This is the quandary that I have been in these last few months: Time, as they say, is money. The end product might not seem like it, however, this blog takes up a goodly amount of time. There is the writing, research, taking pictures, editing, and whatnot. Then there is back-end stuff, updating software, plugins, etc.
Then there is actual money expended: domain registration and website hosting.
In short, it is not free, at least not for me anyway.
I did place a few Google Ads in line with some of the content to offset the money part, which they have met that goal, but not much else.
While it is nice to have a hobby, and fun to tell stories about radio engineering, in the end, it really does not help me earn more money, support my family, advance my carrier, or my standing in the community. The children are young, but that will not stay that way for long. Before I know it there will be braces to pay for, a car or two, a college education, and whatever comes after that. Not to mention my own superannuation to look forward to, with such considerations as adding to the retirement account.
There is another shift in my status coming up, with my wife off to work again as a school teacher. I find there are not enough hours in the day to work the part-time radio engineering gig and meet the school bus to offload the children. Therefore, something has to give, that being the part-time radio engineering gig.
I am, therefore, looking for ways to make money at home. Developing this blog or turning it into a full-fledged radio engineering news website might be fun, but it would be much more work, and there is the rub. I can’t do more work on this site without seeing some return. I don’t mind working, in fact, I enjoy working, but I can’t do it for free.
So, I am open to ideas on how to monetize this blog or develop it into something else that will make some money. The third option is to let it go… I’d rather not do that.