People with only one "day job" frequently quit that job and find another. So in that respect giving up a "day job" in order to try and making a living on the internet using AdSense as the only source of income may not be that far fetched.

I'd guess that more than a few here have done just that and succeeded nicely. I'd also guess more have tried and failed.

It all depends on your knowledge, skills and tolerance for risk I suppose. But any time you change jobs there is some risk.

That said, it seems to me that Incredibill is right. AdSense isn't a "job". It's more like a tool you use to do a job.

If you're using AdSense, your "job" might be as a website publisher, for example.

So, would you quit your day job to become a website publisher?

After 3 years of really studing hard about web design, SEO and Adsense my wife had enough and we are now set for divorce. She said I never paid her enough attention and was to obsessed with the whole thing. Naturally im heartbroken 10 years with someone is a long time.

So instead of wallowing in self pity like i have for 6 months, i just quit my job and applied for an O Visa to live in Thailand for 1 year.

I shall be living off Adsense earnings and can afford a nice rented apartment and wander down to the beach switch on my laptop (wifi permitting) and get back to what i enjoy doing but in nice surroundings. I shall be sticking my two fingers up at her when im laying on my hammock on Koh Sumai beach.

Thought id post this as it might make some of you smile:)

I think the official title on US tax forms is web developer. To be technical, I quit my previous offline business to become a full time web developer using Adsense as my sole source of income, and succeeded in my eyes.

It seems that posts like that are not in vogue anymore. On the contrary, the mood on the forum is bearish as epc take a painful relentess dive.

We're not all compelled to announce it to the world.

What's more, Google alluded to this when, with the introduction of smart pricing, it used the example of two page: a page of photo tips (less likely to convert for advertisre) and a photo review (more likely to convert for advertisers).

Which was IMO the most senseless point in their logic.
OT, but I can't resist to say it again:

It has nothing to do with converting. It is about CTR.
Photo tips page will have lower CTR, but guaranteed: 1000 CLICKS from both pages will have about the same conversion rate and there is absolutely no reason for photo tips page to have lower EPC.

To be technical, I quit my previous offline business to become a full time web developer using Adsense as my sole source of income, and succeeded in my eyes.

Yes, but do you think you depend exclusively on yourself and your abilities and that you will have steady income as long as your market exists?

As long as my market exists I know that I have a good chance. I do depend on my own abilities but occasionally and reluctantly let others run things for me.

Photo tips page will have lower CTR, but guaranteed: 1000 CLICKS from both pages will have about the same conversion rate and there is absolutely no reason for photo tips page to have lower EPC.

On the contrary, there's an excellent reason: The odds are good that people reading camera reviews are interested in buying cameras, and if they click on a dealer ad for the Canikon DSLR, it's likely that they've been "presold" by having read the review.

At any rate, Google has far more data on conversion rates from various types of content than you or I do, so (unlike us) Google doesn't have to base its assumptions on mere assumptions. :-)

I got to know Adsense 1 year ago. Enrolled and put up a website. Snce then I've been thinking about quitting my day job when my Adsense income can match my income from employement.

1 year later. Last month Feb 2007, I earned $0.24 from Adsense. I guess I'll never be able to retire and live on Adsense income.

Instead of Eggs/Basket, how about

"Don't put all of your money into Lotus stock"
or
"Don't put all of your money into Wang stock"
or
"Don't put all of your money into CMGI stock"
or
"Don't put all of your money into Google stock"

All were da bomb. All were either the pre-eminant leader in their field or CMGI. :D

Things change on a dime in this industry.

How do you do your spreadsheets? Lotus 1-2-3? VisiCalc? You still using Wang's wp Word Processor? Will you still be using Google and/or AdSense in 5 years? I dunno. Do you? Really?

On the contrary, there's an excellent reason: The odds are good that people reading camera reviews are interested in buying cameras, and if they click on a dealer ad for the Canikon DSLR, it's likely that they've been "presold" by having read the review.

Again, the odds are good such people will CLICK on an ad. Yet conversion is another story.
This is a simple statistical 'problem' involving randomness and could be easily mathematically proved.

Lets say that only even numbers convert.
There are two sample web pages with same layout and ads positioning. One is devoted to lawn&garden, the other one to travel guide. ;)
All the ads on both pages are related to travel (some glitch for lawn page).
Why should anyone click on travel while looking for garden products? Well, accidentaly, few of 10,000 visitors have that interest too and two of them do a click. Number '2' converts.

On the travel guide page, 1,500 visitors out of 10,000, click on ads.
Numbers '2','4','6', etc.... convert.

What is the conversio ratio for both pages?

At any rate, Google has far more data on conversion rates from various types of content than you or I do, so (unlike us) Google doesn't have to base its assumptions on mere assumptions. :-)

I trust Google and my government too. But it's not blindly and unconditional.
I would likely to see any paper empirically proving the oddness they claim to be true.

As long as my market exists I know that I have a good chance. I do depend on my own abilities but occasionally and reluctantly let others run things for me.

I hope you are aware that at any moment Google could provide you with $.01 EPC and that could last indefinitely.
Not even mentioning kicking out of the system.

I left my daily job but continuing with freelancing. I am happy with adsense and may quit freelancing to give more time for my site. I would be more comfortable to search different income sources from the site itself rather than going for a job.

Quit my day job for adsense? Nooo, because however good I am, and however desperately I try to keep in with the TOS, I could never forget that I'd be putting my economic life in the hands of a company that could kill me with a single email and never really know I existed.

However, we are in the process of moving our entire business, (of which adsense is one part) online. In a month's time where we live will depend on the quality of life in that area, and the speed of the broadband connection. I'm going to love having a morning commute from the breakfast table to the computers on the other side of the room.

I too left my job to work online. I wouldn't say I left it for adsense though. Initially, to make ends meet, I did SEO & design work for other people and businesses, but a few years ago I decided only to work on my own sites. Although most of my income is adsense, I have spent a good deal of time over the last couple years diversifying in many ways. Although I've spent some time maximizing my adsense revenue by experimenting with ad placements and other things, my main focus has always been more content, more traffic, and diversification. If adsense ever disappears, I still have my traffic and will still make money. I might make less (I might make more) money if adsense disappears, but I won't go broke.
I am very thankful for the life I have and the freedom and time that my job alllows me.
On the other hand, recently I met a guy that left his job a couple years ago for an online income, mostly adsense. He has been struggling hard ever since. He had a nice job, a nice car and a nice house... Now he rents a house, has a beater car, and has almost no furniture or valuables. I have not actually asked him, but I'm pretty sure that despite everything, he's probably not sorry and glad he tried. In the spirit of "random acts of kindness", I've been trying to help him get on the right path with his online endeavors.

my main focus has always been more content, more traffic, and diversification.

hmmm... makes sense... more force, more Jedi knights and never leaving all your light sabers with one Jedi.

I left my job to start my home catering biz and at the same time, work on my sites. That was December 2004. Both earn good money, but my income from catering and adsense is still at a ratio of 2:1. I hope to swing it to 1 (catering) : 2 (adsense & online). That's why I'm here in this forum learning from all the Obi-Wan-Adsensers!

And may the force be with you Andrew

jdhuk ---

GOOD LUCK to you mate - Hope you have a great time and earn loads at the same time!

-----

Would I quid my day job - at the moment no as I seem to suffer from a lack of self motivation which im sure many others here on WebmasterWorld do as well.

That always seem to get me I get bored very quickly on one progect.

I just quit my 35,000 paying job for Adsense.

Adsense pays me more than 4 times than my paying job so I decided to focus on my sites that run adsense.

Oh i want to add also to those contemplating quitting their day job for adsense.. here's my advice.

Quit your day job only if..

1. YOur adsense is earning at least 2 times more than your day job.
2. Always think of the worse scenario, if ever adsense terminate you, make sure you have other advertisers running beside adsense on your site and it equals the amount of your day job.

I earn about 2000 per month for my day job
Adsense earns me about 6000 per month
Other advertisers besides adsense earns me about 3,000.

So If ever Adsense for some reason terminate me, I always have my other advertisers that pays me 3000 per month.

So in short, you should always have a backup plan if something happens to your adsense account.

I hope that helps.

"I just quit my 35,000 paying job for Adsense."

"I earn about 2000 per month for my day job"

"Adsense earns me about 6000 per month"

Are you sure that you dont earn 4000 per month from Adsense?

it's 6000 per month now.

Here's a little piece of advice. Establish a prudent reserve. If you're revenues from Adsense and other internet activities net you $6,000 after expenses and it costs you $4,000 to live, religiously put away $1,000 per month. I assume the other $1,000 will go for taxes, etc. If you don't have it already, build up at lease six months worth of reserves before you start investing in other stuff.

That way, you'll have enough lead time to use your agility to beef up other revenue streams if Adsense goes south.

And, remember, diversify, diversify, diversify. Always need to hear myself say that.

Just my 2 cents.

Thank you all for your replies, very enlightening response, keep it coming, as for me,..... I am still taking notes.

Here's a little piece of advice. Establish a prudent reserve.

If you've earned enough from Adsense (and kept it) to live with no other income for two years... it could be an idea to focus full-time on websites with Adsense.

In the U.S., the unemployment rate isn't too bad at the moment. It may be easier to consider going out on your own in America than in other countries.

The thing you want to look at is your potential for growth. Be honest and reasonable studying the market and competition. It might be easier than you think to hit a plateau. I virtually doubled my Adsense income after a few months of intense focus, mostly through optimization, but it's much harder to keep up the rate of increased earnings.

So you want to consider, if you have a good site, how much higher in the SERPs you could go--if you make extra effort. It may be easy to jump five spots, but after that it seems virtually impossible to go higher. That means you either keep attacking the competition, or start again at the bottom with new sites. Those could take six months just to be found in Google with the sandbox.

I'm not really likely to advise anyone to quit their job if they don't already have a site or sites to earn Adsense income. But there are probably a number of people who should ask themselves, "How much money is falling through my hands from not optimizing my site(s)?"

Then whether you have to work more in the evenings, on the weekends, or quit your day job, it's up to you.

p/g

So If ever Adsense for some reason terminate me, I always have my other advertisers that pays me 3000 per month.

So in short, you should always have a backup plan if something happens to your adsense account.

This is a very important point (and in theory, if AS terminated you, your other advertisers would probably pay you more than 3000 per month since you'd be replacing your AS spots with their spots).

I would throw in this - don't have any credit card debt. Unless you can pay it off in one or two months, the worst thing you could do is to quit a steady day job for full-time web stuff when you have a lot of credit card debt hanging over your head.

I would throw in this - don't have any credit card debt. Unless you can pay it off in one or two months, the worst thing you could do is to quit a steady day job for full-time web stuff when you have a lot of credit card debt hanging over your head.

excellent reminder. i hope this is not spoken from experience?! I'll be done with my car payments in 2 months... then whoopee... more Adsense earnings as extra cash in the pocket! Gonna get me a brand new light saber...! ;)

I'm going half way at the moment. I had a full time job as a self-employed computer test analyst. The company I worked for offered me a full time permanent position which I took on the understanding that I could go part time later. I'm now working part time at the company and spend the rest of my working hours on building up the websites. It's working, website income is growing and I'm still holding down the job.

It seemed safer to do it the slow way! I now think that it's quite feasible, and looks to be profitable, if I work 100% on the websites. Maybe 6 months before I make that jump.