About
[H]owdy, welcome to my blog, The Average Genius. I’m +James Hussey, my common alias has been JamestheJust, a pen-name I fashioned while freelance writing on Elance. When I was building that brand, and in order to gain more gigs as a writer, I’d comment on internet marketing blogs under “JamestheJust on Elance,” or simply, “JamestheJust.”
The plan worked, I made plenty of money as a freelance writer and have since retired.
If you’re wondering about the blog title, “The Average Genius,” I’m average compared to the A-listers in the industry, but I’m a bloody genius compared to most invertebrates. Here’s a picture of me goofing off with my son, Jake.
This is me being silly, acting like a gangsta with my son, Jake.
I’m really just a regular guy who loves writing, loves his wife and kids and has a knack for marketing. My blog started off as an online journal of sorts to talk about what I was doing to make a passive income online.
Around January of 2011, I retired from freelancing and now I’m fully supported by a passive income.
What I Do For a Living
I make websites on WordPress, learning from an ebook a while back how to do it, and taught myself how to make money as an affiliate marketer. By the time I had already been making money from my websites, I read the Amazonian Profit Plan, an e-book that explains making money from Amazon.
What I learned was more or less what I was doing already, but with a few pointers of things I hadn’t known. Mostly the book helped me figure out I was on the right track, and that I needed to focus more to succeed more…
So I did. And I have.
In a nutshell, I create these websites around a market or product line. Every page becomes a little team member in my sales force, working 24/7 for me in the background.
The more web pages I have, the bigger my sales force.
Since I learned how to do SEO and get natural traffic to my pages, my income is entirely passive. I work once to get a site together and the pages well-positioned in Google, then it’s onto the next project.
Write. Publish. Repeat.
Retire…
Or something like that.
I used to work as a freelance writer on Elance.com, as mentioned, under “JamestheJust.”
The main way my sites are making money is from affiliate marketing, or “SOPS.”
Selling
Other
People’s
Stuff
No trips to the Post Office, no stamps to buy, no products to physically touch — these are all affiliate programs that I joined and have made a good bit of income.
Another way I make money online is by self-publishing. I have three books out, 2 are free and 1 makes me a regular income. The first was called, The Internet Marketing Starter Guide and is solely available at SEOSage.
It’s free, 60 pages of good content. That was my first book, I wrote it as one of my final projects as a freelancer, and it covers setting up a WordPress site, as well as giving you some options to profit from your website in an overview fashion.
The other free book is called The Unfair Advantage and it covers a professional traffic strategy in a step-by-step fashion. I wrote it in conjunction with my book on WordPress SEO, and The Unfair Advantage is available for a Tweet.
The Unfair Advantage is 54 pages of content designed to wrap your mind around one of the best ways to get traffic and build your brand.
My premium book is called Duct Tape SEO: WordPress SEO Done Dirt Cheap. It covers SEO for the newcomer, though it’s for anyone who wants to get their website ranking highly in Google using a risk-free method that’s meant for serious marketers.
Read the story behind my e-book, at The Average Genius.
A final way I make money online is through my email lists.
I make sales on the products and services I use and recommend regularly. I use Aweber to manage all my list-building, and some free WordPress plugins to help increase subscription rates.
So Who am I?
If you really want to know the grit of my story and why I’m so driven to this dream of a passive income (and I’ve realized the dream, by the way), read My Story here.
I’m a guy who started out online after being forced into it. Yes, I love what I do now, but I had no idea it could sustain my wife and our 7 kids (my oldest daughter lives on her own without my help, that makes 8).
Here’s the ugliest picture I could find, sitting on our tired couch, while I was still working my last thankless job. Note that I had worked about 11 hours that day and had been working like mad for a while…
I think the stress was getting to me. My face is stuck in this position (I’m the guy in the hat to the far right).
The Hussey Family - Being SILLY. We're Not Really This Ugly.
Yes, we’re being silly. My mother-in-law was taking the picture, and all of us hate this photograph, it’s as unflattering as can be, but it shows all my kids and me and my wife.
I tried to find the better picture, but you try getting your 8 kids to all look photogenic while you’re tired from an 11-hour day at work…
Not happenin’.
My wife, for the record, is more amazing than anyone should have the right to be, and she doesn’t fly around in a cape. Nonetheless, she is my super-woman, a SAHM and deserving of many more compliments.
I already mentioned I used to work as a freelancer on Elance (I’m retired unless you have a $5,000 retainer, and I’m not kidding), now I’m a full-time internet marketer and author.
What’s The Average Genius About?
Glad you asked! It’s about making money online.
Rather, it’s about how I personally make money online. My hope is that you find some honest help to get started, maybe find some inspiration, with the dirty truth thrown in so you’re not expecting some fairy tale experience.
See, I used to be Mr. Nice-Guy.
At some point, I became Mr. Had-Enough-Guy. I tell about that in My Story, so I won’t re-hash here.
I’m done with working for others, done worrying. I did my time and went out with a bang.
I love to write, I know marketing, I know better than to live my life wondering what sort of crummy job I can hold down while my wife cooks up the Dave Ramsey-inspired “Beans and Rice, Rice and Beans” meal for the 7th time this week.
Honestly I am not exaggerating about that: we ate a ton of rice and beans before going full-on Paleo in our diet.
So, I’m taking my chip on my shoulder, my sales acumen, and my passive income checks to the bank.
In the meantime, I’ll share with you what I know has worked for me. If you want to follow along, great.
I recommend my book for beginners, in the meantime, I’ll share what I know.
Let me assure you that I’m not selling snake-oil. I’m not “a guru” of any sort. I’m just telling my story, and giving you the tools I’ve been given.
Speaking of which, I share more in-depth some of the ways I do that with my email list. I have certain protected content here at the blog only meant for my subscribers.
To get this insider information, just sign up below and I’ll tip my hand on how I’ve managed to get rankings and cash in a regular check.
Are you hard up on the economy being down? Stick around. You might learn something useful. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you around the next bend.
Return to the main blog here.
Get that UAW post up already! haha
Not sure how it’s possible since this is a WP site, but your feed isn’t working. If you are not in my reader I will forget all about you :)
Thanks, Carrie! I fixed it. Oh, wait…no, that was when I was dreaming I was a coder…
I have an email out to the Ukranian designer…not sure how that will go. Lots of .php, coupled with a past due project and doubled-down with a complete lack of any knowledge of anything CSS, PHP or rocket science…and I’ve just spent 3 hours thumbing this shotgun next to me, wondering if a little buckshot to the monitor would fix it?
((yeah. I don’t have a gun. yet.))
:(
Carrie -
The feed works. Used the “RSS Includes Pages” plugin. Love WP. Hate coding…
As a mom of one struggling to find time to do my internet marketing work, I can’t imagine what it must be trying to do this with eight kids! I’ve been a fan of your blog comments for a while on other IM’ers blogs, so I’m really looking forward to reading your personal blog, Mr. Genius. :)
Michelle -
Thank you so much, I very much appreciate the kudos. I’ve won the lottery so to speak: I have an a*m*a*z*i*n*g wife, so she’s the true secret to any sort of success I may have. The fact is that she has the hard task. I get to be online and type, and our kids are paired off in a way that makes it much easier to handle.
My family makes all of this possible, and right now it’s a sacrifice all around. It *is* as tough as it sounds right now (as I don’t have much of a network of passive income set up just yet, hence this blog).
I do want to be careful to note, however, that this is *much tougher* to do with a family, I can’t possibly do as much as someone like Mike or others, right now is a challenging transition period. Kelly, of KJFleming.com, had a recent post about the importance of family. I think her title to that post says it all.
Anyhow, thanks for your 2 cents! Made my morning.
My kids are all grown and I still have issues finding time for Marketing. Love your blog!!
This is my first time landing on your blog James, but I’ve got to say, you sound like a stand up guy. Congrats on your passive income, I’m sure it didn’t come easy. BTW, I’m an oDesk man myself ;)
Exactly why I read your stuff, James, and exactly why many others should.
I don’t look for “the economy” to heal itself any time soon. And for those much younger than me (I’m already inside the “retirement gate” so life is good), I don’t think much of your chances if your life plan is to work hard at a J*O*B, save money at 1% or less per year and then retire on a pension.
But I’m a very positive person, all those things I mentioned that sound negative can be very positive indeed. The younger you are, the more you need to empower yourself so that you (and your loved ones) can weather whatever storms may lie ahead.
I used to detest the idea of making money online and wouldn’t even think about reading or writing about it. Then I started doing it, instead of complaining about other folks who did.
Now, after a few short years I am already making more than my Social Security retirement payments (how many people have only that faint hope to cling to?) and as for the “bad economy”?
Ha, where is it? I’m already kicking myself for not making more clever tax avoidance plans this year, had no idea I’d make this much.
Just get busy and DO … stop analyzing and agonizing over which way is the only right way, and jump in. The water is fine.
Couldn’t have said it better, Dave – great way to end a comment! Glad you’re seeing fruit from your labors…now can you send me some of those green mangoes with the rock salt? They don’t seem to make ‘em that way here…
I’ll ask the UnofficalCook about that. Green Mangoes with rock salt? Hmm, sounds good to me, especially with some tequila .. salt seems to call for tequila
;-)
Dave Starr recently posted..Jingle Mail Philippines
All I can say is:
Show me the beef!
Internet fame is proof that the people are gullible!
Read my income reports from November through February – I think Feb 2011 I announced I was no longer comfortable announcing my income. It was then I surpassed $5k a month in passive income – I’d rather keep that private.
“Pleased to meet you”??
That was a great post – and not because you’re actually a real trackback but because you make me feel less lonely. :D