I was doing some financial housekeeping the other day and I realized my online company’s operating profit YTD finally outstripped my day job income from the very last full year. I was excited not so much by the amount, but because I had finally proved to myself that I could finally make something sustainable on my own. Creating something from nothing is a thrill.
Financial Samurai and the Yakezie Network started in the summer and winter of 2009. We’ve all heard that most businesses fail within 5 years, so getting over the 5 year hump is definitely something I’m pleased about. It’s been a fun and long road since then – lots of failures, lots of conflict, lots of stolen ideas, and lots of doubt. I’m not sure I’d be as appreciative of my situation now if it wasn’t for a lot of problems in the past.
It wasn’t until 2012 that I decided to focus more attention on making online revenue since that is when I left my job. Before then, I was just writing for the fun of it. I still write mostly for the joy of writing, but there’s a little more business strategy involved now. Writing for leisure and connecting with other people online is probably what saved me from quitting. I think most of us blog because it’s a rewarding experience unlike any other.
ONLINE INCOME vs. DAY JOB INCOME
It’s taken me five years for my online income to surpass my day job income. I’ve always had the confidence that this crossover would one day occur, but I never knew when it would happen. I’m not sure whether I should be happy with the result, or displeased by how long it’s taken. Five years is a darn long time to work and wait. (Related: How Much Do I Have To Make As An Entrepreneur To Replace My Day Job Income?)
There are plenty of bloggers out there who surpass their day job income within a year or two. Perhaps it’s more a function of income? It’s much easier to surpass a $50,000 day job income than a $500,000 day job income, for example. Or perhaps it’s because their material is just so awesome and many more people can relate that they achieve quick success. Whatever the case may be, I think replicating any day job income is a respectable achievement because all our income and costs are relative.
Lots and lots of people want to make money online. But lots and lots of people aren’t willing to put in the commensurate effort to make it happen. Therefore, for all those who want to generate online income, my recommendation is to commit to thinking that you’ll make NO meaningful income for the first three years. If you can commit to this high probability, that means you truly love the field.
The first three years is all about building your brand. I’ve found that many people don’t fully trusts sites that haven’t been around for at least a year or two of because nobody wants to commit for fear of it shutting down. I don’t want to watch a new TV series live because networks cancel TV shows all the time – sometimes mid-season! Instead, I wait for at least a couple seasons to go by and watch the shows on Netflix.
In order to build your brand online, you’ve got to come up with a portfolio of consumption-worthy content. Once you develop your community base, then you can have advocates who will regularly share your content with the world. They don’t want to share your stuff if they think you’re going to disappear on them before the year is out. It makes them look bad. Three years, and 300+ articles should be a good enough amount of time and effort to create a respectable brand.
Once the brand and community are built, then you can figure out a tactful way to monetize without losing your readership. Don’t be afraid to monetize your site at this point. Most of your loyal readers can’t wait to help you after you’ve given them so much for free all these years.
WHEN SHOULD YOU QUIT YOUR DAY JOB?
Only after two and a half years of writing did I finally somewhat believe I could make a livable income stream online. But even then, I was worried about leaving because my job was all I knew for 13 years. Change is stressful!
I’d like to provide some rough parameters for when quitting your day job to pursue online entrepreneurship is a good idea.
1) If you’re receiving at least 100,000 pageviews a month. I believe it’s possible to make 10 cents a pageview if the site is perfectly optimized in personal finance. Given nobody, or no site is perfect, let’s assign a 5 cents per pageview value. In other words, a site with 100,000 page views a month should be able to earn roughly $5,000 a month. Most single people should be able to live off this amount. If not, they should read our sites!
2) If your online income earns at least 50% of your day job income. Given your online efforts are part-time, there should be a strong correlation with income generation and effort. Most people looking to get out of a job to work online are saving aggressively. So if your online income is earning 50% of your day job income, and you are saving 50% of your day job income, then your lifestyle won’t change at all.
3) If you’ve got at least two years worth of living expenses saved. Two years is an important figure because if you’ve spent two years working on your business or blog and it’s not generating any meaningful income, you’ll probably want to find a day job again. Employers start to become skeptical of your day job gap after two years, even if you’ve been working like a dog to build something that has failed.
The above three points are the main guidelines I’d go with before quitting your job to become a full-time blogger. One point alone is probably good enough for you to take the leap, if you’ve got an idea or an already running venture. But if you can satisfy all three points, then all the better. The below are some other points that are worth mentioning before taking the leap.
* If you’re willing to still work for others by being a freelancer. Being a freelancer takes a lot of hustle because you need to find clients. Freelancing is the least removed occupation from a day job as it is another full-time job. At least you’re your own boss. But remember, there is a big difference between being a blogger and being a free-lancer. Don’t confuse the two!
* If you’re able to negotiate a severance. The larger your severance, the longer your runway for trial and error. My severance was a positive surprise, so I didn’t have too much fear after the check was deposited. In fact, all I wanted to do was slack off for six months and travel. But I decided to write my severance negotiation book instead.
* If other people are just throwing money at you to invest in your business. If a lot of people believe in you by putting their money where their mouths are, then you should probably quit your job and focus on your business full-time as well. The correlation with effort is huge with blogging and other online businesses.
* If you’re willing to suffer. If you’re willing to sleep on the streets, work crazy hours, eat sparsely, be consumed by stress, and successfully battle fits of insecurity then go for it. Living in America is relatively comfortable compared to many other places. If you’re willing to sacrifice your luxuries for a couple years, then go for glory.
I strongly discourage people to quit their jobs before moonlighting online for at least a year. No amount of words or instruction can truly prepare you for all the little things that happen once you’re your own boss.
HOW LONG DID IT, OR WILL IT TAKE YOU?
I’m curious to know how long it will take you, or how long did it take you to replace your day job income with your site? For folks who make a lower income level, shouldn’t it be more motivating to give online entrepreneurship a go since the hurdle is easier to achieve? Do you think replicating your day job income with online income is feasible?
When do you think is the right time to quit your day job and become a full-time blogger? One of my dreams for the past 10 years is to be able to blog from home in San Francisco, blog from my vacation rental up in Lake Tahoe, and then blog at my parent’s house in Honolulu.
If you can develop multiple income streams online, you can potentially make a full-time living as a professional blogger. Many bloggers make more than bankers, techies, doctors, and lawyers! The key is to be patient, work on your site while working a full-time job. When there’s enough momentum, or a minimum income stream, you can take the chance to make a living blogging full-time.
STARTING A MONEY MAKING BLOG
I never thought I’d be able to quit my job in 2012 just three years after starting Financial Samurai. But by starting one financial crisis day in 2009, Financial Samurai actually makes more than my entire passive income total that took 15 years to build. If you enjoy writing, creating, connecting with people online, and enjoying more freedom, learn how you can set up a WordPress blog in 15 minutes like this one.
Leverage the 3+ billion internet users and build your brand online. There are professional bloggers now who make way more than bankers, doctors, lawyers, and entrepreneurs while having much more fun, much more freedom, and doing less work. Get started. You never know where the journey will take you!
Updated for 2017 and beyond.
Everyone wonders this question so thank you for posting such helpful guidelines! I love that they’re specific. My fiance and I moved to NY from FL for his job, so right now I don’t have an income to replace. But it would be a wonderful feeling to replace my old income one day!
I think a GREAT combo is having one spouse work a traditional, “safer” job, and one partner be more entrepreneurial. It’s going after two tracks at once, and totally synergistic. Good luck!
That is important in all careers, really. I know many folks who have 1 spouse working a more tenuous/dangerous career (in terms of job stability) and the other spouse acts as the “Pillar” and works for the Government or the like.
For me I am still working for slave wages whilst blogging, but I wish anyone who wants to try, the best of luck! I think I am just in a rut (a 10 year rut, which is more like a gully I think).
Haha, nice. Or a really deep moat? Look on the bright side, there’s only upside then! The biggest in flexion point I found was just trying affiliate advertising. Once I tried and aggressively found products I enjoyed using, things really started picking up.
Cheers to all great stable partners out there that allow others to take some risks!
This really worked for us as well. My spouse worked for the federal government which was very safe, secure (but not very rewarding on the money front), while I went after private companies and new technology jobs – riskier but with greater reward. It allowed us to save and invest while sleeping soundly at night.
Great to hear! A perfect combo indeed. Maybe I’ll write about it :)
I would quit my job if I had enough side income to live on a strict budget. No big trips, no additional savings, just enough to stay afloat. Then the savings could be used for big expenses, expected or not, but at least you are not digging into them month after month.
I started with freelancing which is much easier to make money quickly and replaced my day job’s income in a couple of months. Waited a year to see if it was sustainable then left my job.
Freelancing is a great way to start and it’s something I’ve listed in this post. For folks who are OK with continuing to work on jobs for others, then that’s cool too. Good way to supplement until you can completely just work for yourself.
Why You Can’t Blog Or Freelance Full Time
I have over 150,000 page views a month now, but I am not making 10 cents or even 5 cents a page view, more like 3 cents a view. I know I need to spend more time optimizing my income, but I like writing so much more and I am a part time blogger. it will take about 15 times that to replace my current income. But I run a business and it doesn’t take all my time to make that money. I can easily incorporate the two, it is a matter of how much time to allocate to each. I think the blog has much more potential in the long run, but I like my day job in real estate too.
$4,500 a month from your blog is good! Shooting for $67,500 a month is a tall order, but ya never know if you don’t try! I can promise you that once you get over the $20,000 a month online income hurdle, you will have deep thoughts about not spending as much time flipping real estate!
I am a long way from moving to full time (if ever) but I don’t believe I would need to replace 100% of income – because of tax benefits of self employment and non deductible costs of working I would aim to replace 60%. If I hit that consistently I would consider.
Sounds good. Paying your own taxes and employment taxes feels pretty bad. But figuring out a way to reduce your taxes with relevant expenses feels good. Replacing 60% is a good enough amount to take the leap of faith.
Good points, Sam; and I like the check list for deciding when to leave your day job and not be totally exposed. The Money Principle has been going for over three years now but I’m nowhere close to replacing my day income – it makes a bit of money but not much and probably not entirely the right kind either. TMP is my ‘fun on the side’ though I’m working towards leaving my job in October 2018. Let’s see how this one goes :).
I love your October 2018 goal! To have a goal that far in the future after you’ve already been blogging for three years shows your steadfastness. I hope you get there. And I would say with 95% certainty you’ll be able to earn a decent living from your site by then!
Hey Sam, I hope the Universe (God) is listening to you. I remember a ‘predictions’ post of yours that has a very high hit rate :)
It’s “in the bag” as they say! I’d bet on you replicating a very good amount of your income by 2018 for sure.
For my purposes, I only need to replace a small fraction of my income, so I’m willing to accept less than these stats, but I think this is great, concrete information to provide people who start off blogging for money. They should realize the blood, sweat, and tears that they’ll need to pour into their work before they can ever consider themselves established. And if you have to do that nearly full-time while actually working full-time, there’s a high probability you’ll quit without passion derived from something besides money!
That’s great you only have to replace a small fraction of your income. Is this bc you save a lot already or have a partner who earns too? What fraction is that? :)
I’m glad you posted this because a lot of people believe that making money from blogging happens right away. I’ve been blogging for four months and I’m surprised that I’ve been able to make a total of $15!!! lol I have it in my head that I won’t make any money for a long time and that’s okay with me. I’m not really doing it for the money at the moment, but I do want it to grow enough so that when I’m ready to quit my day job, it will be generating some decent cash.
4 months down, and 2 years 8 months left to go! Just keep at it, and you’ll likely surprise yourself.
For younger folks, 3 years is nothing, because there’s more energy and interest and learning in a day job. For older folks, 3 years might feel a lot longer.
I’ve been blogging off/on since 2000 but only recently decided to put a strong effort into it. Good article and thoughts.
Great points, Sam. I just got back from Lunch with Philip Taylor and we were talking about this topic. I’m more of an impatient kind of person, so I always want to have it all right now. But realistically, I think it will take me a few more years. Just need to step back and enjoy the opportunity while I have it, rather than always looking toward the end.
Ben, just give it three good solid years, and all will be good. No need to be impatient at all :)
Yeah it’s a lot to think about. I definitely want to earn more before pulling the trigger. The tricky part is making enough time before then and not getting too stressed out. Nobody ever said change was easy!
When generating income from your site becomes a necessity, you will surprise yourself with how much more you can make. I firmly believe this. Too many folks aren’t tested enough yet.
If you work hard, have a great plan, and have enough resources, I think 2 years is enough. Having the right perspective, in the span of 2 years, you will be able to earn a pretty decent income. Quitting your day job in exchange of pursuing a full time online career, is something possible for those people who patiently wait and work hard.
I know *some* people make a living from blogging but I hadn’t actually considered it as a career move before… making a bit of extra cash on the side maybe, but not paying the rent. Thanks for the information Sam, and for making it so specific. I noticed the link at the end of the post for the new intake of Yakezie Members: is there a signup for new Challengers too?
Nope. For new Challengers, simply follow the instructions here: http://yakezie.com/yakezie-network-submission-guidelines/
Good luck!
Thanks for laying out realistic expectations. My goal is partial replacement of my current income by the time I retire from my ‘real’ job in less than four years. I’m aiming for ~$40K/year. Based on your experience it sounds like it’s doable if I’m willing to do the work. (yay!)
Most definitely! And the closer you get to quitting, the more vigorously you will ensure yourself to make it happen.
I’m thinking about giving my blog another serious go. I mean, I’ve been writing great articles for 4 years now, but I haven’t really tried to grow and earn more money for a while now. Perhaps now is the time!
Why not right? Give it a good 6 month go and see if there’s any improvement. I’m pretty sure there will be.
I made the move when my online income was half of my day job income. The first few months have been a lot of hard work but everything is finally coming together. I wish I could have made the move sooner.
I was 3 years in when I decided to go full time at my business.
Congrats LaTisha! It’s always so great to hear other Yakezie bloggers take the leap of faith. Sounds like you and I are on pretty similar tracks in terms of timing!
Thanks for your insights from your experience. My end goal is to make some passive income through blogging. My dream would be to make my work income, but since that seems way to daunting of a mountain at the moment, for psychological reasons, I like to tell myself (and I believe it) that I would be happy with an end goal of a few hundred bucks of passive income.
It makes it easier to set little goals rather than setting one huge one and not knowing how to get there!
Move a mountain one pebble at a time!
Nice to see an article like this which uses real numbers, instead of the hand-waving approximations that are so easy to find. I’d love to approach that 10 cent a page view number – I was curious, so I did the math and got a pathetic 2.1 cents. I guess it’s good to know I’m under-optimized, in case I ever make a serious effort on that front!
Of course, if I ever did plan my exit… my biggest hurdle would be the joke I used for the name of the site.
Thanks. I was really trying to give concrete numbers because quitting one’s job to blog full-time is a big, big deal. There are so many exogenous variables involved, getting wiped out is a very real possibility.
10 cents a page view is like seeing a perfect 10 on the street. They are unicorns, but they exist. I will write up a post on why I think 10 cents is possible for the most optimized site with all sorts of income streams coming in.
I think if folks can get to 4-5 cents a page view, they are doing very, very well.
Great stuff Sam! Our goals for me becoming a stay at home dad/blogger didn’t rest so much in what I could earn online but in what was happening with the rest of our financial life. We didn’t feel comfortable making the move until my wife had fully transitioned into a higher paying career and we were 100% debt free. We also had to make sure that we would not skip a beat in funding retirement or college with one less income. So I guess our decision was less about what I could make blogging (which I’m working on now) and more about other financial factors.
Good stuff. It’s nice to have a combo of steady eddy paycheck, and more entrepreneurial spouse.
I don’t think I could quit until I was making more than what I make at my day job. I won’t leave my current job until the pay is higher, so that includes working for myself. If I didn’t have student loan debt then perhaps it’d be a different story…
Natalie, how long have you been working at your day job? I’m pretty confident that after 10-15 years of doing your same job, you will be singing a different tune!
Phew.
I’ve just this week moved from my full time job into focussing solely on my online revenue streams. Luckily, I currently pass all three of the tests and most of the sub-guidelines as well.
I was only doing my previous job for 7 years, but I have enjoyed my work online with moneystepper and my new app so much that I felt that it was a risk worth taking. Let’s hope that I was right!!
7 years is a long time. Congrats and good luck on the new gig!
100,000/mth page views are unfathomable to me. I’m at 6-7K a month now. I know I’ve only been at it 7 months, but it still seems like it would be difficult to achieve. I hope I am wrong. Also, you said monetize after 2 – 3 years? My earlier readings said to monetize after six months. Has something changed? I know you have to have a following, but what measurement should you use to determine if it’s enough? Although 100K / mth is specific, it’s not the jumping in point. What level do you think is okay to jump in at? BTW I’ve made $20 in Adsense since I monetized for that 3 months ago.
Intriguing conversation. As someone who just started out and is doing it more as a hobby to continue to develop my writing skills are there things in the first couple of years you need to concentrate on more than others? I just like to write the best content I can at the moment. I want to learn as much as I can along the way rather than turn it over to someone else. It’s fun to build your own site and learn some of the different tactics and skill. Kind of the fun hobby part and keep up the writing that I used to do every day as a reporter. I use to have to come up with 2-3 ideas a day and write 1-2 stories a day so a couple times a week is no big deal. Fun conversation with some good measurables to target down the road.
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great article Sam! Not well versed in blogging income at all only in actual product sales.
We’re over 100K monthly (consistently every month for the last year) but have not monetized at all (beyond a few books we liked and recommended on Amazon to offset hosting costs).
Never really wanted to monetize, the issue is the maintenance cost is going no where but ^^^ (managing comments, trouble shooting etc.). So may need to monetize a little since we don’t want to outright shut down the blog. It’s a fun hobby.
Won’t ever make *real* money on it but also don’t want to quit! Rock and hard spot!
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