How to Make Money and Live the Examined Life at the Same Time

Everyone on the Internet wants to know how to make money. Not everyone on the Internet wants to know how to live the examined life, but everyone on the Internet probably SHOULD want to know how to live the examined life. I’m going to tackle both subjects in this post, and I’m even going to do so in terms of a step by step plan. Step 1 – Register a WordPress blog. Don’t be cheap and go with the free blog hosted at WordPress.com. Do the work to register an actual domain, get a web host for it, and then launch your blog. You’re looking at a total investment of less than $20 going into this, and you should be able to earn that back in a year. While you’re at it, find a template that you like, and install it. If you’re unfamiliar with WordPress and/or blogging, this step might take a little time, but you can do it. Step 2 – Start writing about your life. But don’t write about your life like you’re writing a letter to your Aunt Lucy. Choose actual topics that people might be searching for, and write about those. For example, suppose you watch a lot of movies. People search for the titles of movies plus the word “review.” So every time you see a movie, write a quick blog post reviewing the movie. By writing about your experience of the movie, you’re beginning to live the examined life. Don’t laugh. That 90 minutes of your life was an experience, and you should examine it. The best way to examine your experiences is to write about them. Writing about stuff forces you to think about stuff. But that’s just one example. You might not watch movies. You might watch television. Suppose you have a favorite show that you never miss. If you write an episode review for every episode that you see, you’ll eventually have an episode guide that people will want to visit. Maybe you don’t watch television either. Maybe you read a lot of books though. Write book reviews. If you’re like me, you watch television, you watch movies, AND you read books. Write about all three. You can write about all three of these subjects from a single blog, or heck, you could even launch three separate blogs. You don’t do any of those three things? Heck, what DO you do with your time? Surf the Internet? Good news–you can review websites and web pages that you visit. You can even write essays agreeing or disagreeing with what other people say on their sites. Do you cook? Keep a record of what you’ve cooked, how well it turned out, and what you and the other people who are the meal thought of it. Are you a gardener? Write down what you’ve planted lately. Write about what you’ve harvested lately. Make a list of things you’ve learned about gardening, and post it to your blog. Do you play games? Write game […]