I feel compelled to write this post because of the amount of my real-life acquaintances that want to start blogging.   While I never discourage anyone from starting one, because it is amazing, I do want to be real about it.

I blog at yourmodernfamily.com and I love it, but it wasn’t easy to start.  Its a job where you get out what you put in.  Put love, time and dedication into it… get readers, shares and income out of it.   (& yes, I do 90% of it when the kids are in bed, so it does not take over my “real life” – just my ‘free time’)

Blogging is a great way to spread your message.
Blogging is an awesome way to help others.
Blogging is a great place to promote your products.
Blogging is a great way to earn an income.

BLOGGING FOR A LIVING IS NOT EASY.

I was on a friends YouTube page the other day and she was talking about a trip that we took where we were paid to go and look at products in NYC.  I read her comments and one reader wrote:  “Wow- you’ll do anything for money, won’t you?”   I just wanted to yell out to that person “YES!  THIS IS HER JOB.  THIS IS HOW SHE EARNS A LIVING FOR HER FAMILY.”   The point is that “This is their job.  You work to pay your bills.   This is how bloggers work.”

I want to be upfront to say that if you are blogging for one hour a night, from the get-go, the chance of making a ton of money very fast is going to be pretty slim- sure you can make a little, but if you are wanting to make thousands, that’s going to be hard.   If you blog for two hours a night, I’m going to say its the same thing.   You may, but its going to take a lot longer… like years longer.   Now a few cases may prove to be the complete opposite, but I found that the harder I worked, the more it paid off.

Now, its not all about how much time you have, but how well you are using your time.   I spend around 4 hours a night working, sometimes more, sometimes less. Some nights I have to work from the time that the kids go to bed at 7:00 until 2:00 in the morning, if I am working on a project or a book.  Some nights I take off & watch The Blacklist and endless episodes of Modern Family with Mickey.    Those nights are great, but not often.  The 7 hour nights are more likely to happen than the 0 hour nights.

That’s not the norm, but it does happen.   If I am going on vacation with our family, I will do this for several days before we leave because I don’t want to be busy on vacation.  I will schedule out my posts and social media shares, but I will still have to get online (on the trip) to be sure that things are going as well as they should be while I’m gone.

What does this mean for my times?
It means that I still volunteer in each of our kids classes.
It means that I still go to the gym every morning.
It means that I still hang out with Mickey every night (he is typing beside me, as I type this).  Some nights we will take a break to watch a movie or play a board game, but other nights, we just work.

It also means…
I blog instead of watching my shows on TV.
I blog instead of relaxing at night.
I blog instead of reading other blogs.

Now- that’s not to say that it can’t happen, making money without working a lot, but this is just the reality of it.

Another reality:  Writing a blog about your “daily life” may take longer to get “off the ground” than giving a “moral to the story” type of post (like a tip, recipe, craft, idea).   I love to write about my life, but a “what we did this weekend” type of post just doesn’t bring in the views of a “How to keep your baby dry at night” post.  It will, down the road, when my readers know me more, but for now, I still have a lot of new readers.

My goal is to move to more “here is my life” posts in a year or two, but for now, I’m sticking with what works- helping my readers with things and sharing tips & advice.

I hope that this post is not seen as discouraging, but just to let you know that there is a LOT that goes into blogging.   Writing is about 20% of that.  You will spend hours a week looking up how to do technical stuff and hours a week promoting & networking.  (You’ll probably make a few great friends of of that networking!)

Now- if you put in your work, you can be making a HUGE income in a few years time. I have been blogging for about four years and I am making a really great income now, but it took time and hard work.  The first year I made just a few hundred a month (nothing at all for the first 6 months) – by month six, I had made just enough to cover preschool, which was my goal)…by year four, I am making more than I ever thought possible.

If you are ready to make money on your blog, you need to start monetizing and be sure to implement the basics:
Ads
Sponsored posts
Affiliate programs
Selling things on your blog & getting others to work with you on it.

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