Living The AdSense Lifestyle
Updated on February 29, 2020
My posts usually consist of how to deal with technical issues or how to improve your methods when building our AdSense sites. I wanted to break away from that here and tell you about what it’s like to live the AdSense lifestyle day to day.
Most “gurus” would have you believe that every day is full of cocktails on the beach while building your passive income. Don’t be fooled. Creating and maintaining enough sites to be worth takes a good deal of effort. For us, it’s getting close to a full time job. Plus we have a staff of 8 people as of this post working on the sites. Never mind the fact that we have a full time days jobs — running our outsourcing business TryBPO.
Most people believe the AdSense lifestyle is like this….
So, I thought I would give you a run-down to show you my average day. It’s not glamorous, but it may give you some insight on what it takes to be successful in this business and hopefully dispel some of the rumors and myths about this being a push-button, get-rich-quick solution.
8am — Wake-up, breakfast, shower, get ready for the day. I find that even though I work from home, setting a good morning routine helps start my day. It’s too easy to fall into a very lazy trap where you stay in your PJ’s and blow through the day not getting as much done.
9am — Answer emails, addressing any emergencies that may have come up over night. Since I work in the Philippines which is 12 hours ahead of east coast time, my inbox tends to be jammed with messages when I wake up. It’s important for me to prioritize here. I try not to spend too much time addressing any one email if possible. Those that can’t be addressed immediately or can wait until later, I mark for follow up. A word of advice, if you email me a long email, don’t expect a quick answer!
10:30 — Project management and development. It’s my thinking time. We use Basecamp for project management and it helps me divide out of projects into small to do’s and milestones. That makes completing a large project easier to swallow. Otherwise it can be hard to know where to start and where you left off. Examples of stuff I do during this time are AdSenseFlippers blog posts, new site strategy, process building, business development, and customer relations.
12 noon — Lunch. I eat light these days. Very light! I find consistent snacks throughout the day helps me keep the weight off, while not getting too hungry or bogged down by a big meal. Nothing worse than feeling sleepy after a double cheeseburger with fries.
…when actually it’s more like this!
12:30 — Back to work. I usually this time to bang out any tasks that just need time to work though. Things like site migrations, spreadsheet updates, and accounting tasks.
2pm — Workout, swim, sauna, massage. Ok maybe not all of those everyday, but I make sure to take some “me” time in the middle of the day. I unplug and do something physical. I find it keeps me alert and satisfied. Taking three hours may seem like a long break, but work days tend to be pretty long, so this is needed. If you work from home, I highly suggest getting out of the house as part of you regular routine.
5pm — Email and emergencies. Since my off time is spent unplugged, there is usually a build up of email that need to be addressed. Again, I look for the low hanging fruit and emergencies first, the rest gets marked for follow up.
6pm — Dinner, again something light. Lately it has just been a protein shake (I am on a quest to get under 80 kilos or 176 pounds). Justin and I use this time to talk, update each other, and strategize.
7pm — Collaborate with team members and push to get tasks done. This represents the bulk of my work. It includes training for new projects, updates, and adjusting processes that may not be working. Most of our team works at night, Philippines time, so this is their morning. A perfect time to make sure things are rolling smoothly and deadlines are being hit. I also use this time to setup any new auctions, talk to customers (as it falls within normal US working hours) and knock out any follow up email I flagged during the day.
1am (approx) — Get to sleep assuming no emergencies. I try to get 7 hours, but I usually have bit of an insomnia and need at least 30 minutes to wind down and get to sleep. I should probably read more, but I usually wind up spending this time watching TV. Oh well!
Weekends — My weekend mornings and afternoons are pretty similar unless I have something particularly planned, it just the evenings I can take off and relax. Now that’s the time for a cocktail on the beach!
Hope you found this interesting. As you can see the majority of my day is spent on work related tasks and it’s really not a picnic. If you have any pointers or questions, feel free to leave your comments below! In particular, I’d be interested to see what you guys use for time management and what you use to stay on track.
Discussion
You are absolutely right that working at home doesn’t mean that I have lots of time for doing anything at my own. Right now, I am planing to leave my full time government job for making a adsense dependent life. And believe me it’s possible. I have only one blog but I am earning a good income from it. Now i am confident that where ever i go, when ever i go, I have something to live on. I don’t have to rely on my boss. I am the boss of mine. Have passion, dedication, success will come eventually.
Hi Joe.. I am new visitor of your site as i came across from someone and heard about your site. Here your all articles i read are great and specially detailed so a newbie like me also finds out it well. I also was some one who wanted to earn a lot from Google Adsense and other programs but it was a dream for me and now it was dream to earn a lot by i was able to earn some but not a huge.But after seeing your posts and see that what niche site’s can bring me i am just amazed.Also known that how to flipping a website and earn from it.Now just seen that you sell sites in your Buy Sites page but i saw that all the site’s there are sold.and also seen a that some of those site’s make 10$-150$ per month ! i don’t know if i am wrong you given the adsense earning was it a day or monthly? And why you sell those sites ? cause you can make a lot of money with it and that’s it…Thanks..
Those numbers on the buy our sites page are a moving 30 days average. We have it automatically connected to the Google AdSense API.
Why do we sell? Well we fell we’re better at getting sites setup and running than expanding them to their full potential. We would rather focus on that side of the business than making authority sites. We find it more interesting and it fits our skill sets/situation much better.
That’s great of you…As i done the comment 6 months ago 🙂 now i am not a newbie anymore..and your site helped me a lot to know about..but i am now established in my arena of knowledge.and earning good amount and i am pleased with my earning that fast that much..:)..Ya i now also sell site’s and hope you continue your amazing writings so when someone is newbie…gets those guideline …thanks you @Joseph.. 🙂 you are a great man dude..
That’s great to hear, Sinbad! Thanks for coming back to update us…really glad you found our content helpful. Much success to you in the future!
Hi Joseph – what kind of emergencies do you get doing adsense sites?
thanks
Naomi
Lol, Naomi.
Re-reading that part, I seen what you’re saying…sounds a bit odd, right? Remember that we run an outsourcing company, TryBPO.com as well. Most “emergencies” would probably be in that arena, but there are AdSenseFlippers issues that come up as well, like:
– Someone needing some time off last minute
– Need to re-load Fiverr with PayPal cash or pay a vendor
– Responding to customer inquiries regarding sold sites
Those types of things…nothing TOO major!
Exactly the type of emergencies I was referring to. Plus the odd text message or phone call!
hey, im in the philippines too – would like to meet you guys when i am in davao ?
Sure, Franz, do you live here or are you just visiting? Just let us know when you’re coming down and we’d be happy to meet up with you.
Wow. Had no idea you were in the P.I., haven’t been back there since Pinatubo flipped its lid. My dad was in the USAF and mom was a native, I grew up at Clark AFB.
Nice to see a day laid out that way – I definitely need to do the “take 3 hours and get physical” routine. 😀
I’m in the IM niche full time, full on affiliate marketing except for my own product line (I have 3 books, 1 premium the other 2 free), so I can relate to the diet/physical needs. Now I’m fiending for a Halo Halo…
Nice, James. Just took a look at your website and liked a few of your posts, especially the 50K week post. Your writing does seem to bounce between the honest, No-BS approach and cynicism, though, eh? Still…1000X better than the photoshopped “Make thousands while you sleep!” crowd, heh.
Interesting post. For a moment, I thought you were living the promised lifestyle of the gurus when I look at your photos… then I read the captions. Haha..
So how long more do you think you will need? I guess one year 🙂
Yeah trickery was part of the plan, lol. How much long will depend on how big we want to grow this thing. It’s nice to know we could walk away at any time and have passive income online properties.
Bleh…not quite!
Although I think Joe was a little harsh on the lifestyle. It’s true we both have pretty “normal” lives over here and there are times where we’re working like crazy, but we get to travel and visit places that are pretty amazing.
In the past year or so Joe and I were able to visit Shanghai and see the World Expo. My girlfriend and I took an amazing trip to Hong Kong, stayed at the Venetian in Macau to do some gambling and site-seeing. Joe spent a relaxing few days at a resort on Camiguin island, an amazing stretch of volcanic islands in northern Mindanao. I took a two week trip through Manila to see some friends and then down to Cebu to hang out at Plantation Bay, an amazing international resort.
Hell, in the last 30 days we’ve spent a weekday relaxing at Pearl Farm Resort on Samal Island and last weekend we took our entire team out on a rented boat for some island hopping, BBQ, drinking, snorkeling, etc.
I think Joe just thought it was important to note that there’s a ton of work that needs to be done too…AND it’s not always like that, heh.
Thanks for clearing some of the myths in adsense lifestyle… 🙂
No problem!
I would say you guys have pretty much defined what is work life balance is. Nice division of Priority work and normal work. It certainly is not a off post, helps a lot of people how to define a day for productivity and life. After all, work is a part of life and not life!
Thank you! I strive for daily balance, because i really believe life is about the day to day, not just two weeks a year or the weekends!
Thanks!
Really, though, it’s something that we do struggle with and it’s something you have to continuously evaluate.
If I’m being perfectly honest with myself, I remember when I was working for a company in the US and had this fantasy in my head about how amazing every day would be, working in the Philippines, cold drink in hand while working on the beach, etc…but the truth is much less glamorous than that. Yes, I do get to do those things…but my day-in, day-out is, well, more NORMAL.
Good stuff as usual! I noticed you guys use basecamp. I was looking at that, but came across trello.com which I think looks better and is free. Might not work on the scale that you guys need, but thought your readers might find it useful.
Hey Paul,
Yes, someone had mentioned Trello before to us…it looks pretty cool, actually. It’s free? A “freemium” model probably? Either way, it looks pretty cool…thanks for sharing!
Totally free right now. They mentioned they introduce premium features in the future. I spent a ton of time researching project management / collaboration software, almost pulled the trigger on basecamp, then came across trello. I’m going to give it a shot. It’s uber easy, free, and extremely flexible.
The Best thing of this is that you are working for your project and nobody else, thats the diferences of having an office job ;).
And even this could be a full time job there will be always new challenges that will make your life more interesting and for why to wake up every morning 😉
Thanks Aldo. I enjoy the engineering and process challenges mostly. It may sound boring but I love to scale things and figure out the best efficiencies for a particular business model. It’s just the way my mind works — organized and calculated.
Mine is not that organized at first but i im the same i like things to be calculate and have a system for every task i have and after the system is built up i start the to organize it.
The best of building website with Adsense is finding other ways to make more money from them with the same traffic and improving and testing new stuff.
Nice post! It’s inspiring to see someone hustling and powering through an actual schedule out here in the Phils, rather then having liquid breakfasts/lunches/dinners every day! I’m in Dumaguete at the moment, staying in a hotel so working on wobbly tables and out of internet cafes.
Hope to get a place soon and set up a similar routine. Keep it up!
Hey Lewis. It’s easy to get caught up in the sort of lifestyle here as well. Things are cheap and you don’t need to do much to get by. I’m guilty of it for sure, but have decided I want to enjoy life a little longer than the next guy. Eventually you need to do something while realizing that taking care of yourself and your business is important.
Hey Lewis!
I’ve been hearing quite a bit about Dumaguete recently…I’m going to have to check it out, I think! A friend of ours from the UK always jokes about the “garden furniture” you have to sit on in the Phils, lol…those plastic chairs and tables that are just everywhere!
Similar to my schedule … but my goodness I need to get more organized. Tip to all …I really second your advice on getting the physical activity in the afternoon. This is absolutely essential for productivity and health. I’ve tried it both ways and believe me, active is better than passive!
Yes, Dave, I like to say it’s passive income, not passive lifestyle, lol!
i have to agree with Dave although im rather hypocritical in that – for the last 3 weeks i have not left the house nor gone to bed before 8am. Ive been working and working and working, yet really not getting that much done. i guess balance is certainly the key – but when you have a million jobs piling up getting out and taking a few hours off is difficult to relax.
hey Joe!
How are the tasks divided with the outsourcers? I want to outsource to but for now is just content and seo. The admin stuff like installing new sites and putting on monetization methods take a long time and the info is too sensitive to give out…
John,
That’s probably a topic for an entire post, but basically we silo everything up — content, backlinking, and site setup all have their own teams with a project manager. For new site installs you can give your outsourcer account exec access in GoDaddy. That way his access is limited to just what he needs to do. Plus he uses his own account which you can shut off at anytime.
Thanks joseph,
Does that mean that I’ll have to get a reseller account so I can separate new sites from old with the outsourcer?
Nope, you can just have separate hosting accounts and make them an account exec only on one server.
Got it Thanks! 1 final question… do you oversee your workers in person or do you do it remotely? I find it tough to manage ppl remotely especially overseas, I think I’ll have to go to an agency rather than building my own team from the ground up. Or hire ppl here and pay cash…
Yes, I actually live in the Philippines. For remote tracking check out HiveDesk on our resource page. Great way to monitor remote workers.
This is a great post. A lot of people get into IM with the vision of that guru lifestyle…sitting back with money constantly rolling in. But it takes discipline to be successful just like anything else.
Exactly my point Kevin, but it’s not impossible either. If you put your mind to it and have some help, anyone can do it.
Wow! Where in the Philippines are you working? I am in the Phils myself 😀
We’re in Davao. It’s great place!
Ahh, I’m in Laguna (south of Manila). Haven’t been to Davao but yeah I’ve heard it’s great over there.
Hi Guys
really interesting read. Its good to have diversity in the blog and find out more about your work life.
Your sure pushing the envelope. I tend to work similarly long hours (slightly longer at the moment no 3 hour break in the day :-))
What I really like is the way you guys share lots of real info. I think your supporting one of my theories. Niche websites are far from passive income for the first 3-6 months? It takes a lot of effort and dedication. I had become worreid at some points in this journey that i was missing something as the “gurus” say its so simple 🙁 lol.
anyway thanks for the insight and keep up the great blog threads.
Steve, I couldn’t agree more. Niche sites do take a lot of time and tinkering especially in the beginning. Once you have a process down, it becomes a grind. You have to constantly push yourself to keep up.
Thanks for the kind words, it’s always nice to hear from a repeat reader!
Joe,
Needless to say, you guys are very busy, haha! But looking at your Flippa auctions and your monthly income reports, all that hard work is paying off.
I’m going to start having a morning routine. I definitely feel that when working from home, it is easy to just stay in PJs all day and procrastinate. Working from home should be treated like a real job. I wouldn’t go to work in my PJs, haha!
Great post. Keep up the good work guys. You two are a motivation for many. I started quite a few niche sites shortly after being introduced to AdsenseFlippers.
Thanks, Ben!
Ugh…I’m at the opposite end. I’ll work in PJ’s, not use the desk and instead curl up on the couch with my laptop, etc. I do make sure to get out and around a bit, though…otherwise I tend to go a bit crazy, heh.
Hi Jo!
You’re lucky man for having a job as full-time flipper.
Having a cubicle man, it’s hard to manage your online chore
once you get off of the business hour.
‘Never give’ up is a good friend indeed.
Of course do not believe in what gurus say.
It’s their marketing trick -even it works like a charm-
Long live Flippers!
I hear you. I never could have done this if I had a full time job. It would be much easier to buy a network of sites, hire outsourcers, and have everything done for me.
Thanks Ben. Having a good morning routine and some exercise will really help. Sometime away can clear your head and actually make you work better!