9 Good Years

I started my journey online in 2007. I got married in 2012. My wife Amanda quit her job in 2014 and since that time we lived a life I only thought possible in dreams.

We traveled, did what we wanted, bought what we wanted, had two kids, took them with us everywhere, and just experienced true freedom.

She went back to her career in April, after 9 good years of freedom, partly for a challenge, and mostly because we now needed the security a full-time job offers, especially with children.

I'll be honest. I haven't paid as much attention to my business as I should have. It's hard with kids. The checks kept coming in each month (albeit slightly less each time) and it was easy to brush it off to the side. I was apathetic towards running it and being a full-time Dad just took priority.

Besides, we were traveling the world and barely having to work.

What more could you ask for?

Well, I'm not done yet.

My business took a substantial hit back in December 2022 and I didn't have it in me to fight for it.

I could easily blame Google or the rise of AI for my decline, but the truth is, I just haven't been paying attention or keeping up with any of the latest trends in the SEO industry. Things were easy for so long that I didn't care to fight.

Not anymore.

Once you've had a taste of the life we were living, it's hard going back to a life that's dictated by 40 hour work weeks in the office and limited amounts of vacation time per year.

Don't get me wrong: Amanda's career has been a huge blessing for everyone. But I don't want to sit and watch my business go to zero any longer.

And this is where my journey resumes.

Taking inventory

Back in 2019, I wanted to diversify. I had all of my eggs in the ivetriedthat.com basket and our livelihoods were too susceptible to algorithm updates. I started working on 2 new sites immediately, have launched 2 more of my own, and partnered on 2 more projects.

At the time, this was a great move. We quickly got 3 sites up to speed and they were growing nicely. I felt the fire again, I wan ambitious, I had ideas, and I was publishing a lot.

Once they caught on and started earning, I noticed my overall income didn't really go up. These sites were merely replacing lost income. That's okay because now I had 3 sites instead of 1 and I'd be a little more insulated from algorithm updates.

Right?

Wrong.

Turns out, it's 3x more devastating when Google decides to smack down all 3 of your sites at once.

Now, instead of trying to fix 1 problem, I had to figure out how to fix 3x as many problems. The fire dwindled, my ambition waned, and it all quickly became overwhelming.

I now have 3 sites with no direction. No voice. No identity. No brand. I'm barely behind them at all.

So that's what this new project is about.

This is my journey to revive my business with full in-depth details that I've never shared before.

I want to return my voice to ivetriedthat using these blogs. I started that site to figure out if it's really possible to make money online. I'm living proof that it is and there's no better guide than everything you have here at Wealthy Affiliate.

My First Project

I'm not going to attempt to revive all of my sites at once.

I'm going to start with one site and go from there. Each site will teach me (and you) something new about what works and doesn't work in this industry.

I run an online deals website that in the past has done really well for me. I haven't provided any new articles or updates to it in over 6 months. This is my lowest hanging fruit and will be the focus of my next few blogs going forward.

I have a pretty good idea of what I need to do to get this site back on track and you'll be able to follow along with me every step of the way.

I will be providing you all with monthly updates in terms of traffic, revenue, changes I've made, how these changes have impacted my site, and just overall thoughts and ideas going forward.

These upcoming blogs will definitely be the most personal and intimate look into my life that I've ever shared online.

Most of my work will start in about 2 weeks time. I need to start taking inventory and devise a road map on how to get this site back to it's former glory.

Keep an eye out for my next update. It'll be posted here soon.

It's good to be back.

-Steve

PS. If you guys have any general questions about me or my life, feel free to fire away in the comments below.