Life is good, isn’t it? For me, I am getting close to my retirement from the Marine Corps. My wife and I have gotten our finances under control as we prepare for our dual retirement in 3-4 years. We are leveraging my military retirement, our real estate, our investments, and our businesses to create a dream retirement. I cannot describe how excited I am to spend time with my wife and family without worrying about going to work. Even better, we will retire under 45 years old.
As my wife and I prepare for retirement, we understand that we need to diversify our income by starting multiple small businesses. During an economic downturn, we will leverage our businesses to navigate through the madness.
Establish Business Credit Now
I am a couple of years from starting a full-on business because I am stationed in Japan for the moment. Not one to waste time, I thought it appropriate to begin building an audience before the start of our business. An audience is eventually what will make or break your business (in addition to capital requirements).
To facilitate building an audience, I started a blog, a YouTube channel, and a Facebook group. I wanted a way for my Facebook group to follow our journey to retirement, so I started to blog and post in the group. Somewhere along the line, I really started to enjoy writing. It is something that I can see myself doing for a very long time.
I want to answer some questions about starting a blog. I think many people would really enjoy blogging after they get over two things: their fear of writing, and their fear of judgment.
5 Takeaways from “On Writing Well”
Why did you start a blog? I started a blog because I needed a business to diversify my income throughout retirement. Also, blogging was a great way to start building an audience.
What is one of your favorite things about blogging? I absolutely love the fact that I can write from anywhere in the world. To me, being able to make money from anywhere in the world was my number one priority. There were other jobs that I could have done besides blogging, but I wanted to be truly free (time and money).
How long does it take to create content? It depends on what you consider creating content. Writing an article takes about an hour, and then another thirty minutes to create an image and upload. However, reading and taking notes is a vital part of writing a blog.
How do you come up with ideas for content? Read, read, and then read some more. In order to be a content creator, you will need to absorb a lot of content. Together with external content and your internal opinions and experiences, you will always have fresh content. I would say that you need an hour a day to absorb content from books, articles, and videos. For more on this, read this article, How to Create a Never-Ending Stream of Content.
How much do you make from blogging? Blogging is not something that you can monetize very quickly. You need to earn people’s trust first. They want to ensure that you are going to be around a while before they invest in you. Think about your favorite TV series. It is hard to watch season one of a series because the show may get canceled and you will be sad. Same thing with blogging, YouTube, and other content creation. People want to know that you are in it for the long haul. That being said, I make about $10 a month right now.
7 Pre-Steps to Starting a Blog
I am actually super excited about my $10 a month. I know that the amount will continue to grow and grow. I have been really focused on my writing for about a month. But let’s think this over. I created a blog and people have voted with their wallets. To have someone purchase something that you write is an amazing feeling. I wish more people would try to produce content.
Another amazing thing is that I made money without working a job. I woke up one day and decided to start a blog. And then my job became to learn how to improve it. Every day I am doing something to tweak, improve, and ensure the best experience and content for my audience.
5 Takeaways from “How to Blog for Profit”
How do you monetize blogging? There are too many ways to monetize a blog. The question really should be “How do you monetize your audience?” In order to get your audience to trust you, you will need to bring them great content. You have to be a source of new and different content. Once you have provided enough value, then and only then, will you be able to ask them to buy something from you. Once you get to that point, there are so many ways to monetize your blog that I cannot even list one-third of them. Here are some ways to monetize your blog.
- Affiliate marketing. Sell other people’s products for a cut of the profit.
- Ads. You can place ads on your blog.
- Books. Creating books from your content is a great way to catch your new readers up.
- YouTube. Video is the fastest way to gain an audience.
- Merchandise. You can create a shop on Rebubble (or other) that sells your designs.
- Online course. Once you make it big, you can teach people how to follow in your footsteps.
- Coaching/Mentoring. This is a great way to help others and make some money.
- Guest bloggers. Now that you have an audience, people will pay you to use it.
- Advertisers. Advertisers will pay you to produce content around their product.
- Speaking. Once you make it big, people will want to see you in person.
Overall, how do you like blogging? I love it. Creating content is a challenge. Finding out what your audience wants is difficult. However, you will get the hang out of it. My favorite part is that it is a 100% portable and mobile way to make money. All I need is a laptop and an internet connection. Being able to control my time is also another benefit of blogging. If I want to take a month off, I could grind away before my trip, and then release my content over the month. Or I could hire someone to produce content for me. Even better, I could release some of my favorite articles from the past.
Why You Need to Become a Content Creator in 2021
What are your business plans for retirement? In the meantime, what do you think about the idea of creating content? Is it something that you would be interested in doing? What are some other businesses that you would like to get involved with? Let me know via this blog or social media.
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Disclosure: I am not a financial advisor or money manager, and any knowledge is given as guidance and not direct actionable investment advice. I am an Amazon Affiliate. Please research any investment vehicles that are being considered. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
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