Comments on: Could I be a full-time blogger?

By: fathersez

fathersez — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 15:29:55 +0000

Blogging is only one way you could make money if you were to have all that chunk of time free without a full time job. I am sure you could work out a few more options.

Now that the dream has started, start dreaming a little more about the details, and the pieces will all just start fitting together.

Good luck.

By: Jon Kepler

Jon Kepler — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:02:40 +0000

If you only needed to make 10/hour x 20 hours per week, would you be able to afford to quit your job then? Great, then hire someone to do extra blogging for you for $10/hour! You could branch off and start a related blog that they could control. I understand that large money seems far off, but Mike Arrington and Nick Denton have both done a pretty good job growing their blogs into enterprises. Expanding to a few times the size you are now can’t be impossible.

By: mapgirl

mapgirl — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 13:16:05 +0000

It’s not what you make. It’s what you keep. 6-figures or not, y’all probably do ok in DC, despite it’s high cost.

Take it from me. I watched my parents work very hard for their livelihood all my life, even now. When you work for yourself, it’s a lot of work, despite the autonomy. Do it because you want that autonomy and flexibility because there is definitely security in what you do for your current job. Wait till you have to slow down to go pro and save your cash till then.

By: Clever Dude

Clever Dude — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 12:59:16 +0000

@Mr. Credit Card, I agree with your reasoning, but I can never imagine making 1.5x our current combined salaries just from blogging! Keep in mind that we live in the D.C. region, so our salaries, er my salary, is pretty high compared to rural PA.

While I’m sure it would make calculations in all my readers’ heads easier to just disclose our salaries, I can’t as some of my coworkers and Stacie’s coworkers know about the site. I will say, though, that we make in the 6-figure range combined (again, keep in mind we live/work in/around D.C.).

By: Mr Credit Card

Mr Credit Card — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 12:54:07 +0000

Hey Clever Dude

Don’t quite your job – it’s silly to do that when both of you are making much more. Sacrifice your nights and weekends a little more. I’d wait until you have consistently made 1.5 times your combined salary before you go full.

This way you are hedged! With a good risk reward profile.

Mr Credit Card

By: plonkee

plonkee — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 21:39:13 +0000

I’ve also been thinking the same sort of thing, but I reckon my blogging income is probably about a quarter of yours. So that’s not going to happen any time soon.

But, if I got a slightly better paid job (I’ve discovered that I’m underpaid compared to the market) and switched to working part-time, say 3 or 4 days a week, part-time pro-blogging would definitely be doable.

I’m concerned about how many hours I can put into blogging and work without getting burned out. It’s alright at the minute, but…

By: Clever Dude

Clever Dude — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:42:10 +0000

@Jon, I don't really have defined ad space. I like to keep my site design clean (although I will test ad placements sometimes). If you have ideas, feel free to email me via my contact page

By: Jon Kepler

Jon Kepler — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:40:17 +0000

Clever Dude, have you ever considered selling ads yourself, or getting a company to sell your ad space for you? I don’t know what your traffic is like, but if it’s fairly significant, you may be able to get a higher price than what you get paid for the same space right now.

By: Clever Dude

Clever Dude — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:17:42 +0000

@Lawyer, Right now, I’m making most of my cash off various text links sales, but when I apply myself, I do well off of affiliate links for credit cards. Adsense is probably only 5-15% of my income in any given month.

By: MoneyGrubbingLawyer

MoneyGrubbingLawyer — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 18:51:28 +0000

Clever Dude, what do you find to be the best revenue sources for your websites? It sounds like you’re doing fairly well with them, and I’d be curious to see what programs are working best for you.