It seems like every other mother is a mom blogger these days.
You have read so many stories about regular mothers who have ventured into the blogosphere and successfully earning a full-time income.
Some bloggers manage to earn enough to quit their day jobs and others can even retire their husbands from work.
The idea of being able to stay home to take care of your children while earning a decent income in the comfort of your PJs is indeed very attractive.
But can I be a blogger?
I am most certainly one mommy who has been very drawn to the idea.
But the truth is, success from monetizing your blog or building an online business empire does not easy. It is most definitely NOT for everyone.
I have been blogging for almost a year now. In retrospect, I think I started off rather naive.
I thought by simply setting up a blog and putting up ads, I will be able to earn an income. Easy Peasy!
But the reality is definitely far from that!
Don’t get me wrong, I have not regretted making the decision to start a blog and strive to be a mompreneur.
In fact, I have learned so much in the past 1.5 years and despite the lack of monetary success for over ten months, it has been a very rewarding journey.
If you are also thinking of getting your writing skills and passion to work through blogging for money, here are 7 important truths at that you must know.
If you already have been running a blog for months or maybe even years, but have not successful monetize it, should also know these truths too!
Take a step back and evaluate your circumstance. You might have gotten this blogging business all wrong and now is the time to set things right.
Is Blogging For Me? 7 Essential Questions To Answer To Help You Decide.
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1. Do I want to run a business?
Just because you enjoy writing or have wonderful skills at building a beautiful website doesn’t necessarily mean you will earn big bucks from your blog.
There is much more than writing and web design when it comes to building a profitable blog business.
With site builders such as WordPress and Strikingly making building a website a breeze for even those without technical skills, almost anyone can be a blogger.
But the big question is: Do you want to make money blogging?
As such, blogging BUSINESS is NOT for everyone.
Don’t get fooled by all the testimonies that you have read online about how various mompreneurs have made thousands or even millions online.
This is not to disregard the achievements of these bloggers.
However, before you decide to embark on this blogging journey as a BUSINESS yourself, you need to know that none of these successful bloggers have created their success overnight.
Making money from blogging is a journey. It takes time and lots of effort.
Blogging is not just about writing. It takes marketing efforts, optimizing your posts and using various methods to drive traffic to your blog.
For some bloggers, they even hire web designers, ghostwriters, and virtual assistants to help them.
In short, blogging for money IS running a business.
It is not easy.
Therefore, it is not for everyone.
For the purpose of the rest of the article, when I refer to “blogging”, I actually mean blogging as a business — blogging for money, not as a hobby, and not just the act of posting articles on a website.
“Blogging” here will be the act of running a blog for the purpose of earning an income.
In addition, the term “mom blogger” used in this article refers to moms who set up blogs for the purpose of building an online business.
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2. Do I expect overnight success?
Always take testimonies with a pinch of salt.
I have no doubt that many mommies have successfully built a steady stream of monthly income from their blogs.
Many of these bloggers also create wonderful courses to help other moms build a profitable blog working from home.
However, when you read about a mom blogger earning thousands of dollars in a month, or even in their ‘first month’, please DO NOT expect that to happen to you as well.
The truth is, as much as many of these bloggers have managed to earn income in their ‘first month of blogging’, you need to think of the effort and planning that has taken place BEFORE that official first month of blogging.
Even if you take up a highly informative blogging course and follow the step-by-step instructions to the ‘T’, chances are, you still won’t get overnight success.
It is reasonable to say that you would probably not earn a full-time income in your very first month blogging.
If you are the fortunate 5% of mom bloggers who do manage to earn over a $1000 in your FIRST MONTH of blogging, then the question is, what have you done BEFORE the first month of blogging that contributed to your success?
Was it a tremendously helpful blogging course that you have taken? Well, then THAT’S your preparation and planning! Attending the course has given you a fast-track to success!
You have put in time and effort in attending the course and paying attention to detail and following closely to the instructions provided, which then led to your quick success.
So is that still an ‘OVERNIGHT SUCCESS’, of course not!
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3. Am I prepared to WORK HARD?
Approach any mom blogger out there who is now earning some form of income from their blog and tell them, “Well, that must have been easy!”
I wonder how many of the brave souls who asked this question would live to tell the tale.
The truth is, monetizing your blog and building an income-generating online business is ABSOLUTELY NOT EASY!
But is it worth it? Most definitely!
The beauty of building a successful online business is that the time spent in the work will greatly reduce over time.
If you have created digital products or courses and have built a steady stream of traffic to your blog, over time, you can truly be earning money in your sleep!
By the time you have achieved that for your blog, it has indeed become your golden goose!
But you cannot have a goose that lays golden eggs for you without nurturing it!
A LOT of time and effort are required in building a blog.
You need to write articles with good content so that people enjoy reading your work and want to keep connecting with your blog.
You need to publicize and promote your blog so that you can drive more traffic to your blog. What a shame it would be if nobody reads the article that you have put your heart and soul in writing it!
After attracting readers to your blog, you need to create an attractive reason for them to STAY!
That means you need to create lead magnets for your readers to want to give you their email addressees willingly so that you can build a relationship with them over time!
If you want to make money through affiliate marketing or Google Ads, then you would definitely need to WORK HARD in building your blog traffic.
So is blogging DIFFICULT?
You bet!
4. Am I willing to work for more than 20 hours a week?
I’m sure you have come across many bloggers who tell you how good their life is having a 20-hour workweek. Or less.
Who pays $3000 for working 2 hours a day?? I want in!!
Once again, please look BEYOND what these successful bloggers are enjoying now. They can only enjoy their sweet fruits of labor after months or even years of hard LABOR.
If you only intend to spend less than 20 hours a week in building your blogging business, you can. Just be sure to adjust your expectations accordingly.
It could very well mean that you might only achieve your dream of earning a full-time income after a year instead of six months.
My point is, you need to manage your expectations. The results of your blog will most certainly be dependent on your TIME and EFFORT put in.
How fast you see your blog grows also depends on how much effort you put in.
You simply cannot run away from that.
You could be working for over 40 hours a week at the start, or you have to be content with having a slower growth rate because of the limited time that you have working on the blog.
For some of us, we are blogging for money as a side hustle while still having a day job.
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Like you, I wear many hats.
I am have been in the line of direct sales for almost 10 years. I am very happy to be servicing my existing clients, getting businesses through referrals, and also enjoying a recurring stream of income.
I am the main caregiver to my three young kids, ages 2, 4 and 6. Having to cook, clean, and chauffeur my kids for school mean I hardly have time to go for work appointments.
Therefore, my direct sales business suffered. The is also my driving force to want to build an online business while I spend time taking care of my children.
When do I blog, then?
When the kids are at school, when everyone, including my husband, is asleep, and when I have my parents over to help for several hours with the kids.
If you truly want your blog to succeed, like me, SACRIFICES MUST BE MADE.
Your less than 20-hour work week WILL COME.
But you HAVE to be willing to put in LOTS MORE time and effort in this business before you can truly enjoy the fruits of YOUR LABOR.
And oh, will those fruits be SO SWEET.
Pin me to your blogging boards!
5. Am I willing to invest in my blog?
Setting up an online business can be cheap. Well, if you compare it to the overheads of setting up a brick and mortar shop which includes rental, utilities and inventory, the capital needed to set up and monetize a blog is WAY CHEAPER.
But can you set up a blog WITHOUT any capital?
I’m afraid not.
There are costs involved in setting up a professional website. Of course, there are several free options available.
But truth be told, you NEED those features that come with the paid subscriptions.
If you are using Pinterest to generate traffic for your blog, then a subscription to Tailwind is highly recommended!
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If you want to use Facebook Ads as a means of publicizing your blog, then you need to invest money for marketing purposes too.
If you want to achieve a fast-track to success by learning from top bloggers, then you most definitely need to spend money on INVESTING in their blogging courses.
There are many free tools that you can make use of. But the truth is, I don’t think you can get away with building a blog without putting in any capital.
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Even if you do start with free trials and free website builder plans for one or two months to test the waters, you would most probably need to start pumping in money to your blog thereafter.
Unless you decide NOT TO pursue your blogging business after testing the waters, then yea, no capital required.
Most importantly, you need to see all these money spent on your blog as INVESTMENTS.
Because you are spending on tools and resources to help you grow your blog, and hopefully, save time on making mistakes by learning from others.
These INVESTMENTS will get your returns when your blog is up and running!
Don’t be afraid to INVEST, but please do so wisely too!
This is precisely the reason why you should purchase the latest Genius Blogger Toolkit!
Pin me to your work from home and side hustle boards!
6. Am I willing to learn new skills?
As I have mentioned earlier, I have learned a lot in the past year of blogging.
I would call myself a tech-idiot. But I’m also thankful that I am a rather fast learner.
You would be surprised that there is SO MUCH TO LEARN about blogging!
WordPress has made it SO EASY for me to set up a website.
Canva has made it SO EASY and fun for me to create pins for Pinterest.
Tailwind has made it SO EASY to schedule pins and grow my blog traffic exponentially.
Yes, so many tools and resources have made this blogging business so much easier, even for a tech-idiot like me.
But there is still SO MUCH to learn in the business of blogging.
You need to learn about how to attract the correct audience to your site.
You need to learn about how to create products that people are willing to pay for.
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You need to learn about how to grow your blog traffic.
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You need to learn about writing emails that will get your readers to take action and hopefully pay for your services or products.
You need to learn how to use Canva to create attractive pins.
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Learning in your blogging journey is an ongoing process.
You should know how fast technology changes. The game with Facebook, WordPress, Pinterest and other things associated with your online business are also constantly changing!
You HAVE to KEEP LEARNING to keep up to date and to ensure that your business keeps growing!
If you are resistant to learning new skills then you probably can’t be a blogger.
7. Am I afraid of failure?
As a new direct sales agent, I was actively participating in many roadshows and doing cold calls in order to build my clientele base.
I had been rejected countless times over the phone and in my face when I approached members of the public during my roadshow stints!
Did I enjoy being rejected?
Of course not! It totally sucked!
There were countless times I had called up my leads but failed to get them to meet me for a sales presentation.
There were countless times I had made presentations to my prospects but didn’t end up making any sale.
FAILURE and REJECTION are part of my job.
But it is also because of these challenges that make my successes even sweeter and more satisfying!
You might ask, “What has direct sales got to do with being a mom blogger?”
Well, if you want to make money from your blog, you would need your site visitors to buy something, right?
At the very least, your blog visitors need to click onto the ads that you have placed in your blog post.
In a nutshell, two things will determine how much money your blog can bring — Traffic and Product.
You can either earn an income by driving a lot of traffic to your blog and earn through advertisements or affiliate marketing.
Or you can earn by selling your products or services.
If you have created so many pins on Pinterest but don’t get the traffic you wished for, you might feel discouraged.
If you wrote beautiful articles but got mean and horrible comments or received hardly any likes or shares, you might feel disappointed.
If you tried means and ways to grow your blog traffic, but the numbers on your Google Analytics still remain very low on the scale, you might feel very dejected.
If you have put in so much time and effort into creating your original products but they are not selling as you imagined, you might feel very discouraged.
Is failure a part of your blogging journey?
I’m afraid it’s a resounding YES!
The saving grace is that most of these failures and rejections are not ‘in your face’ like how I got rejections at roadshows.
You need to be prepared to give yourself some time to explore and make mistakes before finding the right solution for yourself that will earn you that income that you desire.
The high rate of failure is precisely the reason why 70% of new businesses fail in the first year and another 50% wind up before they hit the third year mark.
Blogging IS A BUSINESS.
So you have to be prepared to deal with FAILURES AND REJECTION.
This brings me back to the ultimate HARD TRUTH — Blogging is NOT for everyone.
Back to the million dollar question: Can I be a blogger?
I sure hope you have found your definite answer by now!
The blogging journey will not always be smooth but it will definitely be very rewarding if you persist!
If you have been blogging for some time already but haven’t achieved the success that you desire, you might have realized that you are not really cut out for it. And that’s really okay!
Or you could simply make some changes to your expectations and working methods and TRY AGAIN!
If you truly believe that blogging can earn you an income while giving you the luxury of spending time with your family, then please, please, PLEASE, PRESS ON!
Stick to it! Success could just be around the corner!
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