Worst Thing About the New Year

New year’s eve is always a fun night for my friends and me. As more of us have kids, I think this will likely change, but for the last several years, it’s always been a celebration with several of my college friends and their wives.

Last night, a group of us cheered in the new year at a restaurant called Buddakan. As we raised our glasses to toast to a new year which promises to be filled with babies, weddings, and other happy celebrations, I couldn’t help but think about one aspect of the new year that is bad for me: starting the new year from $0.

While the majority of my friends have salaried jobs, and the new year doesn’t mean much for them in terms of their income, for me, it is always an anxiety provoking time.

As the clocked ticked past midnight, some of my monthly invoices started rolling in, including a hosting bill and domain renewals. Although there will be advertising revenue soon from my various websites, there is not much else guaranteed with this business. Every year, it’s a new challenge to drive revenue and generate income. In some ways it’s exciting, but it’s also quite nerve wracking.

As I write this, I was surprised by the first stream of income for the year – a new cat sitter listing on CatSitter.com. I will take that as a good omen.

Wishing you a great 2012.

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

16 COMMENTS

    • @ EvW

      I agree… not good for relationships either.

      I am expecting a few nice deals to close soon, but it’s always daunting to start at $0 with few guarantees. That said, the sky is really the limit.

  1. All your friends are starting at $0 too, unless they get paid in advance for the year. I also don’t know how secure a salaried job is anymore too. If you lose that one job, how quickly can it be replaced? Internet and web use which need domains is still one of the areas with healthy growth, it’s good to have some exposure there. A paycheque can be gone in an instant, while the revenues from your diverse web interests very likely wouldn’t disappear all at once.

  2. Look at it this way. You have the skill set and ability to generate income from scratch. Some of our friends with salaried jobs tend to only know how to send out resumes and hope for the best when things go wrong.

    Count yourself blessed 🙂

    John
    Unplain.com

  3. I hear you brother!

    Another perspective is that those with a salaried job have these nerve wracking thoughts:

    “If I don’t close # of sales this quarter, I am out the door.”

    “My #$& boss is on my ass about a sitauation I have no control over”

    “They just hired a 24 year old at half my salary that is eyeing my chair”

    “Corporate headquarters is slashing half my dept. so even if I make the cut, will be working 10 hours a day”

    “Some dude named Shane wants to buy the company”

    “The new intern from UCLA keeps smiling in my direction, if I smile back, she’ll probably call HR.”

    “The building I work in has forced air being pumped in, I feel like a rat in a cage”

    Etc…

  4. What do you mean it’s the worst thing? I think it’s the best thing because it means your earning isn’t limited. As MarsDavis said, the sky is the limit! Hopefully you will feel more positive as the year progresses.

  5. I’m curious about all those that commented here.
    How many of You do not have a Job and rely on only speculative gains for income?
    If so, how long have you been doing it?

  6. “I agree… not good for relationships either.”

    You have to turn all that anxiety into productive motivation. It will force you to take a hard look at things that in the past you might never had considered.

    Such as making changes to the blog which could generate more income and stop worrying about people who are constantly talking about what you shouldn’t do (thinking you are pushing advertisers or things that benefit you etc.).

    All those people who make those comment? They won’t be there to clean up the mess in your relationship and family when you don’t make enough money. They won’t bail you out.

    I can’t tell you how many times in the past I did things which pissed off people around me because I wasn’t doing what they wanted or though I should be doing. (It’s an endless list of detractors when you make tough selfish decisions.)

    This is now the stage you are at now as you are moving out of the city and you are going to be starting a family.

    I like this statement from John – “You have the skill set and ability to generate income from scratch. Some of our friends with salaried jobs tend to only know how to send out resumes and hope for the best when things go wrong.”

  7. @Elliot – I know you are doing this with no safety net.
    I was curious on others.
    I can tell you I have been a Spec Trader doing equities and options on my own since 2000 after leaving corporate and have gotten more into domains since the downside is less limited and am always looking at various business models for other sources of revenues. If you really think about it, it’s what entrepreneurs do. Various entertainers have their hands in all sorts of industries.
    I totally hear you on this post & at end of day nothing wrong with having something corporate as well if they allow one to have their freedom and time for other things (they exist). The beauty of domains is that is doesn’t have to take up all your time.
    You also have website sources of revenue, which is smart and the month you sold NightLights.com was good.
    Overtime, i think all of us who are purely doing things with their own funds and on their own are going to have to look at all options and be disciplined with outflow, which living in New York or Chicago tends to have a higher Cost of Living and providing one benefits (health insurance, etc) similar (if even available) is not cheap.
    it really comes to down to what makes one happy and challenges them. That may change from time to time.

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