Today’s post is a bit of a rant, I’m afraid.  You see, this isn’t the only blog that I have that I do business from, but this blog does lend itself more to Warrior Forum offers and the people from there.

Now this is NOT a blast at the WF, but it is a blast at the mentality of some of the people who frequent the forum.  Most of them seem to think that they deserve very special treatment, and special considerations, and most of all, something for nothing.  Or maybe some of them would just be happier if I offered to pay them to let me design sites for them??

I put up a special offer on WF to build Starter Niche Blogs for $50.  It was for a very limited time, just a couple of days, and then I was increasing my price to $97, and I was very clear about that.  I even posted again that the offer was coming to an end, and the price would increase on 9/16 to $97.  I was very specific about what the offer did and did not include; I didn’t leave much doubt – or at least that’s what I thought.  So much for thinking.

The offer ended, and I increased my price to $97.  I had some orders from the promotion, which I’m busy filling now.  And I’m very happy to do so, don’t get me wrong, and I hope to make these clients happy, and maybe they’ll become long term clients.

Here’s the rub.  This morning I check my WF PM mailbox, and I had a bunch of messages from irate people – who did not order from me, but now they’re DEMANDING that I drop my price back to $50.  I did agree to honor the $50 price if they had previously contacted me or left me a message on the forum while the offer was running, but I can’t accept any new orders at $50 from someone who had not contacted me in any way.

I also had someone who had not previously contacted me not only demand that I lower my price back down to $50, but that I populate his site – should he order it – with unique articles.  Huh?

I live in the US folks, and there’s no way that I can do keyword research, help you choose domain names, design your custom header, install your site and do onsite SEO optimization, and write original articles for it for $50.  Honestly, I could make more money working at McDonald’s.

Can you imagine reading about a special sale at Macy’s – a two day sale running Tuesday and Wednesday only – where items are half price.  You look at it, think you might run over there, but you don’t get around to it.  Thursday you decide to stop by after work, and you see that nice jacket you saw on sale for 50% off, but it’s not on sale any more.  Now most people would say to themselves, “darn it, I missed the sale”, or they’d speak to the sales associate and and ask them if the sale was going to be running again, are there any other discounts or coupons available, etc.

How many of you would go the sales associate or manager and start screaming at him, demanding that you get the the jacket at the 50% discount, and not only that, you want the matching boots for FREE – right now, or you’re going to go public with this and NO ONE will ever buy from you again??  Is that rational behavior? I have a feeling that not many of you would do that – so why do you feel entitled to blast someone who is basically trying to help you?

I’m not the only designer, or writer, or other freelancer that this happens to.  Lots of us talk to each other, and unfortunately it’s very common.  I really don’t get it.

I’ve been busy this weekend sorting through the hundreds of blogsites that I’ve built for my clients, so that I can showcase some of them in a portfolio.  I had no idea just how many blogs I’d designed, and how many happy clients I’ve had – so a HUGE thanks to all of you!

I have so many clients who come back to me over and over – I have one client that I’ve designed over 30 blogs for!  I want all of you to know that I always try to work really hard to come up with designs that you love, and configure everything exactly to your specifications.

Some of you know me from my WSO’s, some of you have found me other places, as I’m on quite a few different forums.  No matter how you found me, I just wanted to say thanks – I’m glad that you’re here!

Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone!  I’m trying to take some time off myself, but  even when I’m working I have an absolutely gorgeous office – in my home, overlooking the mountains.  And you might notice, it comes complete with a cat – actually there are three of them who love to run around overhead on the ledges.

I’ll post a few more pics in the coming days, but as you can see hubby and I really do work side by side; what you see here is half the office.  The other half has nice comfy furniture in it that I can sit in with my laptop and and enjoy the mountain breezes, and the ever changing vistas that the mountains present.   You wouldn’t think that they’d change, but they do.

At 3500′ where I live, the mountain tops can peek out over the clouds, and the sun lights up the mountain peaks while down in the valley it’s raining.   The mountain directly across from me is 6,000′ – and it’s just amazing to watch.  True, I get distracted from time to time, but I never had it this great when I worked in an office.  There I had a cubicle, with no view to the outside all day long – what a drag it was.

I’m sharing this with you today so that you can see that it really is possible to make a full time living online; I quit my job almost 9 months to the day from the day I first started working online.   Was it hard?  Sure it was – you have to put some time in to learn the ropes, and you have to follow the steps to make yourself succeed.  There’s no such thing as toss up a website or blog and run in and quit your job – you have to work to succeed.

Is my income all passive income?  No, it isn’t.  I have income now from many sources, some passive, some not passive at all.  That’s why I build blogs for you guys – because I love to build them and give you a little bit of a leg up.  And I keep learning – every day I bet I learn something new.

So keep learning, keep applying what you’ve learned, and you can make it too!

Terri