Are you a new blogger wanting to become a full-time blogger so that you can quit your 9-5? Or maybe you’re in the preparation phase thinking about starting a blog? Today, I’m sharing how I became a full-time blogger in only a year.
There were a lot of limiting beliefs, insecurities, fears, and obstacles I had to overcome and I want to share my experience with you.
I started my blog at the beginning of 2018 and went full-time at the beginning of 2019.
Since the beginning of 2018, I’ve had millions of page views on my blog, thousands of subscribers on my email list, collaborated with brands and joined Mediavine which is a dream of many new bloggers.
Mediavine is a high-paying ad management company. In order to join them, you need to have at least 50,000 blog sessions per month, which equals around 60,000 or 70,000 page views per month. As you can imagine, it was exciting to achieve that.
And I’ve also experienced copying. There was a certain blog that copied my entire blog posts and even my About Me page. When I first found out, I was furious. But then I remembered what Gary Vee said about copying.
He said something like, ‘’What are you going to do? Are you going to chase them down?’’ So that was the perspective that I chose instead of wasting my time thinking about this person copying my content.
Now when I see other blogs copying my content, I don’t spend even a second thinking about that. If anything, that just tells me that my content is great because no one would copy someone that they think is awful.
So that’s another thing you can expect when you become a full-time blogger and grow your blog to a certain level. There are going to be people copying your content.
However, it’s your choice how you’re going to deal with it and if you’re even going to react to it.
Related:
How to Choose Your Thoughts and Master Your Mind
3 Toxic Mindsets That Sabotage Your Success
So today, I’m sharing the mindset shifts and action steps I had to take to become a full-time blogger in only a year.
1) I didn’t wait for things to be perfect before I launched my blog
“Even if your ambitions are huge, start slow, start small, build gradually, build smart.”
― Gary Vaynerchuk
If you want to start a blog, you might be wondering ‘’How many blog posts should I prepare before launching my blog? What plug-ins should I install right away? What niche is the most profitable? How do I choose my niche? Should I niche down or keep it broad?’’
I was a member of a few Facebook groups for bloggers and I saw new bloggers asking all kinds of questions before they launch their blog.
And what I noticed is that they wait for things to be perfect and they want to have everything in place before launching their blog. Of course, there is nothing wrong with that. But I noticed that it often leads to overthinking, procrastinating, and then, in the end, quitting or putting it off for months.
Here is what the start of my blogging journey looked like for me:
First, I had only one blog post to start with and I didn’t even think about the next one. I started with what I had and built it up from there.
I didn’t even have Grammarly installed. Grammarly is an app that reviews grammar, spelling, and all your writing. When I started blogging, I didn’t even know that something like Grammarly existed. Since English is not my first language, there were a lot of grammar mistakes in my first blog posts.
Until I became a full-time blogger, I used a free theme. It was simple, clear, and it did the job. After going full-time with my blog, I invested in a few paid themes that cost around $70 USD.
As a new blogger, I didn’t know about the websites for free stock photos. So I took all the photos myself. I remember they were dark, low quality, and definitely not perfect. I didn’t even know the optimal size for pins, so that was another lesson in itself.
Also, I didn’t waste time overthinking my niche. I simply wrote about topics I was interested in. It included the Law of Attraction, minimalism, productivity, self-care, traveling, etc.
To this day, I write about whatever I want. The right audience always finds me so I’m not stressing about niching down.
Also, in the beginning, I wasn’t aware of the importance of SEO. I didn’t even know what it meant. But I learned over time.
I’m sharing these examples to show you that you don’t have to have everything figured out before hitting publish.
I knew I wanted to be a blogger so I said to myself, ‘’I want to become a full-time blogger empowering people all around the world so I’ll start right now with what I have.’’
When you overthink what your blog should look like, pressure yourself to build a better foundation, and wait for perfection, you’re just going to procrastinate.
You’re going to feel so overwhelmed with all the new information and it will make you doubt yourself. You will start thinking that it’s too much and you’ll just put it off for months or completely give up your dream to become a full-time blogger.
The perfection and that level of preparation that you want aren’t even attainable because there is always going to be something more to add.
My motto is always ‘’Better done than perfect.’’
You can always improve, change, and tweak things along the way. I’m a great example of that. As I’ve said earlier, I didn’t know about free stock photos, plug-ins, SEO… None of that. I had no idea what any of that was.
But you can always go back to your old blog posts and improve things with the new knowledge you’ll gain along the way.
Related:
5 Key Steps to Reverse-Engineer Your Goal to Guarantee Success
8 Things to Do When You Don’t Feel Good Enough
SAVE FOR LATER 🙂
2) I kept going even when I didn’t see the results I wanted
“What is it that inspires you? What do you love to do? What would you do for free? At the beginning of my business career, my why was to become a millionaire, not a good why! And why not? Because that is an aspiration rather than a why. Aspirations, I have found, won’t fuel me when the going gets tough. But a true “why” will.”
― Richard Polak
After months of blogging, I wanted to see financial results. I was blogging for months and there wasn’t any money coming in. I didn’t earn anything. Literally. $0.
I did have an audience because I was promoting my blog posts a lot but I wasn’t earning any money. So my self-talk, my limiting beliefs, insecurities, and fears started to sound something like:
Why am I even doing this? I’m not earning anything. So why am I even doing this?
How come it’s so easy for other bloggers, but it’s so hard for me? Of course, I was comparing myself to bloggers who had been blogging for years. I didn’t even think about their first steps, first blog posts, and their beginning as bloggers. No. I was just seeing their chapter 20, and I was comparing my chapter 1 to their chapter 20.
I don’t even have to tell you how discouraging that felt.
Another disempowering thought that came up was “Is my goal to earn with my blog impossible? I’ve been doing this for months and I’m not earning anything. Should I just quit? Am I ever going to become a full-time blogger? Am I just wasting my time?”
Now, looking back, if I had quit after 6 months of not earning even a penny, I wouldn’t be where I am today.
I wouldn’t have the opportunity to share how I became a full-time blogger because when you quit, you remove the possibility of achieving your goal.
While you are trying, doing something, and going after your goal, there is always the possibility to achieve what you want. But when you quit, you remove that possibility completely.
If I had quit after 6 months of not seeing the financial results I wanted, I wouldn’t have millions of page views. I wouldn’t have thousands of people on my email list. I wouldn’t have joined Mediavine, which was a huge goal of mine. And I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to empower women on a larger scale.
So that was the thing that changed everything. The fact that I kept going even when it was difficult. Even when I didn’t see any results. Even when I was questioning myself and my abilities.
Keep going even when you don’t see the results you want. As long as you’re doing something, you have the possibility to achieve your goal. No matter how long it takes.
Also, make sure that your why is meaningful. Of course, you want to earn money with your blog, there is nothing wrong with that. But if the only reason you’re blogging is that you want money, you will quit soon to find a job that pays right away.
You need to put time, effort, and money into your blog before you see any results. If you’re just after money, you will give up when you realize you’re giving more than you’re getting.
Related:
4 Goal-Setting Questions to Set Yourself Up for Success
3 Powerful Ways to Stay Committed to Your Goals
3) I invested before I earned any money
“Before you invest in yourself, you have to invest in your long-term future.”
― Gary Vaynerchuk
When I started blogging (on the first day), I spent more than $100 on hosting and a domain name.
The reason why I invested before I earned any money is that I knew blogging was something that I wanted to do in the long term so I didn’t waste time on free options.
Sure, there are ways you can start your blog for free but if you’re serious about starting your own business or a blog, invest in things that are going to help you along the way.
Choosing self-hosting gives you full control over your blog and you can customize it however you want. It’s the safest and most reliable option.
Personally, I’ve been using Bluehost as my hosting provider and I highly recommend them. I’ve been with them since the beginning of 2018 and I’ve had only great experiences with them.
When you invest before you earn, you’re investing in your future self.
You’re making sure you’re taking care of your future needs over the short-term gratification.
4) I learned from people who have achieved what I wanted (i. e. other full-time bloggers)
You have to know whose advice you’re listening to.
If you have close friends or family members and they are giving you advice on how to succeed with your blog or with your online business, but they don’t have an online business themselves, then don’t listen to their advice.
They may have good intentions but they have no idea what they’re talking about.
If they never had a blog or their own business, then why would you listen to their advice? They might have a college degree but that doesn’t mean anything if they have zero experience in what they’re talking about.
Another thing I want to mention is that when someone (including other business owners) is telling you how you should run your business, what platforms you should choose, or what niche to stick to, that’s not the advice you need to follow.
That’s their opinion based on their personal experience. It has nothing to do with you.
However, when it comes to things related to starting a blog, self-hosting, Pinterest algorithm, SEO, and things that are facts – there’s nothing wrong with learning from people who have achieved success in those areas and who are teaching you the facts.
Make sure that you build your business based on the things that you actually enjoy. Not based on things that worked for someone else.
Related:
What’s the Right Strategy for Your Goal // podcast episode
SAVE FOR LATER 🙂
5) I prioritized marketing more than creating new content
Let’s say you have 30 amazing high-quality blog posts, but you’re not promoting them. No one can then find you and read your content.
On the other hand, if you have 3 blog posts but you’re promoting them, you will get more and more readers to your blog.
You will start getting email subscribers and you will start building a community.
You don’t have to wait with marketing.
When I had only one blog post, I started creating pins. Right away, I was promoting as much as I could because I knew that readers help your blog and business grow.
Even if you have one blog post, share it online.
Post it in Facebook groups for promotion, share it on your Instagram, create different pins for it, create a related freebie to get people on your email list, etc.
I’ve seen so many new bloggers focusing on the number of posts they need to have instead of focusing on promoting the blog posts they already published.
My advice is to start with what you have and promote it on other platforms.
It makes logical sense that the more you share it, the more readers you will get.
Of course, SEO will give you more long-term results but you can grow your page views by slowly promoting your posts on social media platforms and Pinterest.
Until the next time,
Ivana
I needed this! Blogging can be so confusing and overwhelming. As a new blogger, it was really inspiring and helpful to read your thoughts.
Really nice post to read espeically knwoing you don’t have to have it all figured out. Thank you!
Such great advice. I am in the mist of self taking. Thank you for helping motivate me to reasses those negative self-talk moments.
This is a great post and a great reminder that there is no need to wait for ‘perfection’ and just good enough is also fine 👍
Great post with so man y wonderful points. Sticking with blogging is a hard one, but once you overcome that bump and start making money, it only goes up hill from there.