28 Comments to “Blogging Hypothetical Question 5”

1. December 18th, 2005 at 11:12 pm
   Anthony said

   My answer would be: Whenever your business plan indicates you’ll reach the revenue level to justify a full-time move into blogging.

   The people that originally stumbled into pro-blogging didn’t have to worry about formal planning or having an idea where it was going because it just developed out of no where at the right time when the Internet advertising market was staring to grow at phenomenal rates and there was little other competition. Plus the original pro-bloggers had a pretty good working knowledge and understanding of all things internet, blog and advertising related. But now anyone seriously starting up a blog with the intentions of earning a living from it need to have their stuff together before even hitting publish on their first post.

   Therefore if he doesn’t have business plan that should be your answer, go a write a genuine fully reasearched plan of how and why he’s going to earn a living from blogging.

2. December 18th, 2005 at 11:16 pm
   ME Strauss said

   Hi Anthony,

   I think this guy would be lucky to run into you. He needs to know exactly what you’re saying. Thanks for taking the time to say it.

   Liz

3. December 19th, 2005 at 12:22 am
   Mark Wade said

   Hey Liz!

   I’d tell him “WHOA BOY!” I agree with Anthony. Must have a plan. Unless you’re as fortunate as I am (you know, independently wealthy LOL). You can’t go to the bank to pay your mortgage with the promise that your Blog is going to make you rich. As I recall, it took Darren Rowse almost two years to get where he is. AND - as I’ve learned, one world tragedy like 9/11 can knock your plan right out from under you. So, you also have to have a back-up plan.

   Come see my new digs! I’ve got ALL the crayons displayed!

   Mark

4. December 19th, 2005 at 12:43 am
   Mike said

   I’d tell him that he may never quit his job, he may just restructure the way he does it.

   I would never leave my position, as it affords me several benefits I would never want to be without.

   I only work a few hours on some days, none on some and 16 on others.

   Personally, I feel multiple streams of income are better than one.

   Why would I leave a $75k/year job just to take a $75k/year job. Wouldn’t I be better off keep both until I could pay off all of the bills I owe including the mortgage on my mansion ? Then I could use that ” other ” $75K to build my portfoilo of oil company stocks and buy 1000 more shares of Google.

   Too many people wanting to leave their jobs and blog for a living and not enough people wanting to earn extra money to pay off all that debt they have in their lives.

   So basically I’d tell him that until you have so much money that you have to have help distributing it to your broker, you ain’t gotta worry about it !

5. December 19th, 2005 at 1:23 am
   ME Strauss said

   Hi Mark and Mike,
   Good to hear from the solid ground of reason. You’re both singing the same song that a guy’s gotta work to get somewhere in this world.

   I’m right with you. Get that foundation built on concrete before you build that house.
   Liz

6. December 19th, 2005 at 1:24 am
   ME Strauss said

   Mark!
   Crayons!
   I’m coming over.
   Liz

7. December 19th, 2005 at 1:49 am
   HART (1-800-HART) said

   HART-Rant [ON] (can’t sleep)

   The old saying “jack of all trades, master of none” is true. Unfortunately, not everybody is independently wealthy with a stock portfolio that can even afford to buy 10 shares of Google, yet alone 1000 shares .. What would I tell someone who wants to go ‘full-time’ and be a problogger?

   I would say work your butt off for one month and get tons of overtime banked. Go to all your friends and relatives and obtain loans over christmas, while it is a happy season, before the bills come in. Apply for as many credit cards you can handle and except for one, take a cash advance up to 75% of your limit. (Leave one credit card to kyte or make minimum payments for 2 months on the other credit cards). Then .. Quit your job.

   You would have a better chance to focus all your time and you can’t have a job because it’s only going to suffer, because this (as most of you reading this knows) takes a LOT of time. Too much time. Some are afraid to admit how much time it takes. That’s not just writing and blogging, but researching, communicating, participating, expanding, etc etc. You will NOT be able to handle both. What will end up resulting, if you do not quit, is that you will get fired at your job, and your blogging will suck and make no money. People will hate you for borrowing money from then and not paying them back, and your credit rating will plummet after you fail to make the minimum payments on your credit card.

   No - No - No … *slap on face* … Wake up!

   And - before you decide to quit - Anthony’s advice is the best … make a plan and try to follow it. Granted, most business plans are financial in nature, and you may find yourself only on a cash-out-flow pattern, but if you have a plan beforehand, it will help you decide if you should be doing this at all.

   I’m certainly not going to take your dream away from you. But, you can plan and be prepared.

   And, if that doesn’t smarten you up - Mike’s is the best advice (that I am following). Think of blogging as a hobby and non-money making venture, because in reality to most of us who even have adsense and chitika - it is. But, keep plugging day in and day out and soon there will be residual income. Before you know it, you may want to consider working at your full-time job, but arranging it so you have an extra day off - maybe Fridays? maybe Mondays? that you can add to your daily channel of blogging. Then, every quarter year March 31, June 30, Sept 30 .. ask yourself two things .. (1) How’s my social life? and (2) How’s my finances right now? It might not make a difference. Maybe it will.

   HART-Rant [/OFF]

8. December 19th, 2005 at 2:06 am
   ME Strauss said

   Hey HART,
   I’m thinking you have a career in blogging. . . . The HART RANT blog. What’doya think? You could have your name in lights and people wanting autographs. And the money. I bet you could make 50 cents US a day. How about it?
   Liz

9. December 19th, 2005 at 2:28 am
   Mike said

   You had me worried for a second there Hart ol’ buddy…

   Really guys, you just gotta stay away from TV and work smart.

   I just got my second paid ad on a blog that’s only 5 months old. If you plan your blog around potential paid adverstisers, like I did with that one, sooner than you think you’ll be pulling in enough from one to make a car payment, pay off student loans and just better you quality of life.

10. December 19th, 2005 at 2:45 am
    Anthony said

    HART: I was actually meaning as well as having detailed financials, that someone new to blogging would need one of those massive research driven strategy based business plans that you’d do in college/uni and think we’d never do much pedantic detail in the “real world”. It’d be a business plan that’d take 2-3 months to sort out - full time. It would probably read like a course in blogging. I think this because basically most of the people that would phrase a question like Liz has posed (I’ve seen people ask this at SitePoint and Problogger yet ignored them through frustration, but Liz is nice so I’ve commented here) don’t genuinely understand blogs. They’ve probably read that “blog” was Word Of The Year last year in Time Magazine, seen some other ink about pro-blogging then did a little bit of a search and all they know is that Darren makes $300k, Jason makes a $1 Million + $20 million and Scrivs visits strip clubs often and they want to be around that kind of money as well.

11. December 19th, 2005 at 3:37 am
    ME Strauss said

    Thank you for saying I’m nice Anthony. I asked the question just because of your last sentence. Well, not the strip club part necessarily. Gee, I guess I am nice.

    Mike and Anthony and Hart, you all seem to be making one same point that everyone’s talking not too many are are thinking about the work it takes.

    Liz

12. December 19th, 2005 at 4:04 am
    Anthony said

    I’d agree 110% with your last statement. Though it’s easy to see how people can fall into thinking that way. Scrivs and Darren seem like regular people doing something that looks simple, looks enjoyable and earning big coin for doing so.

    The thing is that these guys and all the others that are doing well via blogging are exceptional in what they do. The blog is just the tool that helps facilitate their talents. Newcomers just have the realise that a blog is only part of the equation and they need to have something exceptional to offer via the blog otherwise they will not be successful.

13. December 19th, 2005 at 4:26 am
    ME Strauss said

    Well said, Anthony.
    Most people look and figure I can do that, but haven’t really looked beyond the surface to see what the “that” is, and quite frankly, can’t do “that” for whatever reason.

    Liz

14. December 19th, 2005 at 9:07 am
    Yzabel said

    I’d be very tempted to answer “never”, or at the least “as late as possible”. (And what the posters above have written stands true in my opinion as well.) Sure, a salary job isn’t necessarily stable–who knows if the company won’t have to get restructured, fire employees, etc–but depending on the place, finding a new job if needed is pretty hard, and the longer you stay out of the work force, the worst it is. That’s not to say that blogging pro means failing, but the saying “let’s not put one’s eggs in the same basket” holds true here. In a paid job, working well can usually ensure you to keep the job; in blogging, working well and your ass off doesn’t mean that enough people will click on your adds.

    Another thing: the benefits brought by a paid job. I really appreciated that a 2-days stay in the hospital cost me nada, zilch, sero, thanks to the insurance cover I get through my job. Without subscribing to social security, it’d cost an arm and a leg, and being away for days can mean a drop in blog revenues. Now, this may be different depending on the country, but in mine, I doubt one can benefit from such things if they’re not declared as either salarypeople or owning a business, the latter meaning paying a boatload of taxes.

    Uhm… alright. All of this to say that my answer to this person would be “study ALL and EVERY benefit you get from a paid job and for holding both the job and the blogging at the same time, before quitting working when the pro blogging brings you just enough income to be equivalent to a salary”. And have a plan. Just like for a real business.

15. December 19th, 2005 at 9:31 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Yzavel,
    Sound advice, given well. The only thing that no one has screamed loudly enough, I think, is does this young man understand how much competition there is tyring to do the same thing? The law of supply and demand says that not everyone is going to be a six-figure blogger no matter how hard he works, just like ever 10-year-old who dreams of the Medieval ages always thinks he will be the king–many more people were serfs.
    LIz

16. December 19th, 2005 at 11:10 am
    Sabine said

    Wow, there is some great wisdom in these comments.

    I’d also say “never,” or “not until you consistently make an income you can live on and have a 6-month rainy day account, too.”

    I think people get the wrong idea; that having ads on your blog means that you don’t have to do any work for the money; that it’s automatic somehow.

    From what I’ve seen, it’s a lot of work. Most of these bloggers have more than one blog that they’re actively working on, and it’s not just a post now and then.

    And Liz, I’m with you on the competition aspect. Right now there are probably some untapped niches and not much out there. But more and more people are blogging every day — is this going to be some gold rush phenomenon?

    Sabine

17. December 19th, 2005 at 11:24 am
    Mark Wade said

    Hey! Hey!

    Thanks for dropping by my new digs and offering your “Big Chesire Cat Grin.”

    Darren Rowse has just posted this -

    http://www.problogger.net/archives/2005/12/20/18-lessons-ive-learnt-as-a-blogger/

    It ought to be a “MUST” read relating exactly to this topic (imho)

    Have A Great Day!

    Mark

18. December 19th, 2005 at 11:41 am
    ME Strauss said

    Yessirree, Sabine!
    Goldrush phenomenon is a good name for it. Everyone seems to think that there’s gold in them there blogs. I think there’s more gold in telling people that they can make money blogging. hee hee.
    Liz

19. December 19th, 2005 at 11:43 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Mark,
    I love the new design and told people they should stop by to see it. You’re right. Darren’s the one who’d know what the lessons are to take to heart before you begin.
    Thanks for coming over. It must be hard to leave your beautiful new digs.
    Liz

20. December 19th, 2005 at 12:40 pm
    HART (1-800-HART) said

    Awww .. just woke up and missed the show again
    Hey HART,
    I’m thinking you have a career in blogging. . . . The HART RANT blog.

    Actually, I do have one of those type of blogs already .. except I call it .. call HART crazy … but, then Cowboy started ranting and I could never compete with that :p .. Instead I just rant and rave about stuff I really love and really hate, and - well, I pretty much am okay with most things so, postings has been little.

21. December 19th, 2005 at 12:53 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi HART,
    How can you miss the show, when you are the STAR?

    I just checked out your Crazy Blog and it looks like fun. I wonder how many such blogs have improved the mental health of the population?

    Liz

22. December 19th, 2005 at 1:27 pm
    HART (1-800-HART) said

    Good question. I firmly believe that for every Gadget & Cooking blog there should be a Rant & Rave blog to counteract the force of blogravity or, something bad will happen Case in point, however, is that many are better than that than myself. If you recall my suggestion for approaches to successful-blogging with multiple contributors, it is this Crazy blog and my PetLvr blog was my direct interest. Perhaps, I see now - that in order to be a good Ranter & Raver .. I must become a S.O.B. first *thinking*

23. December 19th, 2005 at 1:41 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Ahhh I see that the brainwashing has started to work.
    Excellent.
    Yes. Balance. All things in the new millenium are about balance. Surely you have heard that from the stress gurus by now. So yes, you must be an SOB and a RAR (ranter and raver) in order to be a whole person.
    smiles,
    Liz

24. December 20th, 2005 at 1:35 pm
    Blog Marketing, Blog Promotion for Newbies » Blog Archive » Interesting Technique said

    [...] Darren, as usual, doing his helpful thing listing 18 Things He’s Learnt (is that like burnt? - oh yeah, Darren’s Australian ) About Blogging. Which answers a great question Liz asked the other day. I particularly liked #9. Darren and Liz sure receive a LOT of comments! [...]

25. December 20th, 2005 at 10:56 pm
    Rob said

    It’s funny how so many people ask questions that rely on so many different variables.

    I’d imagine that someone who needs to ask that question is going to have a hard time of it anyway,

26. December 20th, 2005 at 11:21 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Rob,
    Yeah. That was kind of the point of this particular question, I think. This guy is a little naive in my opinion. He sounds to me like the novel writer who is already casting the movie and spending the cash on a new car, before he’s actually finished the novel.
    Liz

27. December 21st, 2005 at 8:15 pm
    Easton Ellsworth said

    Two answers come to my mind:

    1. You can quit your job right now if you like! Nobody’s stopping you.

    2. (My real answer) When the blogging makes more money than your job does over a three-month period.

28. December 21st, 2005 at 8:33 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Easton,
    I like both of your answers.
    Liz