Funny, isn’t it?
While every other guy next to you is raving to date a beautiful girl or maybe dreaming to get a white collar job with the sky high package.
We bloggers, on the other hand, dream to have high DA backlinks, thousands of email subscribers, huge social following and tons of traffic.
Did you realize that? As a blogger, our definition of happiness changes. Every time, you saw an email notification which says something like this:
Yippee! Your list has gained a new subscriber.
Or when you saw a spike of traffic in your analytics.
Or when you received a fan mail.
Or when you get hundreds of comments & everyone appreciating your content.
These are the things which make us happy.
For us, acceptance of our guest post on a popular blog is something way more delightful than any girl’s proposal!
Accept it, it’s true, isn’t it?
We are a way more happy and contented with $200 Paypal transaction a month (as a beginner) than working for any MNC who maybe giving way more than that.
Did you notice that? As a blogger, our perception of living a life change because;
We love to spending 10-16 hours a day in front our laptops because we it feels great working for ourselves.
We’re always trying to write better and better. Eventually we’re becoming writers.
Our favorite writers changes to Seth Godin, Tim Ferris, Paulo Coelho. And our idols changes to Neil Patel, Jon Morrow, Brian Clarke, Darren Rowse.
Even we don’t have enough idea of programming, but still we’ve learnt it (somewhat) & made design of our blogs.
Color schemes, fonts, load time, keywords, productivity, procrastination, patience, optimism are no longer mere words for us.
In short, every single day, along with blogging, we’re actually trying to make ourselves a better person.
And you know what the awesome thing about all this is?
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We freaking love it!
We aren’t forced or compelled here, neither by our parents nor by anybody. We’re doing it, because we actually love doing it. Not because of somebody else.
But wait!
Let’s get real here.
I do have a few questions in my mind, perhaps it must be pondering in yours as well.
How long will it continue?
If you’re student, great! It’s your favorite pass time and you’re also earning a bit from your blog, but will you continue it even after your studies are over?
Do you’ve the guts to choose blogging over full time job?
And if you’re working and blogging in your free time, may be for fun or just to support your expenditures, did you made any plan to quit the job you hate going every morning?
Do you have the courage to do so?
Note for all the Bloggers Struggling to Find Their Courage
Actually the truth is, we haven’t been taken seriously!
Whenever you say to someone that you are a blogger, you’ll get a reply something like this:
Cool, but what are you doing for a living?
Ugh!
They have a mindset, does anyone make their living online? Is it really possible?
They don’t consider blogging as a profession. It’s OK if you want to do blogging for your interest, but don’t even think to take it as a full time career.
Actually, it’s not their fault, it’s yours!
Because you don’t believe that you can be a full time blogger! You don’t have enough courage to at least give it a shot.
You’re so obsessed with their toxic talks, which says, “Blogging is mere for the fun purpose, it can’t go forever for you, you can’t earn or it’s hard to earn online, it involves huge risk!”
It’s time to prove those naysayers wrong. But there is one HUGE problem.
Newsflash: You are coward to do so!
Really? Are you?
Yes, you’re. You’re afraid to cross this secure barrier. You’re afraid that how can I quit or refuse to do a job which was going to feed my family, just for my selfishness?
How will I face the disapproving looks of my friends and family?
People will make fun of me, calling me a fool if I decided to quit everything just for my blog.
And if I took that step, will it be enough to take care of myself & my family financially?
What if I won’t be able to earn enough? What if I don’t get enough traffic?
What ifs are never going to leave you, you’ve to overcome them and break this myth that you can’t earn well enough to take blogging as a career.
Let’s see the other side.
You know what?
It’s easier said than done!
Even if you made up your mind to pursue your passion, let me tell you some things very clearly, some of you are already facing it or going to face it.
It’s true at the initial stage, maybe you won’t be able to write well enough to grab the attention of people, may be you won’t get a decent amount of traffic.
There are chances that your earnings will almost be negligible for some days or even months which won’t be able to take bring food on the table.
May be you’ve to do some odd jobs, to make a living for the time being. But you’ve to uphold and brace yourself for the bad times.
Every time, you feel that your writing are being neglected or there is nothing much happening around, then there will be one question pondering in your mind.
Why I should make these sacrifices?
I’ll tell you why.
Because, deep inside your heart you never want to leave blogging, there are hell lot of ideas inside you which are urging to come out.
Because it’s feel great to work for yourself, you choose that.
Because it was your choice not to sell yourself to MNC for the job you hate.
Because you love spending your time writing, reading and finding numerous of ways to improve yourself not only as a blogger but also as a human being.
Because there’s never a moment when you have certainty that you’ll succeed. There’s never a moment when it’s clear it’ll all work out. There’s never a moment you’ll feel secure enough to take this risk.
Somehow or the other, you’ve to jump out in the field and have to face all these challenges, this is what courageous people do, this is how heroes have been made.
You’ve to find that courage!
Finding Courage to Start/Continue Full Time Blogging
When I started blogging, I discovered that a person who is running a blog isn’t just a blogger, he possesses hell lot of other qualities.
In no time, I came to know that blogging is the most versatile job. Here you’ve to be the jack of all trades.
I’m learning new things daily, blogging has just transformed me completely. I’ve learned coding, writing, marketing and numerous of other things as well.
And out of nowhere, my interest began to increase in reading. I enjoy reading inspirational books, then I jotted down the things on a paper which I’ve learned from them.
I realized that it also made a writer, it improved my writing enough that I can easily pen down my thoughts for my next blogpost.
At the starting, I always hate the free WordPress themes. I never liked their design, so it hiked my interest in the area of designing. So I learned web development which eventually made me a web developer.
As my niche was inspiration and self-development, I need picture quotes for the blog-engagement, so I’ve learned photoshop which helps me to make cool picture quotes and I’ve learned to design infographics as well.
To boost my blog traffic, I’ve study the science behind SEO, user experience, keywords, backlinks, blog commenting, guest posting, blog engagement, email marketing and all these things helps me to know better what the internet marketing is.
But then something happened.
The Gift from my College
I call it as a gift, you’ll come to know why later.
A few months back, placement drives held in my college, which really disturbed my inner peace.
Because I’ve to take decision between the two, either to pursue my dreams which I love or to get a job only for the sake of earning money.
It was a tough decision for me, probably the toughest one. I wasn’t earning much from my blog, but I simply can’t quit blogging. On the other side, I’ve to take care my family and my expenditures as well.
I’ve an education loan from bank, monthly bills to pay and daily expenditure which I’ve to take care of myself, after all I was a grown up by the time.
Finally, I made up my mind, I refused to go to any IT company and deciding to do full time blogging. But the big question was; how I’m going to survive?
Firstly, I was happy that I took a brave decision. But, deep inside me knows very well that it’s going to be really a tough call for me.
As a young guy, you, I and everybody has lots of distraction in this very age and it’s not easy to stick to your plans and schedules. While everybody out there, your friends, your batch mates, guys & gals of your age are enjoying and having fun, on the other hand, you deliberately cut yourself down from your social circle in order to accomplish your dreams.
Then, I realized that, I’m on my way to become an entrepreneur.
Sounds cool, right?
But it’s a lot easier to brag about than actually becoming one. I knew that it was going to tough, so tough that it broke me almost every day till now.
It doesn’t mean that I’m not happy with my decision- just remember that doing what you love is the most important, probably the toughest decision in one’s life.
Now I’m going to tell you:
The Lesson I’ve Learned from my Journey.
For earning I made plans and accepted the fact that I’ve to do some odd jobs too just to make it through. Rather, depending entirely on my blog, I’ve managed to go to multiple sources of income as:
- Firstly, I cut down all my extra expenditures, extra phone bills, eating out and every possible way from where I can save money.
- Then, I found a part-time gig from fiverr. I started accepting gigs to make backlinks or to write an about page for $5.
- I started to work do freelance blogging as well, writing articles for the other bloggers.
- I started teaching basic HTML, CSS to the newbies, offline.
I know, by doing these things I don’t make much, but it’s something which helps me in keeping going while I make big transition.
The most important point here is that I remain stuck to my forte. Same is that for you. There will always come a time, when things will never go on your way, but you just have to fight back hard enough to achieve the things you really want in your life.
You either do it or you die a coward.
You know what is the harsh truth?
You have crystal clear in mind what you want to do with your life. You’ve dreams and you’ve to accomplish them.
That’s what you think every time you go to your job or doing the things you hate the most. Youknow exactly what you are supposed to do with your life.
You’re serious enough about blogging, if you wasn’t, you wouldn’t be still here reading this long post. You know, deep inside your sense whispering, “This is what I meant to do.”
How long, you will neglect your inner voices?
You might say, “Vishnu, you don’t understand, I’ve a lot of other problems to tackle.”
Yes, you’re right. I don’t.
But I do understand the difference between living & existing.
What’s the point of living if you’re doing it just for the money purposes?
I’m not saying to quit your job and start blogging straight away but you can have a plan to do it incoming time. It’s okay, if you’re doing 9-5 job, but dude 8 PM-2 AM is a lot of time to do the damage.
It’s all about priorities my friend. I do understand you, but in the end it’s you who have to decide where you want to see yourself in next 10 years from now.
I do have a bank loan and family debts which I’ve to clear myself. I’m doing odd jobs for the survival. There are times, when I wasn’t able to put food on the table for myself, but I didn’t quit and neither am I going to be.
I’ve learned that either you gave excuses or start doing the real things because the problems are the part of life and it’s never going to end.
So, your excuses are just excuses.
Get OVER it and start blogging. GOD DAMN IT!
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Editor note: A contribution by Vishnu, if you would like to contribute an original piece, see contribution guidelines.
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