How would you like to be able to make a living from your blog? That’s the ultimate aim of most bloggers isn’t it, to earn income online? The problem is that it can seem like a massive goal when you are first starting out.
If you have just started a blog, or are thinking about doing so, then currently your blog is making you $0… So how do you get from an online income of zero to blogging for your living?
Well the first thing to note is that it takes time and hard work, but you also need motivation, and staying motivated when you are facing such a big task can be tricky. So let’s figure out what our task actually is.
Define your “living”
First of all you need to figure out what the living that you want to earn actually is. Many people assume that to earn a living they need to make the same as they do at their current job and whilst that would be nice, it is worth rethinking what you actually need.
So what kind of lifestyle do you want? Is owning a nice car essential to you? Do you want to live in a big house or shop in the poshest shops? If so, you have a bigger job ahead of you, it is still doable, but it will take longer.
If on the other hand, your ultimate goal is simply to be able to work on your terms, at something that you enjoy, then perhaps you will be happy to get rid of a few possessions and make your life a bit simpler… That’s what I have done.
The cost of a simple life
I certainly don’t live on the bread line. I go out when I want to, I eat out regularly and I’m pretty happy with the car I own. But all in all I live pretty cheaply.
Here’s what my fiancée and I have to spend money on in a month:
Rent $780
Travel & car costs $300 (if you work from home your travel costs plummet)
Bills $120
Food $300
Leisure $300
This is pretty simplistic, but basically I know that we can live off about $1800 a month. With both of us contributing that works out at $900 each per month. When I first started this blog I had two goals… One main goal and one milestone:
milestone: To earn my share solely online
ultimate goal: To be able to support both of us
I haven’t hit my ultimate goal yet, but I’m well on my way now. When I was starting out though, I focussed on my first milestone $900 per month.
Breaking down your target
When you’re starting at $0, $900 still seems like a lot though doesn’t it? So let’s break that down into bite sized chunks:
/ 30 days =
$30 per day
/ 24 hours =
$1.25 per hour
So that’s it. That seems pretty doable doesn’t it? To break my first milestone all I had to do was make $1.25 per hour. All of a sudden that task looked a lot more doable, and that really kept me going in the first few months.
How to earn your living
So now you need to think about how you will actually make your target income. You have plenty of options and I would recommend using several of them:
Adsense:
Always a popular option. This is more successful in some niches than others. Cost per click varies a lot, but if for arguments sake I get 10c per click, that means I need about 12 clicks per hour. If I can achieve a 1% click through rate, that means I need about 120 visitors per hour.
Affiliate marketing:
Commissions from affiliate sales vary hugely from product to product. I could for instance sell someones eBook and get $10 per sale. In this case I would need to sell 3 per day.
I also have another affiliate product on which I get a commission of about $45 per sale. This one obviously sells more slowly, but I only need to sell 2 of these every 3 days to make my first goal.
Product sales:
Selling a product of my own is also an option. I don’t do that on this blog at the moment (although I am thinking of doing in the future so watch this space) but I do have another business where I sell stuff online.
If I were to sell an eBook for $15, I would need to sell 2 per day for example. If I sell a physical product that makes me $10 profit on each sale, I would need to sell 3 of those per day.
Summary
In reality, my income comes from a mixture of all of these methods, but hopefully you can see from this that my goal is actually pretty easily achievable when you think about it. Of course you should probably also think about how you can make a little bit extra so that you can put some money away and start thinking about boring things like a pension and all that…
If you are prepared to simplify your life and trade possessions for lifestyle and experience, you might be surprised at just how easy it might be to start making a living from your own blog.
A final thought
One popular aspect of making a living online, for me at least is that it makes you location independent. So if you want to pack up and move to warmer climes you can do…
The funny thing about the world, is that some of the most incredible places to live are also the cheapest… Take India for instance, it is a truly stunning country, and the cost of living is ridiculously cheap.
So if I decided that I wanted to pack up and live in India for a year, what’s to stop me? From experience I reckon that my fiancée and I could live like millionaires for no more than $450 a month.
So all of a sudden, I only need to be able to make 75c an hour to be able to live a fantastic lifestyle in one of the most beautiful places in the world… (Sounds tempting doesn’t it?)
What’s your goal then?
The first thing you should do is lay down exactly what your cost of living is. Strip out everything you can stand to. Remember, this is only a starting point. Once I reach my $1800 goal, I certainly intend to set new, higher goals.
Having an achievable milestone to work towards will really help you to keep going. It enables you imagine yourself actually achieving that goal, and if you can imagine it you can achieve it.
Making a living from your blog does not happen overnight. It requires a lot of hard work, motivation, and patience.
Very informative article. I definitely enjoyed it. With everything that you do successfully, you will work hard. But I like your on going and end results of goals. I currently work at home and love it. It is less expensive and take a lot of pressure off everyone. I have my fingers crossed for you, your fiancee and India!!! Good luck!
Thank you for your support Ann, I’m glad you enjoyed my post, and it’s great to hear from other people who are enjoying the benefits of working for themselves.
Thanks, these are very useful tips for people who are just getting started with blogging for money! It does require a lot of hard work, and it doesn’t happen fast, that’s true, but once you reach a certain level you can live off your blog comfortably and without worrying too much.
Wow …. Really enjoyed this info…Thank you for this post !! Bonnie
I like your viewpoint, i.e. breaking the milestones into swallowable bits and pieces.
It certainly does take a lot of hard work to be even a little successful online but your post explains it in simple terms for someone just starting out. Working online is just like any other business, it also needs motivation and staying power!