Will you leave the 9-5 to become a professional blogger?
[This is part of the Escaping the 9-5: My Road to ProBlogging series.]
I read a fascinating article from the Wall Street Journal about how blogging is becoming the newest profession in america and how more and more enterprising individuals are finding full time incomes through their blogs. In fact, the number of american adults discovering this as a source of income is reaching 1%:
The best studies we can find say we are a nation of over 20 million bloggers, with 1.7 million profiting from the work, and 452,000 of those using blogging as their primary source of income. That’s almost 2 million Americans getting paid by the word, the post, or the click — whether on their site or someone else’s.
Wow. That’s great news! I’ll admit that I didn’t believe it was possible until I was actually doing it myself, and even now I often times find it somewhat amusing that I get paid for my “opinions” (which is why I try to stay pretty practical and thus more useful).
A few more interesting things from this article as well as my thoughts:
- The barriers to entry couldn’t be lower. Most bloggers for hire pay $80 to get started, do it for about 35 months, and make a few hundred dollars.
- Pros who work for companies are typically paid $45,000 to $90,000 a year for their blogging.One percent make over $200,000.
- They report long hours — 50 to 60 hours a week.
- For now, bloggers say they are overwhelmingly happy in their work, reporting high job satisfaction.
- It takes about 100,000 unique visitors a month to generate an income of $75,000 a year.
For starters the first point is absolutely true and if some of my Series Posts have given you anything to think about then you can see that getting started quickly and effectively hasn’t been more easy than it is today! The challenge, of course, is finding a rhythm and interest that is both sustainable and profitable, not just from a financial perspective but from one that is internally rewarding.
I have found that most bloggers that join strictly with the intention of earning money fail in the short and long-term – blogging is both a practice and a passion and you need a bit (or a lot) of both to succeed!
I would also agree with the long hours – blogging full time is not a cakewalk and it’s not a few hours here and there and then you coast for the rest of the week. Like many activities that you really enjoy you find yourself spending a lot of time doing it and it shows. Sure, there are always exceptions to this rule but the vast majority of professional bloggers have to work a lot to stay at that professional level. And, of course, not only does it take some time to achieve that level of professional status but it’s not guaranteed.
#4 makes me smile ear-to-ear as it’s quite true: I absolutely love what I get to do and I’ve never been more satisfied with my lifestyle and financial situation!
Finally, the last point is where I wish the article could have expanded a bit more and reminded the reader that there are so many different factors that need to be considered when calculating one’s potential income.
Sure, 100,000 unique visitors a month is awesome but some sites and blogs that can pull that out do even more in income and some do considerably less! How do I know this? Because the properties I manage do about double that and I plan on making only half of that purported amount! Last time I checked $44,000 a year does not equal $75,000+!
You see, there’s a lot of strategy that’s assumed and the context and industry in which you find your blog makes a truckload of difference. But you knew that already, right?
My suggestion is that you drop the numerical calculators for financial feasibility and just decide that you’re going to kick butt every single day as a blogger and spend the time necessary to build a execution strategy that works for you and your blog and your community. You’ll find that you’re less stressed because your comparisons become less nebulous and more real to how your blog is doing – in fact, you won’t be comparing your blog anymore.
You’ll also find more satisfaction in what you do overall.
Blogging as a profession surprised even me.
Will It Become “Real” for You This Year?
January 1st, 2010 was a Friday and so my goal for that day was to finish the day strong and then go watch a movie or play video games until I passed out late into the evening after having an awesome meal with my wife and my 3 year old daughter. I thought nothing about the future that day and didn’t have a clue what that year was going to look like.
Fast forward through that year and I went from having a full time gig at a job that I loved to becoming a full time blogger.
Yikes.
It wasn’t my “plan” or my “goal” but it quickly became apparent that it was the right time to try it and see if I could really do it. That first day was exhausting but also exceedingly exhilarating (although it wasn’t too apparent); as you can see from my video I truly look tired!
And since then it’s been a pretty interesting ride. It hasn’t been a “wild” one but it’s opened my eyes to this profession from an entirely different perspective. I suppose it’s now been more than 6 months. In fact, today marks day number 200 exactly! Wow, time does go by so quickly!
The point is this: I didn’t see myself as a professional blogger and it kind of crept up on me, but I certainly was investing my time and interest into it like it was a full time job. And over the last 6 months or so I’ve been able to identify some landmarks or potential identifiers that might help serve as guideposts for you as you make your trek toward full time blogging. Here are a few…
A Few Signs That You Might Be on the Right Track:
- You’ve been blogging for a while and you still love doing it. In fact, you’d still be doing it even if you weren’t getting paid for it!
- Your readership and community around your personal brand has increased steadily and people have come to trust your opinion and insights into your industry. They come to you for advice and seek your counsel. They trust what you have to say via your blog!
- Even though you’ve been blogging for a while (for context I’ve been blogging for 10+ years!) and you still love it you’ve found that you enjoy it more and more. In other words, you’re only increasing your interest as time passes! It’s like a good wine that gets better with age (or something like that).
- Your short term traffic goals (as well as financial goals) are pointing up and to the right with a fair amount of consistency. If you haven’t started making any money then try just making $1. Yup, it all starts there!
- You begin to realize that you’ll have to make a “jump” – whether or not it’s going to be a “big” one is up to you but you realize that there appears to be a head-on collision that’s going to happen at some point and you will have to decide if you’re going to do it full bore. I started getting this feeling early in 2010 and it became a whirlwind by the time I needed to decide.
- You can’t wait for that “jump” to happen and even if it never does you’ll still be blogging because you love it.
Sure, a lot of these are a bit touchy-feely but I believe you get the point: It’s going to be different for everyone but it’s very doable and very possible for even you! It won’t be easy but it’s fun and very rewarding.
So, did you wake up on January 1st, 2011 and think about being a full time blogger? Or was it just like any other Saturday where you slept in late and had breakfast around 3:00 in the afternoon?
Yeah, me too. Who would have thought it could have happened to me? Sweet.
[This is part of the Escaping the 9-5: My Road to ProBlogging series.]
I am on my way but not yet profitable. It seems I Forrest Gumped my way into it. We will see what the future holds.
lol “Forrest Gumped my way into it” – that’s awesome!
sweet! that’s a good place to be!
I honestly don’t see how you can make $ from blogging?
Advertising, affiliate links, sponsored posts, guest blogging, and so on, and so forth. If you click on the picture in the upper left that says “Blogging pays my bills…” I think that leads to a post where he talks about how.
thanks for that dustin!
dustin has the answer……..
I’m so happy for you John! As for me, I know I’m still starting and I don’t even see taking this blogging thing seriously but who knows (just like you) I might end up blogging full time soon. Hey you still update human3rror right?
that’s how it might end up!
So good. And really encouraging to hear about the time it takes. Although I would blog even if I didnt make money, the thought that I could contribute to the family budget would be more than awesome!!! Ecstatic for that day!! Thanks for the encouragement!!
sure thing lacey!
oh yes, and it’s better if it’s just a surprise when it all happens…!
Do you think it’s necessary for bloggers to work full time on their blogs to make good money? Are there bloggers who have full time jobs that still can make a “full time” salary with their blogs? There’s probably no cut and dry answer, but I’m just curious
no. i do not, but there are some who would argue that you have to work full-time to get back to part-time and there are some who have been able to do it all part-time.
completely depends on content, ability, skill, and a lot of luck!
I would love to be a professional blogger. And I am experimenting with it right now. I have been blogging to share with friends and family for years, but have found that there are other things I want to share with a much broader audience. So I have left churchpunk.com for my personal stuff and launched theordinarydisciple.com to reach beyond my personal circles.
Currently I am unemployed. My full time job is a stay at home dad right now. I find that I have time to put into the blogging gig. And whether or not it makes money doesn’t matter right now. I have the time and passion to share so I do. If God chooses to bless that, then I am ready to run with it. If not, I hope that eventually I find a full-time gig that will still allow for me to put the effort I want into blogging.
So I guess I am a professional blogger right now with low expectations. But if my blog helps one or two people in a big way, then I will be happy about that.
Wow, that sounds almost exactly like my own story. I wonder how many other guys like us are out there.
I am sure that there are more of us.
Haha! “A professional blogger with low expectations” – very clever. I will be visiting your site riiiiight… NOW.
Thanks for dropping in. Just subscribed to your blog. Looking forward to reading more.
you know, a lot of people who became probloggers started during an unemployment phase. you could do it!
I’m amazed at the amount of time and effort that goes into my blogging. But still, I love it! Thanks so much, John, for being so open about your journey to becoming a professional blogger. It’s very encouraging to know the possibilities, and what it takes to get there!
sure thing larry! i think there are a lot of people in this community that has what it takes…
Congratulations John. My hope is that even after a marriage, a job change, and a transistion in about every other area of life, I’ll still be blogging come December 31st. God willing, I’ll be making some money at it too!
that….. my friend, is a lot of change!
For me blogging turned into a way of educating myself. It has morphed itself from a way of expressing myself into a way of proving myself. I love talking and explaining what i am learning. By doing that I clarify my thoughts and solidify what I learned.
Who doesn’t like to talk about what they know and are interested in? This has also produced a great side effect: I get paid to do what I write about because the client sees what I know and wants me to do that for them. It was an unexpected result but it is what it is and I like it.
I have had a similar experience with just DOING something because I want to learn more about it, and I end up getting a few clients out of it! Crazy.
talk to me about “proving”…?
I don’t expect to be a professional blogger anytime soon – I’m just having fun connecting with people and writing about my design experiences.
The odd paycheck would be nice! but I’d have to step it up a whole lot more.
for serious! i blogged to connect in the beginning.
Thanks for the challenge John! Love it!
sure thing dustin!
Thanks for the insight into your world John. As someone who’s early on in the daily blogging journey it’s encouraging to hear that you have had and still have some of the same experiences that I’m having. My blog is young, but already starting to gain some momentum which is encouraging. Having said that I think I’d probably still do it without any readers because of the impact it’s having on me personally. Fun times!!
rich, what are some of your goals this year?
Thanks for the post.
I’m still confused by a few things about your blogging income.
You certainly are not making $44k from Tentblogger, right?
On your google ad post the other day, you responded to my comment by saying that you get your google adsense income from other blogs. I found some of these blogs by searching for your name, but even most of them didn’t have RSS feed Google ads.
Would you be able to do a post showing all your blogs, and how long each one has been running, what the traffic is for each blog, and how much income you make from each?
I think that for us bloggers who want to make some income from blogging, it might be helpful to see the big “John Saddington” picture.
my post here breaks it down pretty directly… and i link to this post in the above article…
http://tentblogger.com/full-time-blogger/
let me know if that doesn’t satisfy.
I might not go full time this year, I still like my health benefits, but I am planning to make more money than I ever have Through my blog this year! I’ve signed up with Beacon ads! And I’m hoping for a standard theme plugin to made beacon ads beautiful in my sidebar
*wink*. I’m also just about to announce my availability for freelance work… Specifically with standard theme! I’ve started getting a lot of jobs with friends and twitter friends and I feel like it’s time for me to take my freelance work to the next level. More posts on that on my blog coming soon!
great stuff! let me know when you go freelance………! love to talk about helping me out with some small projects…..?
Just emailed you
I don’t know if it counts as “full-time” but I’m the stay at home dad of a 6 month old, and I’m trying to launch this blog and company. So far my traffic is good, just need to start converting some more clients! Thanks as always for the inspiration!
awesome! congrats on that! love being a dad!
Me too! It’s great to see your images with your kids on the blog. Sometimes I don’t know how I do it with her, and now I don’t know how I could do it without her here all the time!
seriously! do you have pics?