that has presented itself recently, is tablet time. I watch my kids sit on the sofa, watching YouTube, surfing Safari, playing games or posting/viewing on Social media. This is an activity that seems to have no set time-frame, yet can run into the hours. Get stuck into your online business instead, and give yourself 10 min to browse through social media just before bed. Seriously, there’s not that much important stuff on there.

This next activity is a little controversial, because I do encourage reading. My wife is a big reader of novels, she loves to get lost in a story and can read for hours. If this is you, and you want to start an online venture, you’re going to have to limit your reading time. Write a blog post first, then read for half an hour before bed.

Reduce The Unavoidable

Whilst some of the above activities can be eliminated, there’s also the unavoidable day to day tasks that need to be done. Being an animal lover myself, you can’t neglect your dog if you have one, they need to be walked. But times can be reduced to allow more time to you online venture.

Some people love to hit the gym several times per week. Who am I to tell you not to keep fit, but you can get up earlier to head off to the gym. Maybe change routine to drop 15 minutes or find a gym closer to your home.

Grocery shopping is something that cannot be avoided, but department store shopping can. Instead of going shopping once per week, make it once every 3 weeks. You’ve got a business to set up, so don’t let leisure activities stop you. After all, once you’ve built a great foundation over 1 year, the profits will start to flood in. Eventually you’ll leave your 9-5 job, which will allow you more time to shop, head to the gym or play golf.

Take The Half Hour Opportunities

Guess how else I was able to write more? In fact as I’m writing this now, I’m sitting on the train with my iPad. I have Google Docs open, and I’m typing away to get this article finished. These are the small wasted periods of time that can be used so much more productivity. I actually enjoy the fact knowing that this will make me money, while everyone else on the train are wasting time playing games on their phone.

Sometimes I take my son to hockey training. Instead of standing on the sidelines watching, I get out my iPad and write another article. Sometimes I don’t have enough time for the full post, but half is better than none at all. Google Docs articles will sync to your Google account, so you can finish the article off on your PC or laptop later.

If you’re stuck in your 9-5 job, I’m sure you get a lunch break. Get out the iPad and start writing. If you work on a PC in a cubicle, write on this PC if you’re company allows it.

Do you see what I mean my half hour slots. So many people are too submissive of not enough time in the day. I bet most people can find 2-3 hours per day to begin this online journey if they wanted. If you’re happy to keep coming up with excuses, then it’ll never happen.

Who Would I Recommend For Education

I’m a big advocate for affiliate marketing as I’ve seen it work really well for many people. Those that are not successful at affiliate marketing are the ones that don’t keep up the motivation. It can be difficult if you’re in a competitive niche, but with persistence, you will get there.

Consistency, perseverance and motivation are the keys, but there’s one other thing that is critical, Education. I could have been a success much quicker if I’d learned from the experts in the first place. So let me guide you.

I’m going to offer you my Free Guide which will show you the greatest affiliate marketing platform online. Just click the button below to get your copy.

Wrapping Up

I admit that using all your free time can burn you out a little after you’ve been doing this for a while. That’s fine, if you can work hard for 3-4 months, take a week off to recharge the batteries. But don’t leave it too long before you get stuck in again, Google likes consistency remember.

If you can do this for 1 year of your life, the remainder of your years will be so much more fulfilling. Imagine the retirement fund you’ll have as a consistent income. Affiliate marketing is a brilliantly sustainable income model that is growing, so I’d get in now and learn the correct methods.

I thank you for reading this article and hope it makes a difference in your life.