Rearranging Plans and Goals

After becoming a feature writer at Suite101 and landing my first big magazine column (more about that later!), I decided to once again cut my upfront paying obligations for a more passive focus. I cut out five active income articles per week and was writing five passive articles instead. Every two weeks, I would cut out an additional five upfront articles and add five passive articles.

But Google sent Panda out on another mission right in the middle of my transition plan. My revenue earnings plummeted and I was forced to return to the previous number of upfront paying gigs to cover my monthly income needs. This, once again, forced my passive income to take the backseat because my family's needs, which will ALWAYS outrank my career goals. But this got me thinking. When the effects of the first Panda round wore off, my passive income (and page views, too!) became the absolute highest of my entire freelance writing career. Since this is a been there, done that situation, I knew that I would be crazy not to increase my passive income articles as much as possible in preparation for the time when Panda removes his large paw from my earnings.

I kept thinking over and over that my already published article's earnings increased by almost half last time. Imagine if I could get 25, 50, 75 or even a hundred more residual articles published by the time Panda effects faded again. I could even double or triple my earnings. Of course, I am not a fortune teller and can't predict the future but like they say, history repeats itself. Even if this is a different scenario this time around, adding more passive income articles can only benefit my career and I will eventually see an increase in earnings, too.

Enter new plan. I must make X amount of $$ per month to meet my household needs. This is a given. But I usually go with my gut instincts and my gut is screaming at me to write as many residual articles as possible. I thought, planned and prayed until I finally had a workable solution. I limit the amount of time I write per day, making sure I have plenty of time for my wonderful family and other life obligations. I determined exactly how many articles I would need to complete to meet my monthly needs and calculated how many hours per day it would take me to complete the articles. Between my sites and active income needs, most of my self allotted writing time was gone. I wasn't going to give up!

Where would I find the time to write passive articles without cutting into my family time and direct paying/much needed obligations? I remembered an opportunity I was offered a few weeks ago that would cut my writing time down by a third. After a quick email, I had freed several hours a week which would be used to write at least ten residual article without cutting into my income needs or my family time. Sure, I had to take on another project that someone else was going to reap the most benefits from but I was adding many articles during the newly freed time that put me one step closer to my goal! So this time around when Panda lightens up and my passive earnings begin to rise once more, I will have published a good amount of new articles to increase my passive income that much more!