I’ve had my blog, Mary Teaches, for over 3 years now. In the past 3 years, I’ve learned so much, from how to put together a website, to having a healthy life/work balance. I admit, I spend more time enjoying life than I do working. And that’s exactly why I started a blog! Don’t get me wrong though, blogging does take time.
A blog is a business. I know that most people think blogging is all fun and games. Heck, I had a friend ask “So, what do you write about? What you do everyday?” Ha, it’s not like that! Though I’m not getting paid to live a glamorous life, taking photos of myself with a drink in my hand on a beach for my blog, there are many things that I love about running a blog.
Sharing My Knowledge With Those Seeking It
My friends all think of me as the go-to for beauty and skincare advice, which is what most of my blog is about. They’re also great inspiration for my blog posts. If they come to me with a question, I figure that someone else on the internet is also wondering the same thing, so I offer my advice as a blog post too.
There are many times when I am wondering something, or try something out for myself, and become totally excited about my findings, but have no one to share it with in real life! It may be something that my friends don’t necessarily care about, but I know there’s someone else out there that probably would, so I make a blog post about it. Once the post is published, when someone does a Google search on the topic, they may land on my post and get their answers.
In that way, I love having the ability to share my knowledge about random things I figure out on my own, and being able to share it to an audience beyond just my friends and family.
Making Passive Income
Yes – you can earn money blogging! In fact, my blog earns me income monthly via affiliate sales and ad earnings. I also make income by working with brands on my blog. Once I publish a post, I make sure to monetize the post by placing ads, using my affiliate links when suggesting products, and so on. I favour content that is evergreen, so that it stays relevant and people continue to land on it.
Another perk that I haven’t added to this list? I randomly get unexpected packages in the mail with goodies from different cosmetic and beauty brands!
Working From Anywhere in the World
I admit, I take a lot of time off. I enjoy summers with my family, take vacations, and create content whenever I feel inspired. If I wanted to, I could literally pack up my stuff tomorrow and move to Southeast Asia, live in one country for 3 months, and move to a new country for another.
I love that I don’t have to work specific hours or in a specific location. Like I said, I only work when I feel the inspiration to do so.
Constantly Learning New Skills
When I first started my blog, I wanted to figure everything out myself. From how to point domain names to how to set up my hosting, to figuring out what the heck WordPress was…there was SO much to learn! And there is still more to learn. Once you get over the technical stuff, you have to learn how to market your blog and how to grow an audience.
The skills that I’ve learned are so valuable that I’ve been able to apply them to other ventures that I’ve started. Really, the opportunities after becoming a self-starter are endless. I could take the individual skills I’ve learned and offer them as services to other bloggers or businesses that have no interest in doing it themselves. I could offer coaching to new bloggers who don’t know where to start. I could also create information products, like ebooks or digital courses, educating people how to do specific things. There really is no limit!
Do you have a blog? If so, what’s your favourite thing about running it?
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I started my blog (Sarah Michiko) when I was a freshman in college. I wanted to share all the pictures from my adventures in college in one concentrated place. I just loved the idea of sharing things I love with the idea that someone out there might like them too!
I’ve already learned so much about running a blog in the last year and half: social media, wordpress, editing my images, writing, networking.. it never ends! I love it.
I love this post so much! I feel like in the last couple of years, most posts about blogging talk about how hard and time-consuming it is which, although true, misses all the great parts of it, that for many of us make the time and effort put into it completely worth it. I love all the things you mentioned about blogging, and probably my favourite part is that it is a space that we can use however we want and need in order to express and share more of ourselves.
My blog ( zyrakuma.wordpress.com) has been running about a year ago. The best part? I get to write about a topic that I’m passionate about, that could help someone else who has the problem I use to have 🙂
I’ve learnt so much about blogging throughout my journey ~
The hardest part is having patience. It takes an average about 2-4 years for many bloggers to get readers and to earn an income from their blogging endeavors. So many people give up in 3-6 months after starting their blogs, you have to think of it as a long-end game.