Peace for Paris Yakezie

The great thing about a blog is that it’s always on. Unlike most of us, who run out of energy after 12 hours of work, a blog can keep working for us 24/7, 365 days of the year if our hosting company doesn’t crash! Good thing the data shows most sites are up 99%+ of the time.

Creating a money making universal soldier is one of the key points from showing income profiles of financially free people over on Financial Samurai. For some reason, there is so much pushback from folks who do not believe it’s possible to make a good living beyond the 9-to-5!

SET AN INCOME HAPPINESS GOAL

Living in expensive San Francisco made me set an income target goal of $200,000 per individual and $250,000 – $400,000 per family of up to four ever since I got here in 2001. If I had stayed in Manhattan, those income figures would probably be at least 25% higher!

To get from $0 online operating profits to $200,000 per individual is a tall task. But who is to say the blog has to do it all on its own? The blog is just one of many multiple income sources we must embrace for the long term for financial freedom. Our day job really is the main source of income for practically all of us starting out.

Given I was earning about $78,000 a year in multiple income streams when I negotiated a severance in 2012, I had a gap of $122,000 to make up to achieve the “ideal SF income.” Making $122,000 online still sounded pretty daunting, but it certainly sounded less daunting than $200,000.

But given that I had been blogging for 2.7 years already when I finally left, the real gap to make up was a much more manageable ~$40,000 a year or so. And if you slice up $40,000 a year by 12 months, then all I had to do was find a way to earn $3,333 a month. Suddenly, the goal of achieving financial freedom with the help of a blog wasn’t so bad!

Below is an example of someone who decided to cut back his work hours by 10 hours so he could spend time building a blog and work on some other side hustles.

Financially Free Financial Samurai

WORK DOUBLE DUTY NOW

In order to achieve something good, we must first work really, really hard. I never recommend anybody just quit their jobs to blog or do whatever full-time. Instead, use the coziness of a full-time job, and all your companies benefits to work on your side hustle before or after work. This is the time where you can experiment the most without feeling much downside.

If you work double duty now, chances grow that you’ll be able to work much less in the future, or work on things you much rather prefer doing. The key is to just take methodical steps forward towards financial freedom.

The hope is that one day we’ll all be able to not have to work a day job again because our online income will generate enough to equal our Income Happiness Goal. When that day comes, we’ll be able to do whatever we want with our free time without having to worry about what others think.

Below is an example of someone who is doing what he wants because he is financially free.

Financial Freedom From Blogging

The main challenge many of us face now is that there’s been an explosion of content growth over the past several years, while people’s attention limits have stayed constant. In other words, everybody is getting diluted. This is why building your brand, and consistently writing your own content with your own voice is important. Otherwise, what makes your article on retirement any different from the thousands of others written by people who’ve never experienced financial freedom?

The chances of a “lucky break” go up the longer you stick around. Instead of thinking that your blog is going to replace all your income sources and set you free, think about your online platform as a way to extend your income reach.

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.