Where-to With Blogging? | Yakezie Reader Insights | Yakezie Forums

What's your next step?  I know many of us started blogging simply "to blog," but it leads to so many other things.  Do you hope to continue blogging as a side venture (either as a side hustle or just as a hobby) or do you hope it will lead to other things (book deal, being a freelancer, speaking gigs, getting hired as a consultant or social media coordinator for a large company).  What are you looking for next (if anything)?

After blogging for around 2 years now, I am convinced that it's totally possible to make this my full time job if I wanted it to be. However, I prefer to keep blogging as a side-business/hobby and just eventually become more respected as a voice in the passive investing community (maybe write a book one day).

The discussion inevitably leads to when a hobby or source of enjoyment becomes a job and ultimately less enjoyable.  When paying your rent means you may have to work outside your personal comfort zone things can get tough.

I think that one thing most will notice if you look closely at any one who is a "problogger" is that it isn't really done through the blog exclusively.  It's done through books, ebooks, products, speaking, freelancing, etc.  It might have happened once or twice a few years ago, but there's a lot more noise nowadays that people have to filter out, and that makes it much harder to be a "problogger" without some other side-hustle that's related.

I definitely don't want to make blogging a full time career for myself (although I love doing it!). I think of it as a hobby. My goal is to keep this blog for 30 years (which is a long time for the internet), and then I'll just look back and say "wow". My blog's become such a big part of myself.

My blog really is more of a hobby than a business to me. 

I dont plan on making this a full time job, but i'll be happy if it makes a full time income! I will probably keep it as a hobby, and a place to write about my other hobbies.  I work all day in front of a computer, and when I get enough money to work less, it wont be on the computer through blogging – it will be outside doing something.  

I also think BB has a good point – many use blogging as a means to some other end, and dont make much money on ads anymore – they monetize through services or ebooks or real books.

I completely agree with this. If you want to do blogging full time, it seems like you've got to leverage the name you've created for yourself outside of the blog itself, either to books, freelancing, etc to create a stable income. 

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BeatingBroke said:

I think that one thing most will notice if you look closely at any one who is a "problogger" is that it isn't really done through the blog exclusively.  It's done through books, ebooks, products, speaking, freelancing, etc.  It might have happened once or twice a few years ago, but there's a lot more noise nowadays that people have to filter out, and that makes it much harder to be a "problogger" without some other side-hustle that's related.

Tony Chou @ Investorz' Blog said:

Hunter @financiallyc said:

Blogging is tough to maintain. Unless your writing about newsy items or new product reviews, coming up with a novella three times a week is not easy. Running out of personal material is a real concern.

 

Completely agree with you. That's why I think it's tough to be a full time blogger (like the way Crystal writes 5 times a week). I just don't see how she manages! Then again, I guess some of us are born writers. Some of us can just squeeze ideas out of our head. But not for me. The more I try to squeeze ideas, the more I draw a blank.

I literally only write about what's on my mind, so I guess I will have a problem when I come up blank, lol.  But I usually have something going on to talk about or a guest post when my mind does just check out on me. 

As for "born writer", I giggled.  I am a marketing major that spent most of her time reading growing up…blogging is the only writing that I have ever been good at since I am too to-the-point to ever write a novel or anything like that.  350-600 words is pretty much all I can do since my general thoughts are pretty straight-forward…sometimes I get to my point in a 100 word paragraph and have to go back and make myself think deeper about it – like I was a reader needing to find something to ask a question about, hahaha.

I write with the end-goal of this being a full-time gig. I've been making money online for a little over 4 years now. I've gone from nothing to a full-time income back to nothing (long story).

Now I'm working towards a full-time income again – though with much more diversification this time.