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I’ve always been a working mother. I had my daughter young (22) and went straight back to work once my maternity was up. Long days and sleepless nights made me feel like I was doing a bad job at home and in the workplace. It’s hard to work like you’re childless and parent like you don’t have a job.
Our financial situation has never allowed for only one of us to work. I imagine most parents are in the same boat these days – the cost of living is expensive and the well-paid jobs are scarce. When I discovered that people were earning from their blogs (I was on maternity leave with baby number two at the time), I decided to go all out in trying to make it work for me.
I’ve been blogging 9 years now and it’s my family’s main source of income.
If you’re also a working mum, you might like this website that offers online resources for working mums.
How Much Can You Earn From Blogging?
The short answer is, you can earn quite a lot. I’m not exactly raking it in and buying yachts every five minutes, but some people I know are definitely in the higher earnings bracket. I make enough to cover family expenses with some left over. If I had time, I could definitely scale it and up my earnings, but with three kids, time is pretty scarce.
How Do Bloggers Earn Money?
There are a number of ways bloggers can earn from their sites. My preference is selling advertorial copy. This means I write a promotional article but I get full control over the wording and subject matter. This means I can bring something to my readers that I know they’ll love, rather than promoting irrelevant products and services.
Another favourite is passive income, which you can build up to being ticking away and adding up while you sleep. Passive income isn’t particularly passive in the beginning as it takes a great deal of effort to build up into something worthwhile. Once you’ve cracked it though, it leaves you open to earning lots while doing very little! This can be done using ad networks or well-placed affiliate links.
Is It Too Late to Start a Blog?
Absolutely not! Anyone can start a blog and with the right amount of effort and determination, anyone can make a success of it. If the traditional side of blogging doesn’t appeal to you, there’s always the option of social media influencing.
Having an engaged audience on one or more social media platforms is a great foundation for dabbling in influencer marketing. Brands will either send you items to review or pay you to post about something that will be seen by your followers. You’re essentially lending them your audience for a fee.
How Blogging Replaced My 9-5 Job
So I’ve already discussed how I made a conscious effort to get into blogging for money, but I’ve not told you how I did it. It wasn’t an instant success and took a lot of learning along the way.
The most important thing I did was build an audience and write for them. I didn’t get any paid work in the first few months, and quite honestly, I wouldn’t have known what to do. I started my site as a hobby and learned about monetising when I was about a month in. I assumed it would take me a really long time to reach a point where I was earning, but as soon as it was clear I had a following, brands were ready to work with me.
They came to me, so on the months when no one looked for me, I didn’t get paid. I started signing up to agencies and joining opportunity groups on Facebook until earnings increased enough to live off.
Blogging has been a huge boost for our family. I can do all the school runs, attend every nativity play without bargaining with my boss and I don’t have to pay for childcare! It means we can drop everything and have a last minute holiday in the summer, and more importantly, it means I can be where I want to be – at home with the kids.
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