This is a topic I’ve wanted to chime in on for a long time now. Many bloggers, some well known, others not so well know, have been talking money. In particular how much can you earn from blogging.
Combining all my income sources outside of my business, the total for March 2007 comes to $6549.52 – and most of that comes from this blog you are reading now. Note that is a gross profit figure, there are people who work with me that I pay and other related expenses, but about 90% of that is pure profit.
I wish I could tell you I spend that money on fun things – and some of it will go to leisure activities and living expenses – but much of it goes right back into my online ventures to pay for outsourcing and growing web assets that produce income. I am in business afterall and you can’t spend your profits frivolously if you want to be in business for the long haul.
Blogging Part Time For A Full Time Income
The reason I disclose my income for last month is because I want to show you that it is possible to blog part time and earn a full time income. If you read my blog regularly you know that while my posts are often lengthy and of high quality, I’m far from the most prolific blogger online.
I aim for a new post around once per day and I rarely publish multiple articles a day, certainly not full sized articles. In fact I frequently go a day or two without posting new content. This is a deliberate choice I make because I want to spend my time doing many different things, some work related (business building), some health related (exercise) and some for fun (seeing friends, family, eating out, etc). I really enjoy blogging, but my main goal is to live with the freedom to blog only when I want to, not because I have to earn a certain amount of money or I’ve placed pressures on myself to meet certain quotas.
You have to do something of course – I wouldn’t expect you to keep reading my blog if I didn’t provide regular value to you – but you can blog and earn good money without being a slave to the blogging career. You set realistic expectations and then match your activities to meet those expectations and hopefully, like I have managed to do, you can create a pretty fantastic lifestyle built around blogging.
How Hard Do You Want To Work?
I have noticed that most bloggers who report four figure or more incomes from blogging are very active, posting many articles each day and need to maintain the pace to keep earning.
Some professional bloggers might rely on delivering a certain number of pageviews each month to keep the AdSense or other contextual income coming, or perhaps take on every single paid review that comes their way. There’s nothing wrong with that, and many of these bloggers earn more money than I do from blogging, but I do not advocate or wish to replicate the level of work required to sustain that monetization strategy. The pay might be good, but the labor, in my mind, is too high a price to pay in hours taken from your life, which you could spend in other ways.
I aim for balance, financial stability and time freedom, and blogging is the vehicle at the moment I use to help meet those goals. I believe you can do the same, if you follow certain patterns, work diligently but not excessively, and stay focused.
If you know me and/or have read this blog for a while, you know that I promote methods of building passive income and passion driven businesses. In the case of blogging, my series on blogging business models outlined models that use blogs to derive income that don’t rely on one person for the income stream – this is the formula for building passive income from blogging.
I’m working on the passive blog business model myself right now with a couple of other blogs, but for the moment at this blog, Entrepreneurs-Journey.com, it’s a showcase of my writing and teachings, not something I plan to outsource since it would no longer be my blog. That may one day change if I decide I no longer want to write to this blog, but for the moment it’s all Yaro, with the occasional guest article now and then.
The passion model, means you blog because you enjoy it, you get paid well for doing it, but you are not a slave, and preferably, you are using passive income streams to monetize your blog, so when you do stop blogging the money doesn’t dry up completely. That’s exactly what I do now at this blog. I love blogging because I enjoy communicating and helping others. To make money from it, and good money, grants me the holy grail of doing something I love and getting paid well for it.
Yaro Starak
Blog Mentor
Congratulations Yaro, it is good to see you doing well. Weren’t you doing around $1200 last year?
Hi Yaro,
That’s a pretty decent profit for a part time income. And cheers for letting us know how much you’re making – your openness is really appreciated!
– Will
Thanks for sharing with us on the subject, Yaro. I’m no where near your level of success, yet, but I certainly see the potential. I have several other blogging acquaintances who are honestly doing that well or even better, so I know it is no “fluke”. I also know you have worked for it, and I applaud your perseverance.
The part time reference is very interesting. A fellow blogger who states he seldom works more than couple hours a day has made a series of posts on his blog about setting himself a goal of working 40 hours a week.
Many of us probably spend more than 40 hours a week on line … but I wonder how many spend anything like 40 hours per week working their business. Would be interesting to know what amount of time you caonsider ‘part time’ and what others consider a rational amount of time to spend is? For myself, I doubt I have spent an hour a day in the past month actually “working” to further my goals and I certainly feel I have to chnage that.
Hi Yaro,
I’ve been reading your blog for sometime now. Thanks for all the great content/posts.
I am attempting to cross the divide from full time employment over to self employed – blog and business. Its not an easy path to walk – but I’ll get there. I use people like yourself as Virtual Mentors. So no pressure 😉 and keep up the good work.
Thanks James. I can’t remember what it was last year, but at some point for sure it was around $1200 per month.
It starts to build up if you stick at it long enough.
Thanks Will. I don’t mind talking about my income levels, however I don’t want to do it too often because I find it can actually discourage people.
In the past I’ve felt depressed when I read how much others are making. It’s not a good reaction. I’ve since changed the way I look at other people’s success and use it as motivation and encouragement (not quite all the time – it takes some discipline!).
I definitely want people to look at what I do with blogging as inspiration, not with jealousy. I’m not hear to boast but I do want to demonstrate the potential if you jump on board the blogging for money path and sometimes you need to prove it before people believe you.
I’ve got a few more blog posts with more proof along these lines in the hope of bringing on board a great group of bloggers into my mentoring program.
Congrats Yaro, well deserved I’m sure 🙂
Congrats, Yaro!
Any chance of breaking that figure down into the individual income streams?
Cheers,
Joe
Dave – I have a lot of trouble classifying what “work” is since I generally enjoy what I do, I don’t consider it work based on what the “standard” definition people use. Most people associate work with something they HAVE to do that they don’t enjoy all the time.
Of course there are times when I don’t feel like “going to work”, essentially doing the things that lead to making money, but even then once I get going I enjoy it.
But, for the sake of simplicity lets call work what you do to make money.
Presently I spend A LOT of time online, more than full time hours, that’s for sure. Not every day, but certainly 40 hours in a week.
Of that time I probably spend about 2-3 hours a day on average actively working on my blog, which mostly concerns writing articles. I might do this at home, at a cafe downtown or in one of my favorite suburbs like West End or on an airplane – wherever I have my laptop with me.
The rest of the time is spent responding to emails, talking to friends on IM/Skype, working with my contractors and business partners, all the usual Internet business activities.
However let’s say I gave up everything else I do online and just focused on my blog and was happy to live off what I make from it. If that was the case then I’d need about two hours per day for writing and maintenance and that would be about it. The income from that activity would remain at about $2000 – $6000 per month, so a full time income for working part time.
I think that’s pretty cool and I’m thankful for being born at a time when a “career” like blogging is available to us.
Joe – You beat me to it!
I’ll have those details to you in a new post sometime in the next few days.
I just passed the point of $300 a month with all of my income streams I so want to get that number up to over 2k a month. Congrats on your accomplishments.
Yaro,
Excellent post. I think it is really cool that you have found a good balance between blogging and making money other ways online. I made the mistake of putting too much time into blogging and I am now thinking of ways to change that. I want more freedom with my time then what many of the top bloggers appear to have. I don’t want blogging to become a 9-5 job. More like 9-noon…
All the best,
George
Thanks for sharing your earnings. I think the more bloggers that make their details public, the easier it will be for other bloggers to improve their earnings.
I’ve been sharing my earnings for 3 months now and the latest details are here if anyone wants to read
Thanks for sharing that information. It’s encouraging to see people making a good income blogging.
Thanks for the great article. I just came across your site, and you definitely hooked another reader. I just started a blog less than a week ago, and am hoping to attain some sort of passive income.(though I’m sure it will be a LONG time before it’s anywhere close to yours.
Thanks again, and I look forward to reading your posts in the future.
Great inspirational post. Am looking forward to beginning your online course. Until then have a great week, month, year and life.
Thanks
Hi Yaro. I just read “Blog Profits Blueprints” (referred through Problogger) and wanted to say great job.
You’ve opened my eyes to these recursive affiliate programs and I especially like the section on information overload. I agree that the vast majority of my online endeavors are not focused on what I should be doing.
Anyway, I’m probably too lazy to blog for a living, but I just wanted to stop by and say great job and congrats on your success.
This is great going. Your hard work pays yaro. I like to see you get 10k readers. All the best.
Hi Yaro,
Got referred to this post via your blog profits blueprint.
I remember the first time I stumbled upon your blog was when I was doing some internet marketing research and you were talking about the product. And it was also the first time I saw someone refer to an affiliate link with an (aff) tag attached.
That honesty was, and still is, really refreshing in today’s internet marketing society.
Now that I’m reading your blog profits blueprint and learning more about someone I know I will grow to respect, I just want to drop by and officially say “hi!” 😉
Blogs are an excellent way to make money. They tend to index quicker in the search engines and have better inner structuring that will benefit SEO techniques.
Good wook Yaro, I’m trying to get traffic as everyone is. Looks like your site will be a good resource for that end.
Hi Yaro,
I’ve read your Blue Print twice now – very easy to read and full of cool stuff. I’ve been blogging for a while, but never really made any headway. I now have a second wind thanks to your writings and recommend it to anyone.
Many thanks,
Phill
I even added your banner in the prime advertising spot on my blog, so I really must like it! (You will earn me more in commissions than I was getting from google won’t you? – Don’t answer anything that I advertise in this position earns me more than I was getting from Google! 🙂
Hey Phill – If you can make some consistent sales, then of course I think I could make you more money, although really you are doing the work so you should take the credit 🙂
Excellent post Yaro. I appreciate your honesty and the fact you tell people it is a process. So often people are misled to believe they can do little and make lots without a proper foundation in place.
You are definitely the “real deal” and I like that.
Kathleen Gage
The Street Smarts Marketer
Yaro, just wanted to stop by to say Hi and thank you for the great info in your free ebook on how to monetize your blog. I’m working to put your concepts into action, “one baby step at a time.” Thanks again.
This article is very inspiring.
I never thought this kind of money was possible from a blog and will read your “Blogging Secrets” ebook very carefully.
Thanks for this precious information.
Impressive numbers. I like hearing the high numbers because it is inspiration to keep going with it.
Yaro,
I enjoyed your article and am inspired by how much money one can make from blogging if this is taken seriously and with good time management and dedication.
Peter
Can’t argue with the numbers. It’s certainly inspiring me to focus more time on blogging, which I have to admit I’ve always kind of ignored.
I’ve just got a copy of your ‘Blog Profits Blueprint’ and am making my way through it, (hence arriving at this article).
Thanks for sharing – Best, Paul
Thanks for your ebook, “Blog Profits Blueprint”. I am reading now.I am new to this but like writing I have for mechanical turk and some here at helium.I know it’s not blogging but it was the first time I saw and have make some pennies(lol). I then ran across your blog. I guess those pennies paid off as it made me want to know more. peace. http://www.helium.com/user/show/352098
Hi Yaro
I am just catching up with the Blog Profits Blueprint before I start the proper Blog Mastermind course.
I’m sure that with your help, The Business Coaching Blog will take off.
It has already become a real passion and I’m thrilled at the amount of traffic that I get but I know that it can be bigger, better and generate more income for me and profit for my readers.
I haven’t looked at other successful bloggers’ as a discouragement, it really encourages me instead, it sort of tells me, if he could do it i could, but i think if you are looking to make money blogging you should make sure that you blog about something that interests you and a niche you wont run out of ideas about, i’m just about taking off when it comes to traffic, hope to increase traffic levels eventually,great blog you have..good luck yaro!
Yaro, thanks for your openness and willingness to pass on your knowledge. I am just starting to look at blogs and hope that I can achieve a small percentage of your success in the next couple of years.
Again, thanks,
Harry
Hi Yaro!
I really do enjoy reading this as it does inspire me to become a better blogger and helps me with providing better quality to my readers, do you mind simply checking my site to just make sure everything is the way it should be? I am doing everything in my power at this time in life to make a full time living off of blogging and I take everything so seriously but I have fun when I write so it is a pay off.
Thank you so much for being a role model for me,
-Visin
http://www.azerothnow.com
Congratulations Yaro; I could only ever dream of earning this much money online in a month (I barely make $6k online in a year!)
Regardless, its always inspiring to hear such success stories and hopefully one day I too will be a loaded blogger!
Keep it up 🙂
I feel the same way as you and eventually Id like to be posting no more than a few times a week to maintain the standard of living I want. Time is money and my time is very precious.
Hi Yaro,
I’ve come to believe that one of the major keys to success is intelligent consistency. By being consistent in your efforts and also studying and using new techniques you will eventually meet success.
Do you find this to be true?
I find this article very inspiring Yaro! Thanks for allowing us to look in and see your progress along the way. I can’t wait until the day where I’m making this much from my blog.
This post is an inspiration for sure, It almost seems to good to be true! I’m going to starting a blog in connection with my offline business and I hope the blog at least helps with the rankings of my business site, but you’ve opened my eyes to what’s possible when it comes to earning income solely from a blog.
Hi Yaro,
I understand how how much hard work it is to be a blogger,but in my opinion it is better to sell products.We all know that if we want good profits we must go for affiliate marketing because blogs dont make much,of course if you blog regularly and review products then people would trust you and that would mean more affiliate sales.
It is really interesting to read these older posts from you Yaro. I can see how much has changed around here, including the amount of money you are making. It hase nearly been four years since you wrote this post, and now your newsletter boasts a $20k a month income for this blog.
It is interesting to note too that your perspective on building passive income streams has not changed.
– Andrew
best article . i bookmarked it .
Thanks
Misbah Mumtaz
Thanks Yaro, you really inspire me to keep on going on my quest to making money from my blog.