Let’s say you start a blog with the purpose of quitting your day job in the long run, when you start earning, of course. You work hard on your blog (after office hours, of course) and after a while, you start earning. A bit. A few pennies come in through Google Adsense, a few pennies more from affiliate programs, and still a few pennies more from something else you use to monetize your blog. You get so excited you think of quitting your job. After all, a few more months and you’re going to earn in the US$xx,xxx range per month, right?

Wrong.

You see, reality is not everyone gets rich blogging. In fact, only very few do. While there are people who earn their full-time income from blogging, it’s just as much as a full-time job as your job if full-time. In fact, top players in the field work more than 12 hours a day or so at first. Sure, it pays off in the long run, but how sure are you that you’ll be earning full-time income from blogging?

The idea of working at home, doing something you love that you’ve been doing for a while now and actually earning from it sure is enticing. But thing is, you can’t jump at it as soon as you start earning pennies; it’s really not as easy as that. For all you know, you might be earning pennies forever.

For anyone who’s looking into earning their full-time income via blogging, an unsolicited advice would be: don’t quit your job just yet. Full-time blogging takes more than what you see at face value.

Study the Field First

Just like any other job in the world, you need to study the field first. But unlike some jobs which you can learn when you’re already doing it, you need to learn about blogging beforehand. Take it as some type of schooling. If you plan on blogging full-time in the future, don’t only study writing content. You should also put equal significance into learning about networking, promoting, and marketing. If possible, start building relationships with other bloggers while you still blog part-time. Start promoting and marketing your blog at the earliest time possible.

It’s also advisable to study SEO and social bookmarking while you’re at it. Read blogs about blogging like ours. Ask advice from more experienced bloggers. If you’re really determined to pursue full-time blogging, you’d do anything in your power to learn the scope of the field first, like any professional should.

Ask Yourself if You Want to Take the Risk

Not to sound melodramatic, but taking a plunge into full-time blogging is taking a risk. Do you have a back-up plan if and when, heaven forbid, your venture fails? Are you ready to work from morning ’til night for the first few months, promoting your blog and networking with other bloggers?

Planning is the key to successful full-time blogging. Having a fail-safe plan is ideal, although with the dynamic nature of the web, nothing is fail-safe. In the end, it’ll all be up to whether you’re up for the task. Plan all your actions from the start, even to who’ll be taking care of your children, if you have any, as you’ll be working hard at first.

Full-time blogging could be a rewarding profession. Despite the fact that you MIGHT be working harder than you did on your full-time day job, the fact that you’re your own boss and that you can arrange your own off-days and vacations is priceless. However, as with all other professions, it’s not really for everyone. Problogging means you have to have your own initiative, your own drive to make things happen. Yes, you’re your own boss, but you’re also your sole employee. Unless you can afford a techie, an SEO, and a blog promoter — you’re on your own. So, don’t get lost in the illusion that earning from blogging means lounging around all day waiting for the money to flood in. Before you even consider quitting your job, think about it hard and decide if the world of problogging is for you.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 25th, 2008 at 3:39 pm and is filed under blogging. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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