Next month I'll be coming up on my second anniversary of being self-employed, and I have to admit that it's pretty surreal to think about!
In June of 2015, I sat down in the office of the band hall (I used to be a band director), and told my boss that I was going to put my resignation in so I could run this dinky little website I had made.
I was literally shaking a little bit because I was so nervous. At the time, that was by far the most risk I had ever taken in my life. Everything else up to that point was normal; go to college, do an internship, graduate, and get a job at something I was good at.
Nobody saw my leap of faith coming. Really not even me before I did it!
Here's how I built a $100,000+ per year business from my laptop:
1. It started as a side-hustle
M$M was started as something I did in my free time after work. I watched YouTube videos on blogging and building websites with WordPress (which is what this site is built on), and just started fumbling my way around my site for a while and writing content about personal finance.
Just a short disclaimer before I dig in to some of the finer details of my business – I just want to plead with you not to quit your job tomorrow because you read this post.
Believe it or not, several people that have heard my story over the past two years have decided to leave their jobs and credit me for inspiring them to do it.
Related: Ten Things to Know About Blogging Before You Jump In
While it's really flattering – it also freaks me out! No business is easy to build, but blogging especially takes a lot of time up front without any real money coming in. This is not a get rich quick business model. It's for people who are patient and hard workers only.
My ultimate goal is to help people build side businesses that can help them pay off their student loans and get ahead. If their side hustles turn into a full-time gigs later down the road, awesome!
While I did take the leap and have been successful, it would be wrong of me to push that strategy just so I can sell more stuff. That commitment to do right by my readers is what drives growth for the site (in my opinion).
2. I put in the time to learn my craft
This is where most people tend to fail. You can't just throw a sub-par product out there (in this case the content that I write is the product) and expect to do well in an online business.
Whatever you do, whether it's blogging or selling things on eBay for a profit – you have to provide value, and that comes with putting in time. Lots of it.
Related: 10 Side Hustles You Can Start in 2017
My value proposition is simple. I write things that help motivate and inspire people to pay off their debt and find new ways to make money. That eventually leads to helping people live a better life, which is important to me.
That's why I put hours and hours into learning how to create content, finding helpful products I believe in that I think my audience could use, and ultimately grow a loyal following of people.
If there is something I don't know how to do – I pay for a course even if I'm not sure that the ROI will be guaranteed. Most bloggers aren't willing to risk any money on courses or services, which is why many of them don't ever make any money.
You have to treat your blog like a business if you want it to be…a business. Pretty simple.
3. When blogging wasn't working, I found other income streams
This blog had only made about $3 when I took the leap of faith, and so it took a while to make it profitable.
I'm a big believer in multiple income streams, both in life and within your business. If you take a look at my latest online income report below, you'll see that I don't just make money from ads.
April 2017 Online Income Report: $20,507.77
I've done blog and Facebook ad coaching, I provide marketing services (which I'll discuss shortly), sell affiliate products, and on and on.
That way, if one income stream looks like it's not going to do well that month – I can focus my efforts elsewhere to keep growing my business.
4. Marketing and blogging go hand in hand
Like I mentioned – in the beginning, I didn't really make much money from my blog. That's when I had to pivot and look elsewhere, which is when I realized how important blogs are for small businesses.
Any small business worth it's salt has a blog, and the smart ones have a really good blog with fresh content about their niche.
Not only is it good for SEO (Search Engine Optimization, aka ranking better in Google), but it can help drive sales and keep potential customers on your site longer!
Just by learning to run my own small blog, I realized that all of the emails, Facebook ads, social media interaction, etc. were the exact same skills and strategies that most small business owners don't have the time to develop.
So I started offering my services to small businesses and generated enough revenue to at least make a living, while I also developed more content for this site and the overall M$M brand.
Now I run two different arms of my business – one side is marketing services and the other one is this site. People have asked me why I still do marketing, and the answer is simple: I like it and it helps me sleep at night because the income is consistent.
5. I consistently produced content
In my free blogging course (which you can sign up for below), I talk a lot about consistency. This is really the same for any business, but ESPECIALLY for online businesses.
The Free M$M Blogging Course
You'll learn how to start and run a successful blog in just 8 days!
People have ADD online, and they will forget about you as soon as possible. That's why I produce content and put it out on the same days at the same time every week.
Far too many of the people that want to start a successful online business miss this detail, and it's so important. You have to show up so many times that people remember you, and then eventually trust that you are an expert in your field.
No shortcut here – you have to put in the work.
There is so much opportunity out there, but it's not easy
People ask me all the time if there is still room for new digital marketers and bloggers in the market, and the answer is yes! But, you have to put in the time, take your lumps, and learn your craft. It's just not for everyone, and that's OK.
If you've considered starting an online business of any kind, you should. I'm a firm believer that millennials (or anyone that can find their way around a computer) can at least take a shot at it and have an opportunity there that previous generations never had.
Question for you:
What else do you want to know about how I grew my business? I don't mind sharing details if it will provide value.
Your “product” has proven to be a great one. To build an audience of online people with ADD like you said, it says something about your quality that people stick with you and don’t go somewhere else!
How often were you posting new content early on, and what percentage of time would you say you spent working on the blog vs. learning about it (i.e. courses and services you mentioned)?
In the beginning I posted twice a week, and then eventually moved to three times. That’s a lot of content, but for me it’s just a matter of putting in the extra time. I also keep my posts a little shorter, which my readers seem to really like.
Not sure on the percentage, but I’d say something like 60% blog and 40% learning about blogs haha
Thanks for the openness and honesty. It’s something about the PF blogging community that I’ve enjoyed and appreciated thus far.
How much traffic did you have before you started attempting to monetize your blog, and did you start with ads?
I really enjoy reading your posts – keep it up.
I didn’t really put ads on the site until I had about 100,000 views a month. I want to say that I started trying to do affiliate income around 30,000 views, but the earlier you can start with that the better. Takes a lot of practice.
Would you say that it’s better to not post ads until you have a reader base? Is there anything deterring to readers if you post ads/affiliate links even when you first start out?
I wouldn’t do ads until you have enough traffic to make significant income (100,000 views or more). Google ads just don’t bring any real money in, and ads definitely annoy people. Someday I’d like to remove them completely from the site, but I need to bump up my affiliate income to do it.
Good to know, thanks!
This article is filled with knowledge.
Having multiple sources of income is so important. Especially when making the jump to 100% self-employment.
As far as having a willingness to learn that is HUGE! We have found that learning is one of our favorite parts. We won a “Branding Course” contest that starts next week, can’t wait to dive in. Also planning on taking a Facebook Page and Affiliate Marketing course.
I do you have few questions if you don’t mind answering.
1) How early on did you set up your LLC?
2) Did you start your marketing business alongside your blog from the start?
3) What have you found is the best way to gain clients?
4) How do you “turn it off” at night after working all day? Yesterday was my first day of 100% self-employment and my mind was racing, got terrible sleep. I guess that’s normal for starting out hahaha.
Thanks for the detail M$M. My business is in the early stages so its helpful to read these kinds of posts. There is no “blueprint” for building a business, every market/product/customer is unique, so it’s great to read how others have done it.
Yeah there are definitely no blueprints – the only things you can count on are how hard you work and how high you prioritize learning your trade.
How much have you had to learn about SEO, and have you hired or developed SEO skills to support the back end of your site? How important has your SEO understanding and implementation been to your success, and what have you found to be most helpful in increasing ranking / awareness etc?
I had to learn a ton – lots of research in that area. The biggest thing that helps this site is that I have quality backlinks from CNBC, Yahoo, etc. A lot of my older posts are much longer, so they tend to rank better than what I’ve been doing lately. But, I know my audience really likes the 800 word range better than the 2,000+ range, which is important to me.
From a local marketing standpoint, it has been huge. I’ve always tried to learn more and have even hired consultants to teach me as much as I can figure out about it.
Marketing and blogging really do go hand in hand. There’s a lot of overlap in the skills, so it’s a natural match to do both blogging and marketing. For me, my writing side hustle still pays more than blogging, but it’s been great to see the numbers climb each month. 🙂
They are so similar! I think I’ve decided that I’m going to put out a course on leveraging your blog to get marketing clients.
Sign me up!
Me too!
There’s so much value in this post. Thank you for this content
No problem!
First: Thanks!
Second:
– What would be the #1 thing you did to get your traffic?
– What would be the #1 thing you have done to keep your traffic?
Thanks!
The traffic has been a long process. I got onto CNBC a while back which gave me a nice boost, but that goes away after a month or so. After that I started rolling money I was making back into Facebook ads and really figured how to do those well. Now I’m trying to master Pinterest haha.
When doing a blog, how often should you be posting? I’ve been debating starting one. Heck I’ve written 4 posts, just haven’t published them yet. I can’t post 2-3 times a week consistently, given my current time commitments. I don’t want to wait 2 years to start it, but I don’t know if posting once or twice a month is going to cut it. Any advice would be appreciated.
Once a week is fine in the beginning, but I wouldn’t do less than that. The reality is that it takes practice to figure out how to structure your posts and what works best for your writing style and audience!
To add on to this – having some in the hopper is super nice. If you get on a spree, don’t stop writing just because you’ve “written one for the week”.
I started with a goal of 2x a week but found that I could easily pump out enough for 3 a week at a semi-sustained pace for now. It helps me get some more content up more quickly, and hasn’t been a problem yet. I’ll likely cut back to 2 a week this summer with getting married and going on a minimoon but I do agree that at LEAST once a week is a good idea.
Also make sure to not burn yourself out if you get overly ambitious 🙂
Yep always a good idea to be ahead with the writing. I really need to get a month ahead but haven’t gotten around to doing it yet haha
I really like that you don’t overhype the opportunity. It seems like there is so much of that out there and maybe it causes people to get in over their heads.
You lay it out realistically and let people jump on board if they want to. Thanks for the even-handed approach!
Yeah I just feel like I’ll make more money by being super honest and transparent about it than trying to do a sell job on people.
Great post! I’m still in the very early stages of paying off debt and have started holding myself accountable and tracking my progress with my blog. When I’m lacking motivation, a gentle reminder that success is not an overnight thing fixes my attitude. So thank you for posting this!
The majority of what I’ve learned about PF and blogging has been from reading anything and everything all the time. There’s so much free information on the internet!
Do you have any particular books, blogs, sites, etc that you’ve found especially helpful for you?
Thanks! There is a book on Facebook engagement that I mentioned in my last income report that is super legit. I really like Eofire.com and Smartpassiveincome.com
One of the things I almost never see is people talking about how they have their blog business actually structured. LLC? Sole proprietor? When did you set those things up? What about bank accounts?
I know what I’ll end up doing I think, mostly just curious as to how people start out and when they made a switch, if applicable.
My business is structured as a LLC with S Corp designation. The main reasoning was that I wanted to pay myself a salary and minimize my social security and medicare taxes. I just don’t think I’m going to depend on SS when I retire. This is a pretty common structure for other pro bloggers that I’ve talked to as well. I set that aspect up as soon as I started doing this full-time. As far as bank accounts, I just have a business checking and pull money from that (outside of my salary paid by the company) when needed.
Great post!! No questions, as you’ve seemed to answer all the ones I had in mind!! Thanks! 🙂
Great post. Hard work is the key to it all. I recently started blogging on the side. Trying to find the extra time with kids is tough, but not giving up. Thanks for the inspiration!! Cheers!