The 0-Hour Workweek is Sometimes a Scam

I am a self-diagnosed workaholic, which means I actually like working and being at work. So the idea of a 0-hour workweek scares me a little because I can’t imagine working zero hours a week, and still being able to earn money somehow. All the same, when I read the following from a person named Maneesh Sethi in Big Think, I was intrigued:

2 years ago, I had an epiphany. Instead of freelancing and earning money by the hour, what if I figured out a way to earn money while I slept? If I could build something that would earn me money, constantly, I would finally be free.

Oh, really? Of course, I wanted to learn more about this epiphany, and what I learned was that when Sethi was 14 years old, he wrote a programming book for teens that became an international bestseller. He’s been earning royalties ever since and says one way to achieve the 0-hour workweek is to make a product that earns you money forever. Fine, yes, I get that, but not all of us can write bestselling books. What else you got?

Sethi’s other secret to achieving the 0-hour workweek is “to figure out a way to make money constantly through evergreen content.” Wait, what?

I hired a team to write hundreds of articles on niche topics and posting them on a variety of websites, trying to rank highly on Google. The strategy worked amazingly well. I picked perennial topics that wouldn’t go out of fashion during a specific season or over time, such as how-to articles on repairing your home or reviews of kitchen products — things that will always be searched for.

Oh, that’s a scam, right? That’s what scammers do? They do that SEO link bait thing where they trick people to go to sites with “evergreen content,” and then make tons of money using Google AdSense?

To the naysayers who say that SEO or article writing is a scam. Yes, it’s true, there are tons of crappy AdSense optimized pages that are out there just to attract clicks. However, these sites fade with every Google update. The kind of approach that I’m talking about revolves around building niche Web sites with GOOD content. You want to provide value.

Hmm. Can you give me an example?

Here’s an example: One friend, after subscribing to my email list, joined The Keyword Academy. He then registered and built Costumesery, which made him a bit of money during the Halloween season.

Oh, that site looks terrible, and totally link-baity! I’m going to stop reading you. I’m going to do other work now. Enjoy your dirty money!

Photo Credit: Flickr/Quinn Ryan Mattingly

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