It didn’t really sink in until a few months ago.
I’ve managed to mostly replace my mid-career-level income from the last job I left. And well over half or more of that (all of it depending on my client load) is from my pet blog.
Ever since my first BlogPaws conference in 2012, I’ve wanted to turn my blog into my full-time job.
Supporting myself financially while hiking, traveling, spending time with my dogs and writing about it sounded amazing. It would also allow me the flexibility to spend time doing what mattered most to me like taking care of my health and spending time with friends and family.
My blog started out as a hobby though. At best. When I started You Did What With Your Wiener? I barely knew what a blog was and thought they were stupid.
But I discovered a passion and it turned into a solid hobby.
Now it’s a business, brings in a significant part of my income, and, with careful planning, it could bring in over 100k per year by next year.
Looking back, I can identify a few keys to my success. I want to share those with you.
To See Change, You Have to Change
No matter what your blog niche – pet, travel, lifestyle, or whatever – making these little shifts can make a big difference in how you think about and build your blog business.
Shift Your Mindset
Turning your blog into a business starts with treating it like one. This is definitely a case where “fake it until you make it” applies.
I don’t mean embellish how successful your blog is, or keep telling others how successful you are, but shift your mindset.
There are many ways to shift your mindset to that of a professional pet blogger, but the biggest one for me was starting to approach all opportunities with the question “Is this good for my business?”
Set SMART Goals
Every business needs goals.
I wasn’t good at setting goals until a couple of years ago and I know my blog would have grown much more quickly if I had. You have to know where you want to be in order to develop a plan and strategy to get there.
The SMART goal concept is commonly attributed to Peter Drucker’s Management by Objectives concept. It entails setting concrete objectives, figuring out how to implement them, and measuring success.
SMART Goals are:
- Specific (simple, sensible, significant).
- Measurable (meaningful, motivating).
- Achievable (agreed, attainable).
- Relevant (reasonable, realistic and resourced, results-based).
- Time bound (time-based, time limited, time/cost limited, timely, time-sensitive).
I used to set “goals” like writing 2 blog posts a week or connecting more with my audience, but those don’t fit the SMART framework. They didn’t have clarity around what exactly I was trying to achieve by when.
A SMART goal related to connecting with my audience might be to increase Facebook comments by 5% by the end of September.
I still struggle with this one but I make more progress toward turning my blog into a successful business if my goals are concrete and measurable.
Invest in Your Business
I get not having money. I once lived in a 1-room plywood shack, drove a car with over 500k miles and a battery that boiled over frequently, and got my meals from the food bank or hand-outs from friends and family.
If you don’t have it, you don’t have it.
However, if you can find it, you should.
As the saying goes, “It takes money to make money”. That is true for any business. Even one with relatively low overhead like a blogging business.
It doesn’t have to be a lot but you need to be willing to invest in your business and yourself in order to grow.
For example, you spend all of your waking hours outside of your regular job and you’re still not making money from your blog. In order to do that, you need to learn more and do more, which you don’t have time or energy for either.
Invest in a blogging coach or mentor that can share their expertise with you to significantly shorten the learning curve, listen to your goals, and tell you what you need to do to get there.
Know Your Worth (and Ask for It)
I’m going to be honest. Brands and will pay you what you say you are worth.
Thy key is in truly KNOWING your worth and confidently communicating that.
Of course, you can’t just throw out some crazy number. You have to do the math.
You have to consider how much traffic your blog gets, the size of your online communities, your expertise, your skill level, and what the going rate in your industry is for what you are offering, etc.
I will say two things about this:
1) be sure you are not undervaluing yourself due to lack of confidence (speaking from experience *ahem*); and
2) only lower your fee if you choose to and the discount is being offset by a non-monetary value (experience, product, connections, or, yes, exposure) you’re happy with.
Don’t lower your fees because you feel pressured to do so. A “no” makes way for a yes and, believe me, there will be a yes if your rates are reasonable and you’re good at what you do.
Diversity Your Sources of Income
Someone who calls themselves a “Professional Pet Blogger” doesn’t necessarily make all of their money directly from their pet blog. In fact, the majority of bloggers in any niche don’t.
The ways each blogger who makes a full-time income from their blog varies. In most cases, income directly attributable to a blog include ad networks, affiliate sales, and sponsored content.
However, your blog itself, shouldn’t be your only source of income because it probably won’t be enough and you need a second or fifth source in case your traffic tanks.
A few of the most common ways to diversify your income are:
- leverage your blog into a contract job managing social media
- write for other people and companies as a freelance writer
- become a virtual assistant for someone
- develop eBooks and Courses.
Research all of the ways to make money from a blog and then do what fits for you and your blog.
The more income streams you can be successful at, the more income you can generate and the less your income will be impacted by algorithm changes or if your blog gets hacked.
Don’t Give Up
Making a living from your blog probably sounds real nice. But it’s real work. Hard work. And it never ends.
Only you are responsible for the success of your blog. You have to really want it and be adaptable.
You may have to try a lot of things and see what sticks. “Fail fast” is a phrase I always try to remember.
Pick a target and throw yourself into getting there. But, if you keep trying and you aren’t seeing any return for your efforts, change direction. Let go, set a new direction, and go after it with equal vigor. Eventually something will stick.
Becoming a professional blogger is a marathon and not a race.
Every blogger, like every business person or employee, needs to know the right tools to get their job done successfully. However, there is a point where the learning curve flattens.
It really hit me one day that I was addicted to learning. Perhaps it was because I was fearful of actually DOING. I don’t know.
One thing I can say for sure: The things I listed above have been key to my blogging business success.
Which one of these things do you need to start doing or be more consistent with?
I need to diversify my sources of income. I have some ideas in mind that I’m hoping to complete by early next year. That being said I’m thinking about no longer offering sponsored content. I find it to be too time consuming for the amount I get paid. I think my time could be better utilized working on different parts of my blog. What are your thoughts on sponsored content?
I get that about sponsored content. I waffle back and forth on sponsorships all of the time for the same reason you mentioned. It’s a LOT of work, especially with the products I promote because I usually have to camp/hike/travel SEVERAL times to get a good story and pictures. I’ve reduced my sponsor slots to 2 a month and have a given set of deliverables. I’m thinking of either raising my price to make it worth it to me and only accepting brands that are a perfect match, reducing to 1 sponsor a month, and/or just discontinuing them. At least for the time being. Like you, I have a lot of other projects I could spend time off that I think would benefit me more in the long run.
@Jessica, you get great product pics on your hikes/camping and always tell a great story, but that’s a lot of time and work for you. I think I’m going to put sponsored content on the back burner for now.
Wow, so much information I wish I had when I first started blogging. I needed to dial it back to basics and set measurable goals.
I also think I’m addicted to learning. I needed to begin deciding where my priorities should be in all the education I want to do.
I LOVE learning so much. It was definitely holding me back though and “playing it safe”. A lot of what you learn for your own blog is learned by actually doing and experimenting to see what works.
Thanks so much for this post Jessica! Its really helpful, I think I fall short of making goals. I need to sit down and focus in on what I want to achieve. I think I get too excited and just little bits of everything without focusing on doing one thing well! Cant wait to read more on petblogbiz!! 🙂
I can totally relate to this post in so many ways. But I think you said something that I needed to hear. “Fail fast” …I’ve been working on a project for about 5 months and am struggling with it still. I do think part is my confidence, which is silly because I know what I know, and am investing in what I don’t know, so I have the competence, so my confidence should follow suit.
I did study life coaching in college, so I know the value of a smart goal, But really need to allow myself to evaluate those goals as time goes by. ?
I have been focusing my attention to affiliate marketing but all ends of it…as a network, as a merchant, and a publisher. I really like the idea of starting my own network, but a bit worried about the time constraints with every thing else. School is a job in itself and working SEO 6 months into blogging has shot me backwards, undoing and reformatting just about everything. I didn’t really think my blog would take off when I first started so I never took the time to understand what SEO really was. Now I know and I’m paying for it, lol. But it is time we’ll spent because I’m already seeing progress. ?-Jae Marie cutedogaddicts.com ?
Even though it is work now, putting in the time to improve SEO will make a huge difference in the long run. I had no idea what I was doing, or that my blog would take off, either when I started 8 years ago. I didn’t start learning about SEO seriously until a few years ago. Now I’m trying to clean up the mess made over a period of several years.
It sounds like you have a lot going on in your head in regard to affiliates. Do you have knowledge of that stuff and just lack time or are you just learning?
I get that more than you know. I’ve always been a “several pots in the fire” person and have “Ooo, shiny” syndrome bad. I still like having several things going on at once but I’m trying to get better and my planning and more efficient.