Never waking up again at 6 am to commute, never again worrying more about someone else’s bottom line, never missing another one of your baby’s firsts… never (ever) smiling like you mean it (but really, really, not meaning it) – when you’d rather just flat out punch the guy in the throat? (I worked in customer service. Can you tell?)
I’d be willing to bet you’ve thought about it.
I know I refer to myself as totally clueless and wandering around in the dark a lot. And that’s exactly what I was (when it came to blogging) as recently as a few months ago. But I guess at some point I need to allow myself to believe that I’m starting to get a decent grasp on some things “blogging”. I still have sooo much to learn, but there’s also a lot that I have already learned.
Many people believe they can start a blog and be an overnight success at it.
Perhaps that’s not their fault…it’s pretty easy to get sucked into the “Start a blog in 10 minutes and earn $5000 / month while you sleep!” articles that you see out there. But it’s pretty disheartening when, a year later, you still aren’t making even $500 / month.
I have almost totally ignored my blog for exactly one month as of Christmas day (so for more like 6 weeks as of the time this is posted)! This will be short, because my blogging time is short. And oh my, this is an income report I am excited about. NOT because I made a ton of money or had wicked awesome page views. I made less money and had over 40k fewer page views than I did in November.
Yes, one more of these posts. They’re addictive aren’t they?! When I was first starting my blog and trying to get page views I read every single one of these I could find online for months. Looking for some secret formula that would make pinterest work for me.
I had always HOPED that I could make a living blogging, and I had HOPED that I could generate enough passive income to make it “worth the effort” – but until this past week I have been putting in about 1000% effort. (Not kidding, I’m talking about 6-10 hours per day, every day, for the past 8 months.) Waking and sleeping (yes, even in my dreams) I have been blogging.
I can’t quite comprehend what happened in October. I’ve been blogging for just 8 months. I’m doing lots of it wrong. I’m still breaking a bunch of the “rules”, because I honestly don’t know any better. And yet, I’m making money.
I’m sure that you are down-right impatient, at this point, to get to the blogging. But trust me, do these things before you start writing, and you will never regret it. Do these things before you even start clicking around in your WordPress dashboard.
You’ve just purchased hosting and installed WordPress. You own what will become your blog. It’s hard to imagine it right now, but truthfully, you might have just set out on the most exciting path you’ll ever take. Making a living from home. Doing what you WANT to do with your life or making a difference in other’s lives. EEK! (No, not right away. But everybody’s gotta start somewhere.) First of all, for real, congratulations on starting your blog! But um… now what?
The blogging world is calling you. You know you have important things to say. You want a new hobby. Or You’ve read the income reports and thought why not me? (And yes, why not you?)