Full Time Blogging
After working in a normal job and blogging for the last two years I decided to make the big step and quit my day job and become a full time blogger. This is actually a huge step for me but I think I know all the positive and negative aspects of the decision I made two months ago.
It is kinda weird that I do not have to leave the house to go to this job anymore and that I do have more free time from now on. I have huge plans and will treat blogging as my main job and not a hobby anymore. What I like most about this decision is that I can now write whenever I want to and not write whenever I'm not at work in the old job.
I will again pump up the stories per day to six I think. Some days, like yesterday, will see fewer stories but most workdays will have their fair share of six stories plus some stories by Daniel and Cheryl, the guest bloggers who will become part of the Ghacks family pretty soon.
Both are a perfect fit for Ghacks and I'm really happy that they contacted me. I have more plans and will announce them soon. Back to blogging full time: It is indeed kinda weird that I solely depend on money earned from blogging from now on which I would have never dreamed of a year ago.
I know that some of my blogging partners are also considering making the move or already have made it. Blogging has surely become a way to live my life and I'm thankful that I slipped into it.
A question that I have to answer from time to time is if I personally think that it is still possible to create a blog and make a living out of it. The answer is Hell, yeah. It is possible. It is not easy. It requires lots of dedication, motivation and a continuous development of the blog.
My tips would be:
- Find something that you really like, a hobby for example is perfect.
- Research other blogs that cover that topic: Ask yourself what you could do better, different
- Write regularly, learn about ways to increase the traffic, build a readership and contact other webmasters who write about it. Build a blogger network.
- Begin with Google Adsense. This is by far the easiest way to monetize your website which requires no thinking except for the layout of the ads. Explore other ad networks afterwards, this largely depends on the type of blog that you run.
- Give it time. Most bloggers stop writing after some weeks because they do not see an immediate effect. This can take anywhere from a few weeks to months.
It is good to see you joing the full time professional blogger bandwagon. I know it is not easy and largely depends on the rate of successat present and high probabilities of a sustainable blogging over a considerable time in future.
I wish you all good luck and keep on writing great content and posts. I would love to read your words of wisdom consistently.
hehe.. you will always find a job for you if it all go sucks :D
Congrats buddy, though I am late at wishing you luck. I am really happy for you. It’s been a long time since I have been reading your blog and I already thought you were a progblogger.
Well congrats nevertheless buddy.
Lucky man ! :-)
Congrats! I’m happy to hear you’ve made the move to full-time blogger :]
Good luck Martin :)
I do visit everyday as well.
Great news Martin, yours is a great blog as it is and I’m sure it’ll get even better now.
Good luck :)
Congratulations. It’s always exciting to see someone who is able to build a site from scratch and make it into something that’s both profitable and useful for readers.
I support your decision completely. You’ve obviously sat down and thought this out. Like all decisions, this one too has its shares of pros and cons. One thing’s for sure. This is a big step you’ve taken and I salute you for having the courage to go ahead with it.
Good luck in the future.
CONGRATSSSSS…best of luck martin.i sincerely wish that this blog becomes even more successful. i simply love your work here
I don’t know how many full time bloggers in this world, I mean successful. Of course, full time blogging means you are always on the work, another side is you are always stay home, you can stop work, take nap, go out a while at anytime you wanted. That’s good thing, I think everyone want this way either. But full time bloggers also have life pressure bigger than part time bloggers. If something happened how can you face to, like sick, accident, your sponsors break relationship with you, and so on. I think Ghacks looking for guest bloggers is a good idea. I think if you have enough skill to write blogs everyday, and become a full time blogger, you must use a team to do this job as running a private company as possible you can. Keep a team to support your website that is very important, it will help you a lot.
Congrats, Martin!
How did your employer (or colleagues) react when you told them you were gonna make a living as a blogger from now on?
Two concerns with working from home:
Of course these are just potential issues, and they can be managed (e.g. by setting a strict schedule; no blog-related work after 1800h).
(cf. this discussion at Lifehacker)
Congratulations! If you just keep up the good work you’ll never regret it :)
Martin, gHacks is the one blog I check everyday, without fail.
Keep up the good work
Always thought you’re a professional blogger all this while :)
Good luck and have fun!
Great Idea! I also like this kinda job but being a medical professional, i cannot sit at home :(.
My only advice to you is that you should be regular(which in fact you are) and try to bring up stories written by yourself and not to use the copy-paste formula(which you don’t do obviously).
Another tip for you is that today is the world of podcasting.I think a podcast at weekend discussing the best stories of the week in about 10-15 mins will work great for you.
Best Wishes!