Earlier this month, I wrote a guest post on Making Sense of Cents on my experience of buying my very first house.
Writing this post gave me a lot of flash back of the anxieties I had when going through the home buying process.
It especially hits home when the financial market was as volatile as it is today.
It’s times like these that I wonder if the housing market will suffer as badly as the previous recession.
I planned to use this blog as an outlet to process my thinking process. It’s not as scary this time around, but the uncertainty still looms.
I will journal how the next economic downturn can be either a wealth builder or wealth destroyer opportunity, as well as how to weather through the storm.
In the meantime, you can read the guest post here.
Or continue reading below for some exclusive blogging tips from a millionaire blogger!
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link. Please see my full disclosure for further information.
Blogging Tips from Making Sense of Cents
I first came across to the Making Sense of Cents blog in a Forbes article that reads, “This Blogger Earns Over $1 Million Per Year While Sailing a Luxury Sailboat.”
I was a sucker for catchy titles like that (still am) so naturally I clicked on it. At the time, I was also very much motivated by the prospect of living a financially independent life.
This was how I found Michelle’s blog.
She’s also a fellow personal finance blogger who started her blogging journey in 2011. Michelle started out as a financial analyst, right around the same time when I was also an analyst working for a private bank.
But unlike Michelle, I continued my career path in corporate finance and never really gave any thought into building a business via a blog.
According to Michelle, she was able to quit her job after two years of blogging part-time.
I thought that was so fascinating because how crazy is it that a blog can generate a liveable income.
Anyway, Michelle figured this out ahead of time and now she’s financially independent. Her story is inspiring so I reached out to her for some blogging advice.
I was also intrigued by the proposition of living on a boat!
To my surprise, Michelle was kind enough to share her thoughts and she agreed to let me share them on this blog as well.
Here are some of her exclusive tips:
Blogging Anonymously
When Michelle started Making Sense of Cents, she was an anonymous blogger for two years.
As a FIRE (financial independent, retire early) blogger, it’s recommended that we stay anonymous until we reach financial independence (FI).
There’s always a risk of unreasonable bosses out there who hate the idea of those pursuing FI. Here’s a hilarious article that explains this phenomenon by Millennial Revolution: THE F*CK-OVER-ABILITY INDEX. (My score was 6 by the way.)
So I asked Michelle for some tips regarding this matter and here’s what she has to say, “Being anonymous is pretty normal in the financial blogging space. I know many bloggers who have started out this way, and many who are still anonymous.”
She also shared that she didn’t post any pictures of herself until after she quit her job and started blogging full-time.
How to Succeed in Blogging
Michelle worked a corporate job before she quit in 2013 to become a full-time blogger.
I asked Michelle how other bloggers can succeed in today’s highly connected and ultra-competitive online world, and here’s what she has to say:
“I think there’s plenty of room in today’s world for new bloggers. Everyone has their own story to share, and more and more people are reading blogs. Companies and advertisers are only recently seeing the huge value in advertising on blogs as well, and I believe that this will only continue to grow.
Some of my top tips for new bloggers include:
- Always continue to learn about blogging. There’s always something new to learn when it comes to blogging. It’s definitely NOT a get rich quick scheme.
- See other bloggers as friends, not competition. This means attend conferences, go to blogger meetups, share content from others, and more.
- Be self-hosted and own your domain. Just do it!”
Tips on Building a Business
Blogging is not the only way to build a business, but it’s one that almost anyone with internet connection and a small start-up cost can do.
It’s not easy though and it looks like Michelle agrees. Here are her thoughts on how someone can turn a blog into a lucrative business:
“It hasn’t been easy, but it has been fun and well worth it! I don’t really have any secrets, as I share everything on my blog in my income reports (you can find my blogging income reports here), but here are some of my best tips:
- Diversify your income. There are many ways to earn money blogging, and I recommend taking part in at least a few. For me, I earn money blogging through affiliate marketing, sponsored partnerships, product income, and display advertising.
- Diversify your traffic. Diversifying your income is important, but equally as important is finding ways to diversify your traffic. Traffic strategies change ALL THE TIME, so you will want to find multiple ways to “earn” your traffic. This could be through Google SEO, Pinterest, Facebook, paid advertising, Instagram, and more.
- Find your own voice. What is great about blogging is that there are tons of different ways to do it. What may work for one blog, may not work for yours, and vice versa.
- Try affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is my favorite way to make money blogging. So many bloggers skip this area, but I think it’s crucial to running a successful blog. I teach all of my affiliate marketing strategies for bloggers in my course Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing.”
Can Parents Live on a Sailboat?
Finally, I was curious to know if parents can live on sailboat as nomads.
Currently, Michelle travels all over the globe with her husband on their sailboat. It’s like an infinite vacation!
Since this is a parenting blog, I asked Michelle if it’s possible to do it the day she decides to become a mom and if her living arrangement will change when that happens. Here’s her response, “I don’t know if I’ll ever become a mom, or what we would do. There are many boat and RV families in the world, so if it did happen then it would be an option. We have owned a house previously as well, so that would be an option as well.”
I didn’t know that there are families who live on a boat and RV. I’m intrigued by how this could work with kids (especially one whose a toddler).
Do I envision a life like that? Sometimes.
The idea of saying goodbye to all worldly possessions and just bring along only what’s essential is an inspiring thought.
I’m just not sure if I could really do it though. But you just never know!
To start your own blog with self-hosting option, check out Bluehost which is the web host I use for this blog. For a complete list of blogging tools, check out the Resource Page.
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