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How I Quit My Job for Blogging

Posted By Guest Blogger 13th of June 2011 Blogging for Dollars 0 Comments

This guest post is by Joshu Thomas of NapIncome.com.

Blogging is no more a mere hobby; it has become a full-time profession for many bloggers, including myself. Today I will share my journey as a blogger and how it helps me to earn a full-time income blissfully working from anywhere I like.

How it started

I had been working on diverse flavors of the Internet right from my college days. I used to earn a part-time income as a student by designing websites, and later I joined a multinational company as Information security engineer.
Corporate Work life is demanding and it never gave me any space to continue with my regular design and development hobby vocation. I was earning a decent income from my day job, but I failed to enjoy the work due to towering work pressure and deadlines.

I had a website that I registered early in the year of 2002 and used to receive web designing gigs from it. I don’t exactly remember when, but I transformed the website into a blog mainly to save the tutorials and code snippets as it could serve as a reference on the web for me to access from anywhere. This is how my blog was born.

The power of a web log

It began to become a routine that I stored all my new learning from the few web-based projects that I used to do on to the blog as a reference. Gradually I started observing that there were others who were interested in what I was writing as well.

Over time, I was overwhelmed by the response I was receiving from what I built for my personal use. This is when I thought, “Why not transform the blog into a webmaster community?”

I increased the frequency of updating quality unique tutorials and tips that I learned the hard way. Within a period of six months of an organized blogging approach, my traffic ranks were soaring. This was the power of the SEO-friendly advantage the WordPress system.

Taking it seriously

Within nine or ten months of blogging, I had already begun researching and learning a lot on the WordPress system, SEO, and internet marketing for improving my blog, and simultaneously shared that information on my blog as well.

The response I was receiving from my blog visitors, their comments, and traffic was the biggest source of enthusiasm and encouragement. I have developed many websites for myself and my clients, but never received this much consistent traffic ever! I had to take this seriously—and I did.

The flow of dollars

Now it was already a year and a half when I seriously started learning and implementing monetization of my blog traffic. I was under an impression that Google Adsense was the only method to monetize my blog content and traffic.

By that time, I was earning five or six dollars a day from the blog traffic, and that looked good for me. Approximately US$200 of additional income was great for me at that time. Gradually I started to explore and read more about monetization strategies, and I found affiliate marketing!

An earnings increase

Even though it is true that passion for blogging is the primary requirement for successful blogging, your earning from a blog will be a substantial fuel to your blogging journey.

Soon, along with my regular blogging efforts, I started to promote and review the best products on the Web. It is very critical that you only recommend what you have tried and tested: an honest review will certainly get your more fans and followers.

Gradually, I started to discover the power of affiliate marketing. And eventually, a single sale was fetching me more money I used to earn from half a month’s AdSense income. So gradually I started to write more quality articles and was doing in-post product recommendations.

Balancing job and blogging

It was already more than a year through my serious blogging effort. I used to return from my office each day and write one article for my blog. I’d also dedicate one hour to SEO and SMO tasks. On the weekends, I used to work four or five hours a day on content and keyword research.

By now, both my blog’s income and traffic were steadily growing, and when I started to earn around 70% of my regular job’s income, I started to think about blogging full-time.

The big decision

I was really enjoying the fact that my blog was becoming popular—the strongest proof of that was the fact that lots of people started involving themselves in discussions on my blog, and posting comments. I hate spam comments, so it was a pleasure to answer real people—and this was another form of encouragement.

After almost one and a half years of dedicated blogging, I was now earning more income than my day job and I started seriously thinking of making the leap to full-time blogging. At that point of time in India, US$1000 was my salary from my day job, and it used to be a pretty good income. But I was earning around US$1500 from blogging, and that played on my mind.

I didn’t want to make a foolish decision in hurry, so I thought I’d continue the same way and observe my income for three months. If it was consistent, I’d quit my job.

The next three months was a bit like a case study, and my blog came out victorious. I was consistently earning more than US$2000 for all the three months. So I took the decision and gave up my job to become a pro blogger.

Should you quit?

My story might inspire you, but I personally don’t want to encourage you to quit your hard-earned job unless you test yourself to earn at least double your day-job income. Becoming a pro blogger is a big decision and you might not want to be proved wrong.

The first month working full-time as a pro blogger was very exciting. I had all the freedom to do all that I wanted to, go anywhere, and—the best part—blog from any location.

I made sure that my work hours, earnings, plans, and strategies were accountable. I noted down every activity and progressed in a very systematic manner without losing sight of my goals.

The earnings steadily increased, and the first month after I quit my job, I analyzed my performance. Here are few findings:

  • I almost worked the double amount of hours on my blog than I did before.
  • My earnings from writing, blogging, and reviews touched US$3000 per month.
  • I was enjoying traveling and spending time with my family.
  • I had loads of plans for the next month.

If you don’t have a blog, or you have a low-traffic blog, don’t even think of quitting your job. It’s a huge risk. Be practical and put in lot of hard work on your blog to craft unique content that provides high value to your users.

Evaluate, measure your success, and prove yourself. When you are sure you’re ready to jump, make the big decision to become a full-time blogger … and you might just enjoy your work like never before!

Joshu Thomas is a full-time blogger writing on how to make money online blogging and runs a successful webmaster community.

About Guest Blogger
This post was written by a guest contributor. Please see their details in the post above.
Comments
  1. Great post, I am a full time law student and my blogs have kept me through my LLB studies (paying all my fees of about 3200 pounds a year for 3 years and have kept me going) , I will finish in February 2012 and I am contemplating about going to look for a job somewhere or simply continue blogging on full time base..

    Your post tells me one simple thing, keep the certificate in the draw box and blog full time… Thanks!

    • I agree that during past five years and perhaps next 10 years too, blogging is a great medium of information and it has given success to many people. But I think at student level, one should complete education because bloggers are increasing day by day and most of them are not genuine. They simply copy original contents and get higher rankings than original bloggers.
      So in such a scenario, if blogging is once career, it can easily be ruined by fakers. I hope search engines would use better algorithms to penalize content copiers.
      Even now Google Panda says that they detect duplicate contents but in my case, unfortunately I get my rankings at Google’s third page while the blogs who copied my contents are enjoying first page :(.

    • Joshu, your story is a motivational fuel for all of us that are just now entering the blogging scene. I recently quit my job and started my own company. This has given me the time I need to pursue my passion for lifestyle design and writing. Thanks for the great goldmine of information you have built here, and I hope to follow in your footsteps some day.

      Sincerely,
      Evelio Pereira
      Lifechitect.com

      • Dear Lifechitect,

        Thanks for your kind words and I am glad that you found my story useful. You have made a great choice by following your dream and I am sure you will find success especially because you love what you do.

        cheers,
        Joshu

    • Affiliate marketing hasn’t worked for me yet, but I wonder if it is because of the theme of my blog. I have 2 new blogs I am launching this year that are more affiliate appropriate in the sense that I believe it is a better match with the audience and will be more successful. That said, I should research other types of affiliate marketing to see if there is something more suited for my current blog.

      Thanks for the information!

      • Chris – Congratulations on that amazingaccomplishment!

      • Dear Naked Girl in a Dress,

        I have checked out your blog and it looks awesome, I don’t more than one reason that affiliate marketing has not worked well for you. The only reason it could not have clicked yet is “lack of enough targeted traffic” As I can see you were blogging from 2010 with 5 – 10 articles a month on an average. I guess driving more traffic to your blog through search engine with the help of keyword research can kick start your success with affiliate programs like Amazon Affiliates.

        Wishing you all the best for your ventures.
        Cheers, Josh

    • Hey Chris,

      Congrats on your accomplishment so far! I agree with you about keeping that cert in the drawer.

      The lifestyle that being an Internet Entrepreneur gives you is second to none. The other night I was out with a few lads that have the old “job” that I used to have about 10 years ago (I left it 10 years ago to start my own business) and each of these guys is making about $200K a year. I asked a few of them if they’d drop to $100K so that they could work from home and maybe put in half as many hours…on their own schedule. Without hesitation, all of them said YES.

      Having built (and sold) a bricks and mortar business, I just can’t image leaving my life of blogging/adsense niche sites/facebook apps, to go back and do a “regular” business with office(s) and employees.

      This life is just so much better!

      Trent

    • Dear Chris,

      Thanks a lot for your kind words, In fact Yes, this is the best part of the Internet Business – Now one asks you for experience, No one wants to see your certificates – All that you need to prove is you have Stuff! If you deliver quality and value to your readers, you will certainly be appreciated.

      Good going with your blogging and wishing you all the best for your future!
      warm regards, Joshu

  2. This is a great story, Joshu and it’s good that you never jumped ship into pro blogging too quickly. I really liked that even when you were making more with your actual job, you stayed with it a few more months to track results. That’s the smart way to go about it and it is a risk. I wish you all the success in your future blogging endeavors!

    • Dear Frank,

      Thanks for your kind words of appreciation.
      Yes, It is a costly decision to quit the hard earned job paying you well and later regretting if it was a foolish mistake. I wanted to make sure I was in the right direction before making the final plunge.

      This is the era of Internet Gurus and masters – Its very easy to get carried away and make a wrong move.
      Dont remember where, but I have come across your blog before – You are young, take advantage and stick to blogging as a part of your routine life and you will be surprised later!

      cheers,
      Joshu

  3. Wow, your story is great motivation to stay focus and keep blogging.

  4. Nicely written Joshua. It is really inspiring for us startup bloggers and I hope to make it big in a similar way. keeping my fingers crossed and hoping to earn some extra dollars for now.

    • Dear Praveen,

      Thanks for your kind words. If I could do – Am sure you can do better! Wishing you all the best with your ventures.

      regards
      Josh

  5. I am right with you on this post. I have been focusing on my blog and trying to grow it more so I could then leave my current job. You did a good thing by testing out your blog for three months before you leave. But, what various methods did you use to increase your traffic and comments on your blog?

    • Dear Justice,

      Thanks for the kind words.
      The first thing I did is choose a niche that I was passionate to write about and made sure I was not blogging for money and I did not realize when my traffic grew over the time.

      The best method I can recommend for growing traffic are:

      1. Organized and periodic writing on your Blog.
      2. Guest Blogging is a great approach.
      3. Search Engine Optimization (On page and Off page)
      4. Social Media Optimization ( social bookmarking etc.)
      5. News letter subscription and List

      These are few methods. Make sure you dont hurry and you take your time to build the minimum required content then concentrate on publicizing your blog.

      regards
      Josh

  6. This is a very interesting subject and I’m pleased to see that this has worked out for you.

    I have just deleted everything off my old blog and started again. I intend to systematically document my marketing experience on my blog, offering advice, tips and guidance to build up a readership that way.

    Good luck

    James Stewart

    • Dear James,

      I am glad that you have a plan on your mind to get things started in a systematical manner. I did check out your blog and the “Lets Get Serious” post seems to look like you are all set to go. Wishing you all the best with your blog and am sure consistent efforts will lead you to success.

      warm regards
      Josh

  7. Thanks for this great story. Excellent motivation and inspiration.

    Now, if I can just figure out how to make that happen in 4 months (from March). :)

  8. Hey Joshu, thanks for the insightful post! It’s the dream for all of us who are serious about what we’re doing online to go full time with it, and you went about it in a very practical and methodical way. It’s a great primer for a lot of us who are on the same journey.

    The biggest thing that resonated with me in your post is what you said about learning. You didn’t burst on the scene with some kind of big bang, nor did you have your master plan mapped out all at the start. You did something, learned from it, built on it, listened to your audience and moved your blog day by day. That’s a great example for everyone of us as well, regardless of whether we’re at $100 a month, $500 a month or $3,000 a month. We’re all still moving forward and learning as we go.

    Another thing that struck me is that you’re not in a hurry to have more, and more, and more. Blogging is fueling your enjoyment of your life, family and freedom to forge your own path, and I think that is yet another great lesson for us. Thanks for sharing!

    Thad

    • Dear Thad,

      Thanks a lot for the kind words! Am glad that you enjoyed the post.

      As you pointed out, learning and sharing has been the biggest formula that helped my first blog grow and attract more visitors to it over the years. The second point you quoted is equally important – Believe me if you are not enjoying blogging soon you will quit as the enthusiasm to blog and share is the base fuel to blogging success.

      PS: I have checked out your blog and it looks awesome. It would be a great idea to take away the Google Adsense from your blog at the early stages as low traffic means low earnings, then why drive your potential users with too many ads. Wishing you all the best in building more content and succeeding online!

      warm regards
      Joshu

  9. Great article man.

    I’m just starting out on the blogging journey and I want to live it to the end as a professional and anything beyond that.

    • I wish you all the best on that, Bro. Blogging is not just about the income you can earn but it is more on the fun and learning that you will have. Just have fun blogging and you’ll get there.

  10. maybe blogging not my job but i want earn little money from blog

  11. I love reading stories like yours – they keep me going! I’ve been at it a couple of years now and looking forward to one day being able to quit my job and go traveling – that’s my plan. My hubby and I have a lot to catch up on after a bad business a couple of years ago, but the ability to make a good income on line gives me the excitement about our future that I wouldn’t have otherwise. Good on you! and thanks.

    • Dear Sue,

      You have a nice Blog and Good content.
      Keep your blog ticking and am sure a blog like yours is for sure fueled by passion. Once you have enough traffic, I would recommend switching on the Amazon Affiliates ad blocks and the audience of your blog should appreciate it.

      I am happy to see blogs like yours supporting the green future.
      Wishing you all the success, Josh

  12. Dear Joshu
    Blogging is a “strange” business. Let me explain, normally you do business in your own country, but with blogging you do business on the internet. I live in Europe, I earn a lot more then $1000 a month from my regular job, but life is very expensive here. If I’m right, you work and live in India, you earn less then me but life is much cheaper over there. On the internet, we both run a blog in the same market (the internet market). When you earn $2000 with blogging (AdSense, affiliates, ads,…) this is a nice income, but for me it isn’t.
    I just thought this was an interesting point to share. Maybe we should make a list with the top-10 best countries for blogging :-).

    • Excellent point, while $2000 a month from blogging might be a great income in India, in the US and Europe, that much money isn’t worth leaving a full-time corporate job.

    • Dear Nico,

      You surely do have a point there, I agree to you. The life style and cost of living are different at your place and its comparatively cheaper at my place. But I have observed that living, setting up your business, hosting servers and approach to your business in Europe or the US gives you more control over geo-targeting more visitors from your side of the world to your website.

      It is a known fact that the western traffic earns well more when compared to traffic from countries like India. For example, a click form the US or the EU earns you 10x times to a click from India. When you consider localized blogs and business this becomes a point that we could consider.

      Yes, For affiliate marketing, there aren’t any location based constraints and probably to quit your job in Europe you might need to be more successful with your blog, but that is impossible as well, IMHO I feel that be it India or the USA – being your own boss costs the same and feels great.. Am sure you will do great and wishing you all the best!

      cheers, Josh

  13. Hey Joshua,
    Great story and one that inspires me to keep moving forward. Every month my traffic and income has gone up. I can’t wait to see where I am in a year.

    My goal is to eventually help other new bloggers make a full-time income from blogging.

    • Hey Justin,

      Am Glad that you are doing great and your blog is moving up day by day. Wishing you all the best from my heart my friend.

      regards
      Josh

  14. Great story Joshu, it is nice to see that you naturally progressed and built your business from the ground up. There are too many people who force something and it just doesn’t work. I too was able to quit my job, but I was really trying to make something of myself online with niche sites and affiliate sites. I did start one authority site about something that I love and it brings in about $1000 per month, the money is nothing though, I just love to write for the site!

    • Dear Buddy,

      You have said a very valid point here – It never works what you are forced to Blog, It has to come from within. Glad you are doing good and progressing with your blogs, Wishing you all the best.

      regards
      Josh

  15. I live in Brazil and I’ve been blogging since 2007, I am thinking of leaving the job and only work with blogs … I hope to change this year so far.

  16. Hi there, Joshua.
    I agree with what you say about, not quitting your day job until your Blogging efforts can fill in the void.

    Also, I think that many people at some time or another would be confronted with the question, “Is wishing to Blog full time really for me”?

    Blogging looks easy enough.
    Though, we soon find that when we think we know a lot about Blogging, we soon find we do not really know all that much.

    It’s a constant learning process.

  17. Great to read that professional blogging ended up becoming a success for you – not many people can make it as a pro blogger or lack the determination and passion. Most of the time people assume that this position is an easy one and very little work goes into it but boy are they wrong. It takes a lot to be self-sufficient and determined and motivated to work on your own.

    Kudos to you for being a great example to us all. :)

    • Dear Daniel,

      Dear Gabriella,

      Thanks much for your kind words!
      Wishing you all the best for your blog and websites.

      regards
      Josh

  18. Inspiring story…which motivates the rest of us who are part time bloggers..

    I guess the biggest risk is that with the Office work, you have a steady income.. whether you get sick for a couple of days etc, where as with blogging one really needs to find a lot of income options, just in case one stream of income runs into trouble. e.g adsense account being suspended etc

    • Dear Shamelle,

      Thanks a lot for the kind words.
      You have a point there when you say the office work has a income security. Yes it is true and this thought even made me wonder and think a lot. Remember that building a successful blog does not mean that you have to keep working day and night the same way to keep it earning for you.

      Through the SEO activities, articles you have already written, newsletter subscriptions and Authority you have created all together will assure that you get 80% of your monthly traffic consistently to without writing any article at all giving you the buffer time to plan and schedule your activities to make use of at time of illness ( a disaster recovery simply means 10 articles ready to be scheduled when you might want 2 weeks off from your blog)

      Another interesting fact is that if you are earning double your monthly salary, then its like working once in two days. The key about taking blogging seriously is by making sure you have really made it to a position where you can call it a “Job”

      cheers and all the best
      Josh

  19. Joshu, that’s an inciteful article, and while I don’t want to come across as a cynic (well not much!) you’re one of a vanishingly small number of people who’ve managed to quit their day job for blogging. There’s a lot of talk out there that you can make a go of professional blogging, but the vast majority of people who try will fail.

    I’ve been blogging consistently since 2007 and made increasing use all of the social media tools at my disposal to spread my influence, but its still only buying me a couple of cups of coffee a month. I’m sure that nearly every dedicated blogger finds themselves in the same situation as me. I blog because I want to express my creativity, not because its ever going to become a reliable income stream.

    • Dear Londoneer,

      IMHO, I feel lot of people fail because of one reason – The accept failure very quickly. The content and information available on the internet could be one reason to this trend, there are thousands of blogs who speak about get rich quick methods and some super tricks that has helped them become millionaires fast.

      Innocent aspirants tends to spend money and time on such methods and not finding quick success leads them to quick failure mode.

      I am really glad to see your blog – Appreciate your dedication and blogging frequency over all these years. As you said you are blogging for the love of blogging and not for an earning – this should be the right approach but I still feel that when you start considering methods to monetize your traffic you would be surprised.

      Try to research on different conversions and monetizing methods and am sure this should give you more reasons to improve your blog and features. Wishing you good luck!

  20. As a Blogger nice to read about your blogging carrier.

  21. Joshu,

    You mention getting comments on your blog early on as a source of encouragement. What do you do when you have decent traffic but very few comments. I thought about reading Tribes by Seth Godin. Any tips from the ProBlogger community?

    • Dear Stephen,

      If you have a decent traffic and low number of comments then you should try to improve user interaction by taking action right on your blog. People visit your blog either because you have good ranking on the search engine for the keyphrase or people directly visit your website. Either way, they are interested in what you are writing, all you have to do is try to tempt them to leave a note. (either ask the reader’s opinion at the end of each article or add a box requesting your users to add comments)

      innovate ideas like running contests for the top commentator of the month on your blog or by using user friendly plugins like DISQUS or Intense Debate etc. that will give more reasons to the user to comment.

      If you do not have enough traffic, try writing guest posts, publicize your posts or take SEO help to bring people on your blog and take it further. Wishing you all the best with blogging.

      regards
      Josh

  22. Very interesting post, Joshu. Like Stephen B I too have quite decent traffic (even average time on site and bounce rate are pretty good) but not many comments. Interested too in any tips on that.

  23. Inspiring story to read Joshu. Thanks for sharing it. It shows that when you love what you do, work at it and never give up that you can achieve anything.

    ~Marcus

  24. This is really inspiring! Thank you for sharing your journey with us! I like the fact that you share real facts, not only dream facts… Most stories about how people leave their day job look like a dream but your story looks real, not easy, but real!

  25. Great article. The key is that you love doing it.

  26. Thanks very much for this article–inspirational! Something in it struck me, something I’d never heard before. I’m hoping you can clarify. Are WordPress blogs more SEO friendly than Blogger blogs? I know WordPress is better for a whole host of reasons but this is the first I’ve heard about their SEO-friendliness. And if the answer is yes, would you (or anyone) say that’s enough of a reason to make the switch? Many Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

    • Dear Julie,

      I have had Blogger blogs before and I personally feel WordPress has a huge SEO advantage over any other CMS because of the way the framework is coded and in addition there are few excellent plugins like All In one SEO pack, SEOpressor etc that gives you total control over your onPage SEO factors and rank higher on the SERPs.

      I have checked your blog and yes it is a good bargain to switch from a blogspot blog to a shared WordPress Blog installed on your self hosted web hosting account as it gives you total control, scalability and flexibility in-terms of features and design.

      regards
      Josh

  27. Congrats on sharing your story my friend. Even though I knew you and the story already, it all felt encouraging to read it again. Nice that you ended the post telling people to be very careful, without giving fake promises like “it worked for me, so it should work for you too :) Brilliant.

    Jane.

  28. I guess the biggest risk is that with the Office work, you have a steady income.. whether you get sick for a couple of days etc, where as with blogging one really needs to find a lot of income options, just in case one stream of income runs into trouble. e.g adsense account being disabled.
    This is really inspiring!

  29. I have been getting a lot of comments lately because I have started asking questions. Questions in the title of the post and questions in the closing of the post. HTH.

  30. Terrific post! Your story is very inspiring because of what you have achieved and also in the deliberation that you made the decision to become a full time blogger.

  31. It’s always great to see the success of other bloggers. Blogging can be very lucrative for those who are willing to dedicate time to what they are doing. For those select few, being able to quit your job and blog is a blessing. Thanks for this article and God Bless!

  32. wow..thanks for sharing your story dude..its inspiring me..

    what i love being a fulltime blogger is ‘blog from any location’. :)

    • Hey Haru,

      Its so true buddy! I am writing to you from about 1000 miles from my home, it feels great when you can schedule your articles, pack you bags and follow your map ( i love photography and travel blogging)! Yeah the location factor is the best catch!

      cheers, Josh

  33. Great stuff, it shows, if you relay put your mind to something you can relay achieve it, regardless of your obstacles you will always find ways to over come them.

    Great motivation.

  34. Great story. Very happy to hear of your accomplishments and success.

  35. Your story inspires me. As you rightly advised, one needs to test his success rate before quitting paid job. It is much more easier when you still have a flow of regular income. On the other hand, quitting job will help one to concentrate on blogging proper. When you don’t have alternatives again, you don’t have other option but to decide to succeed.
    I congratulate you for your decision.

  36. Joshu, great story. Very inspiring. Was it hard for you to balance your day job and blogging?

    • Hey Sarah,

      Thanks for your kind words.
      Yeah sometimes it was hard to open your blog after a tough day’s work, but in most cases, it was a pleasure to blog for 30 minutes a day listening to your favorite track. It becomes a pain when you try to force your self to blog, blog only when you feel like to find time for blogging on weekends.

      cheers
      Josh

  37. Dedication and determination what we need to have in blogging and which really gives inspiration to me thanks for sharing.

  38. So inspiring to us all…because if you can do it, THEN WE CAN TOO!! Thanks for sharing your story. Cheers to your continued success!!

  39. I was thinking of going there at some point, when I earnt around USD 1,500 per month having a steady 3,500 unique visitors a month. Only after Google Panda update, my dream was shattered as my blog only gets around 1,500-2,000 visitors now. Earnings cut into half as most of my visitors come from search engines *sigh*

    I think it’s not safe to retire if you are relying too much on search engine visitors as they are too inconsistent.

    I haven’t been successful in affiliate marketings apart from Amazon affiliates, probably because my blog is a techie blog and mostly doing consumer product reviews

  40. Thank you for the inspirational story Joshu Thomas. :)

  41. Dear Michael,

    Don’t worry, build more quality content and am sure you will get back to your earlier stats. Basically if you dont want to trust the Search engine traffic, its a great idea to build a Newsletter subscription list or encourage your readers to subscribe to daily feeds, this will make sure that your website traffic is not dependent on the SERPs.

    The Panda algorithm update only targeted duplicate content or content farms, so I guess you should investigate on what led to your traffic slash. Check out your google analytics and webmaster tools data to find more clues on the keywords and pages that have dropped in traffic.

    wishing you good luck in future.
    regards, Josh

  42. Your story really inspires me. One needs to test his success rate before quitting paid job. It is much easier when you still have a flow of regular income. On the flip side, quitting job will help one to concentrate on blogging proper.

    • Hey Nishant,

      Thanks for the kind words buddy! Yes you have said it well – a test is always appropriate before you take the big decision.

      regards
      Josh

  43. I already quit from my job even tough I still don’t get much money from my blog so that I could give full attention to this blogging world. It isn’t hard for me because I still can get money from my hubby, and my working hours; 7.00am to 3.30 p.m, almost the same like the office hours, ;)

  44. Well said… I am running a blog since 2008 but still not that much earning and got motivation after reading your story… now again i and stand up and ready to run. :)

  45. Joseph says: 06/16/2011 at 10:38 am

    Regarding affiliate marketing: did the companies give you products to review or did you purchase them prior to review? It’s been my experience that affiliate marketing programs pay a standard commission after a purchase has been made. In order to write an accurate review you must use the product yourself. Considering the cost of many of these products how do you make a profit (assuming that you have purchased many products for review out of your own pocket)?

    • Dear Joseph,

      You have asked a very vital question. In the initial days, I used to do a lot of research and purchase very few products and only if I am convinced it could work – since most of the products have a 30 days money back – I give it a shot and review these in detail, if its not good, I write a frank review and stop using it.

      If it works great, I keep the product. I never used to extensively spend money online on products, but I make sure I re-invest atleast 10 -15% of my online earnings back on my blog and features, So once a month I buy something new online and review it too.

      Now as my primary blog got popular enough, I never had to buy any top products, Infact most of the product developers contact me submitting their product for review and let me keep the review copy for free (that’s a great deal for me as I have been able to grab almost all my favorite stuff online).

      The reviews top the search engine with the right SEO recipe over the time and its a win-win situation. But I make sure i follow the thumbrule by only writing reviews after testing it and only promote if I personally liked it. That is when people start appreciating you.

      cheers
      Josh

  46. Hey Josh,

    Great stuff man I am a few months into my blog that I am passionate and driven to grow and make succeed. Hopefully one day I can make it my profession as well as a passion and can’t wait to see what it becomes. Thank you for the inspiring words and I will be checking out your personal blog as well.

    Thanks and Take Care!

  47. Hey great topic, the only advice I have is you better be sure that the extra income is consistent before you quit. It can be done and I wish you all the best of luck in your blogging ventures.

    • Hey Greg!

      Thanks Buddy! I must say that you have a valid point there.. Its very important to test your success before you enjoy it!

      cheers
      Josh

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