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How an Email Changed My World.
2 year ago, I had a good life. I was happy. We’d just had our third baby, and my husband was working at an amazing job. Even just 2 years prior to that, we never could have imagined how good we would have it.
Life was very simple. But my husband was able to comfortably support our family of five on his one income.
I was content with what I had and never thought I’d want anymore.
And then, we had a flood. And not just any flood, a flood that when the insurance inspectors came out, they discovered mold growth. And a lot of it. The insurance covered the flood damage, but we found ourselves on the hook for all of the mold in the basement.
Just like that, we saw just how quickly an emergency fund can get eaten up. We also saw how dangerous it can be to live on a single income.
What would we do if my husband lost his job? We were still living hand-to-mouth with just a little left over.
I knew I didn’t want to leave the house for work. I had just had my third son and my postpartum anxiety was a BEAST. I found myself horrified of the worst-case-scenario happening all the time.
What if we couldn’t find child care? What if I never got to see my husband because he works nights? What would happen to my kids during the day? How would we ever be able to spend time as a family?
Suddenly, I felt the anxiety creeping over me every time I thought about looking for a job. I couldn’t do it.
I couldn’t miss out on my children’s lives or deal with only seeing them on weekends.
And ot only would I miss out on my children’s lives, I’d only see my second-shift husband like ships passing in the night.
It was then that I knew I wanted to try something crazy: I wanted to work from home.
Sales had never been my thing (still isn’t!), and almost every other work-from-home job sounded so…. scammy.
I felt so lost. Where could I go and what could I DO to try to earn money from home?
Cue Pinterest with the answer to all of my questions and prayers: blogging.
I saw my first income report from blogging on Pinterest and I was hooked. That day, I started my blog.
It wasn’t easy. I thought it would be a piece of cake and I was SO wrong.
I was working 50+ hour weeks spinning my wheels and getting nowhere. I was up at 5am and didn’t go to sleep until midnight or later. All while I had a newborn to take care of, too!
I was burning that candle at both ends. Each day I felt like a little more of me was dying.
Not because I wasn’t loving blogging ( because I did! ) but because I never saw my working paying off. I was hustling HARD for those 100 pageviews each day, waiting for the next post to go viral and make me my full-time income.
But those days never came. In fact, in my highest earning month in my first 6 months of blogging, I had made $0.17.
Yes, you read that right… SEVEN. TEEN. CENTS.
I was ready to throw in the towel. Obviously blogging just wasn’t for me.
Around the same time, I got an email from Ruth Soukup, just like the one you’re reading now. She mentioned in a line of that email that she made a full-time income blogging.
I’m sorry… what?!
I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t know what I wanted to blog about, or anything about who my target audience was, and I had no idea what making a “full-time income online as a blogger” meant. I figured that any money made online would be like $1,000 and be considered “full-time.”
I knew that I loved writing and helping people. And I really loved being a cheapskate.
And more than anything else, I knew that if I didn’t try to start a blog to make a full-time income, I knew I’d always be wondering what if…
What could my life look like? Would my kids have a better life? What if we could buy our dream house?
There’s nothing that scares me more than wondering what if.
That was the day that I decided to become a real blogger. I grabbed Ruth’s freebie, 7 Ways to Boost Your Blog Income Overnight, and I started following each and every step in the book. Elite Blog Academy (which isn’t available now but you can join the waiting list here- it opens MARCH 5th).
5 months later, I was making $1,987/month from blogging, and it’s still going up! This past month, I made over $12,000 in one month from home as a blogger.
Yes, it’s super weird to have everyone in the world know how much I make. But I made myself the promise to release those income reports so that other moms knew the potential of blogging. Because I thought that I was out of options.
Thanks to blogging, I make my own schedule and choose how I want my life to look. I can homeschool, keep the kids at home all day, I could even travel the country in an RV if I wanted to!
I work 20 hours a week and have complete control over my work schedule, family time, and the time I can spend being a mom.
So, if I constantly tell you about starting a blog, it’s because I want that for you! I want you to know that there is another way to work from home. It’s definitely not a mainstream way to bring in an income, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Here’s my challenge to you: start your blog today for one year. Commit to being a blogger for one whole year. 10-20 hours a week is all you need.
Don’t see “failure” as making less than $50,000/ month in your first year (I mean, if you make that, you’re my new hero!). But have a goal for yourself. Make this your own personal challenge.
So you will never, ever have to wonder what if.
You can start your own blog for as little as $2.95/month, and that’s really the only expense you need to start. It’s not enough though to just start your blog. You don’t want to waste your precious 10-20 hours a week spinning your wheels and getting no results. You’ll need direction and guidance to go from a hobby blog to a full-time blog business.
That’s where the Elite Blog Academy comes in.
It’s not available right now (sad face) but some of the best blogging resources I’ve ever received have come from emails from Ruth. They are always offering free training of some kind, but right now the freebie is Ruth’s book 7 Ways to Boost Your Blog Income Overnight.
And finally they are opening up on MARCH 5th for a VERY limited time sale!!
They only open it up once a year and ONLY for a few days, so get ready for the best investment in your blog that you’ll ever make. Until then, the free resources in your inbox will help point you in the right direction while you wait for the class.
Don’t let fear stop you from starting your blog. I know that you can do it!
I hope you love blogging freebies as much as I do!!
If you already have a blog or if you are thinking about starting one, I recommend checking out these free resources below as well.
- 2018 Blogging Trends eBook – Want to be ahead of the blogging trends this year? This is exactly what you need to have the hottest posts!
- Secret Blueprint for Blogging Success – Ever wish you had a roadmap to blogging success? The Secret Blueprint shows you the exact steps you need to take to grow your blog fast and monetize successfully. It’s a game changer, and right now, for a limited time, you can get it absolutely free!
- New Blogger’s Guide to Guest Posting – Packed with practical tips you can implement right away, this super helpful guide will help you grow your audience with guest posting and make sure your content is a hit every time. It’s a game changer, and right now, for a limited time, you can get it absolutely free!
- 120 Amazing Blog Post Ideas – Struggling to come up with new content for your blog? The 120 awesome blog post ideas will help you beat writer’s block and bring killer content that builds your business every time. It’s a game changer, and right now, for a limited time, you can get it absolutely free!
- 8 Bad Blogging Habits and How to Break Them – Are your bad habits holding back? Packed with practical tips you can implement right away, this super helpful mini ebook will help you identify and destroy destructive behavior so that you can grow your blog more quickly than ever. It’s a game changer, and right now, for a limited time, you can get it absolutely free!
- 10 Steps to Take When a Post Goes Viral – Want to know how to maximize a popular post? This super helpful guide shares the exact steps you need to take to make the most of a traffic surge and build momentum that will last. It’s a game changer, and right now, for a limited time, you can get it absolutely free!
- Blog Structure Blueprint – This freebie will help you to create an organized blog.
- Boost Blog Income Ebook – This free ebook gives great tips on how to increase your blogging income.
- Goal Setting Workbook – Do you want to learn how to work smarter, not harder? This Goal Setting Workbook for Bloggers is the perfect tool to help you take back your time by allowing you to clarify your purpose and prioritize what’s really important.
Grab the free Blog Resource Guide!
Get access to the insider tips, tricks, and tools that I learned to help me get more than 200,000 pageviews/ month in my first year blogging!
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Heather says
I’ve been an “on again off again” blogger for years but have always wondered what I might accomplish if I really worked for it. I’m seriously considering your year long blogging challenge! Did you know your niche going in or did you figure it out as time went on? Congrats on your 1 year anniversary, by the way! 🙂
Caroline says
Thanks, Heather! Initially, I started my blog as a general “mom blog” but as I went on, I found myself coming back to the same things: saving money and making money. And finally I felt like I needed to switch niches. I still write everything from my perspective as a mom, but it’s much more frugality-central now. And I could talk about it all day, every day!
Treshea Johnson says
Ok so you can tell I bought my .com address but I can not figure blogger out to even post my first blog. Can I transfer my domain name and address since I already paid for it to BlueHost?
Congratulations on your one year anniversary.
I am praying about the challenge you issued. I have wanted to do this since 2014
Caroline says
Yay! Congratulations, Treshea! Were you using blogger before, or did you just install Blogger instead of WordPress? If you can, install WordPress instead of Blogger. It will be better in the long run for your blog business. If you’re still having trouble with that, I know Bluehost does “site migration” to move the site from Blogger to WordPress. But if you don’t have anything to move, you might just want to install WordPress instead. And don’t forget that you can reach out to Bluehost for their support. 🙂 Feel free to email me if you have any more questions that you need help with! 🙂