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How Much Money Do Bloggers Make?

Do bloggers make money? If so, how much money do bloggers make?

Let’s start with the facts and see if you can duplicate the success.

Do bloggers make money? If so, how much money do bloggers make?

Recently in our Facebook community, someone was thinking of starting a blog but mentioned an overheard opinion that blogging was not a real career because blogging is dead.

Perhaps you have heard similar stories. Maybe you have been the object of the joke… “Bloggers don’t make money! Get a real job.”

Friend, I want to set the record completely straight by telling you exactly how much money bloggers make and whether or not you should consider blogging a career.

Is blogging a valid career choice?

I never planned to be a professional blogger. There was not a degree for blogging at my college, and to my knowledge, there still isn’t.

For me, I knew I wanted to write, and everyone said I would be broke. (Everyone except this one guy who thought it was an awesome idea so I married him.) After several rejected book proposals, I gave up on writing and started direct sales… only to find myself broke.

Out of desperation, I started using coupons to buy groceries and was sharing my deals on Facebook. A friend mentioned “blogging” and the rest of the story brings us to this post… and do you think I would be writing about making money as a blogger if I were NOT making money?

Let that one sink in…

>>READ: How to make money blogging<<

Is blogging dead?

The fact is blogging is not dead, but it might not be what you think it is.

Back in the glory days, moms would keep an online diary of activities and photos to keep out-of-town family up to date. These “mom bloggers” were the pioneers of what is now considered content marketing.

Blogging as a career is not posting random photos, “happy birthday” notes, and the occasional craft. Professional blogging is more entrepreneurial… where you define your audience and create content to attract readers to sell a product.

Profitable blogging requires a deliberate strategy.

How much money do bloggers make?

I know you have seen those glowing blogging income reports where bloggers are making five to six figures a month. Enticing, right? And the majority of these money-making machines are not bragging… they are trying to educate others.

Regardless, the problem is when we assume these income reports are the average… or even the norm.

Check out these humbling facts:

  • There are almost 7 million people writing blogs around the world. [SOURCE]
  • 63% of bloggers make less than $3.50 per day and 10% of those make nothing. [SOURCE]
  • About 14% of bloggers make enough money to consider it a “salary” and the average salary per year is just over $24,000. [SOURCE]
  • Only 8% of bloggers make enough money to support a family. [SOURCE]

But, where do I fit into this equation?

My average monthly income (after expenses) in 2016 was $3,000. Where I live in the southeastern United States, that’s more money than qualified professionals like teachers and police officers make each month.

And guess what… I’m happy about it!

Through blogging, I have successfully doubled (and maintained) our household budget. We eat healthy, balanced meals. My children attend private school. My husband doesn’t need to work a second job. Our budget has room to include giving to our church and community. What more could I possibly want?!

Similarities between profitable bloggers

To keep you from feeling discouraged with the reality that blogging for profit is hard, I want you to consider the small portion of bloggers who make $100,000 a month.

Immediately dismiss those who are using fake news, celebrity trends, or blog hosting to make money. Focus on the real people who are creating REAL things like Erin Chase, Kim Sorgius, and Kelly Snyder.

Who? You may or may not have heard of these women but this proves an excellent point. Most money-making bloggers are quietly hustling and creating a business… but you will never hear them talk about how much money they are making.

I am fortunate to have these ladies as friends… and frequently chat about income reports with them. I know how much money they make… and it’s more than me.

Are they so special that they are the only ones who can make that much money? No.

What do these ladies have in common that enables them to bring in significant income?

  • Posting consistently and frequently, each lady produces content for a very defined target audience.
  • These ladies invest in tools, education, and/or coaching to keep their websites (and their minds) fresh.
  • Each of their websites was developed to attract and retain the ideal reader.
  • They all have one or more products to solve problems identified within their audience.
  • Every aspect of their social media presence and blog content is curated with strategy.
  • Their monthly revenue is stabilized by multiple streams of income.

Which of these characteristics are you missing?

While these traits are generalities, the truth is the more money a blogger makes, the more unique they are in their niche. They stand out because the focus is on what makes their blog different from the other 7 million blogs.

Granted, many of the most profitable bloggers have advantages like a large advertising budget or relationships with other people in power, but they must maintain uniqueness to capture and retain readers.

How do bloggers make money?

Many new bloggers assume that the only way to make money through blogging is with passive advertising using a company such as Google Adsense. However, sidebar advertising is one of the least profitable ways to monetize a blog.

Most bloggers who are making enough money to support their families implement a specific strategy to attract and nurture an audience that will ultimately purchase products.

Do bloggers make money? If so, how much money do bloggers make?Download this graphic to keep as reminder of smart blogging strategies. Subscribe to receive the image by email.

It’s a two step process:

  1. Being as specific as possible, decide the type of audience you want to attract. Then, brainstorm a list of their problems. Create content that will attract them and entice them to subscribe with an offer specific to the topic.
  2. Send your subscribers relevant, high-quality emails. After you have built a relationship with your dedicated readers (those who subscribed), offer them a product to solve a dilemma. The product may be one you created or a product you can monetize with an affiliate link.

Here is something SUPER important to notice…

HALF of the relationship is built away from the blog through email. If you are not collecting email addresses, you need to start now.

Other ways to make money blogging

Blogging income is more consistent when multiple streams of revenue are flowing into the bank.

>>READ: 80+ Income Streams for Bloggers<<

On this website, the primary income source is courses and membership. The secondary source of revenue is through affiliate relationships.

However, on my blog at MeetPenny.com, the income streams are even more diversified: passive advertising, printables, ebooks, sponsored content, affiliate links, etc.

Bloggers with multiple sources of income have more financial stability because if one revenue resource ceases, the others continue to provide income.

Does blog niche matter?

Because I know you have thought about it, I can’t skip addressing the niche question…

“But don’t some blog niches make more money than others?”

Or maybe you wondered, “Aren’t the only bloggers making money the ones who are teaching how to blog?”

No. And no.

Remember the three ladies I mentioned? None of them teach bloggers about blogging and each makes a significant income in a niche where most think it is impossible: food (for those on a tight budget), fashion (primarily for moms), and parenting (with a focus on Christian discipleship.)

For each of these ladies, I know many more who are turning profits in the homeschool, DIY, cosmetics, and freebies niches.

Bloggers who find success understand their unique perspective within a focused market and seek to serve like-minded readers. There is no reason why you can’t make money blogging too.

Get started with your own blog

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How Much Money Should I Spend on Blogging?

**This post contains affiliate links.**

Confused about how much money you should spend on blogging? Do you wonder how you can invest in your business when there is so much risk? Download the Blogging Finance Spreadsheet and balance your business budget.

Confused about how much money you should spend on blogging? Do you wonder how you can invest in your business when there is so much risk? Download the Blogging Finance Spreadsheet and balance your business budget.

My inbox is often visited by variations of the same question… and it is difficult to answer:

  • How can I afford to spend money on blogging?
  • How much money should I spend on my blog?
  • How much does blogging cost?
  • How much money can I invest in blogging… when I am not making money yet?

But as a person who has managed her business finances poorly only to have a radical transformation and start balancing money well, I have discovered a formula that will tell you exactly how much you should be spending on your blogging business.

Is blogging expensive?

When you compare the price of starting a blogging career to the cost of other start up businesses, the fee is almost insignificant.

In the beginning, all you need is a domain name (as little as $0.99) and a webhost (as little as $3.95 a month).

>>Learn more about how to start a blog.<<

However, when you realize you like blogging and want to make it a career, things can get expensive.

You eventually need:

  • Email marketing services (I use ConvertKit.)
  • Social media management (I recommend Tailwind for Pinterest and PostPlanner for Facebook and Twitter.)
  • A virtual assistant or two
  • Courses to keep learning the next step (like those available at Inspired Bloggers University)
  • Webinar services (I use WebinarJam.)
  • New technology as your computer or phone requires an upgrade
  • A larger data plan to handle live video
  • Camera/s, lighting, microphones
  • and the list grows.

>>View Tabitha’s preferred resource list for bloggers.<<

Truly, there are lots of ways to do things for free but it often takes a ton of extra time and can stagnate your growth. Trust me. READ: Frugal living almost killed my business.

Then, there is the polar opposite of not wanting to spend money on your blog. You tip the scale of spending too much.

Where is the balance?

What makes spending money (or not spending money) harder

Blogging is not a “get rich quick” career.

I didn’t make a profit until my second year of blogging… and it was a whopping $100. TOTAL. My third year of blogging was when my income started to be consistent and grow.

Are there bloggers out there who grow faster? Absolutely. But they are not the norm.

>>READ: How much money do bloggers make?<<

While it does seem the bloggers who put money into their businesses typically experience growth faster, investing financially in your business is hard because there are no guarantees.

So how can you decide whether to invest in your blog or not?

How to spend money on your blog wisely

As you consider blogging as a business, be honest with yourself. Are you able to commit the hours necessary for growing a blogging business? Can you be consistent? Will you stick with this for at least three years – come rain or come shine?

If you cannot commit to at least three years, find something else to do.

However, if you are ready to pursue blogging as a career, it’s time to invest.

Start-Up Expenses

Every business requires some up-front expenses, and yes there is risk involved. But, take it slowly.

I recommend paying for your domain and hosting. Not negotiable. These are MUSTS.

Email Responder Service

Next, because I believe that growing your email list from DAY ONE is also critical for permanent success, start an account with MailChimp or Mad Mimi. (I am not an affiliate for either company and that makes me easy to trust. Either would be a great starting place but if I had to choose one, I would say, “Go with MailChimp.”)

Confused about how much money you should spend on blogging? Do you wonder how you can invest in your business when there is so much risk? Download the Blogging Finance Spreadsheet and balance your business budget.

You want the option to send a freebie to those who subscribe. With MailChimp, you access automations for about $10 a month.

Once you have a list of 2,000 and/or have a product to sell your subscribers, switch to ConvertKit.

Continuing Education

One other thing I would recommend as you start a blogging business is to continue your education.

Blogging courses can range in expense from free to hundreds of dollars. Personally, I consider blog education a ministry and realize that my audience cannot afford the expensive classes. That is why membership through Inspired Bloggers University is only $29 a month and includes ALL of the courses you need to establish a healthy blog and grow it into a successful, money-making business.

Inspired Bloggers University courses are more thorough than any you will find anywhere else and come with a free community where you have access to other members and ME. I do not retreat from you. My goal is to help you, not to take your payment and disappear.

Everything else you might be tempted to purchase is optional.

>>Access the Inspired Bloggers University Free Members Library now.<<

The “can you afford it” equation

Now, let’s talk about numbers.

In January, a friend sent me a copy of Profit First by Mike Michalowicz. From the introduction, I was riveted. It’s like Mike knew me personally… and how I was killing my business.

I had learned how to collect money, for sure, but I had never learned how to keep it, how to control it or how to grow it.

Mike Michalowicz, Profit First

You see, I have a knack for helping others create amazing businesses from blogs. I even have a knack for making money. But I stink at keeping money in the bank.

Until I learned Mike’s secret.

As you begin to make money with your blog, divide your income into four categories: your paycheck, expenses, taxes, and profit.

Depending on the amount of money you are making, you will assign a percentage to each category. The majority of us make under $250,000 a year and should divide our income as follows:

  • Your paycheck = 50%
  • Expenses = 30%
  • Taxes = 15%
  • Profit = 5%

(If you make more than $250,000 a year, please get Profit First to see the recommended percentages for your income bracket.)

How do you keep the money separated?

Believe it or not, you are NOT supposed to transfer everything to your personal banking account. You need to set up three new accounts: checking for expenses (I use PayPal), savings for taxes, and another savings account for profit.

So, let’s say you have grown your income to $400 a month. Your income would be divided into four accounts:

  • Your paycheck into your personal bank account = $200
  • Expenses into a business checking account or PayPal = $120
  • Taxes into a savings account = $60
  • Profit into a different savings account = $20

Now, you can clearly see what you can afford because your blogging business has an expense account.

You have $120 per month to cover your business expenses, whether they be web hosting, an assistant, or continuing your education.

What should you do with the profit portion?

That is between you and your accountant.

I also recommend that you read Profit First for yourself as there is MUCH MORE wisdom about operating a profitable business as an entrepreneur. This barely scratches the surface.

Free Blogging Finance Spreadsheet

Ready to start balancing your business finances? Subscribe and download the spreadsheet I use to track my four categories and make sure each is deposited into the correct account.

I have included a video to explain how the spreadsheet works.

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Working with Brands: More Than Just Page Views

When I mention the possibility of making money by working with brands, your knees turn to jelly and your mind begins to race. “I don’t have enough page views. They wouldn’t want me,” you explain.

I look you straight in the eye and say, “You are wrong.”

Why my access to working with brands is about more than just my page views. Love these points! Encourages me as a new blogger to stay focused. Free spreadsheet too.

Over the course of my blogging career, I have been blessed to work with a cornucopia of brands. Big brands, little brands… some who did not know they were brands. But a few things are the same, regardless of company size.

The main similarity?

Brands want a trustworthy relationship. They are always looking to work with someone dependable who will deliver value.

The difference page views make

If the most important part of working with brands is in the relationships, why so much emphasis on page views? Because page views make a difference but they are not always as important as you think.

Audience size is second runner up to 1) your niche and 2) your engagement.

General niche needs a larger audience.

Bloggers who struggle to choose a niche will also struggle to find brands willing to work with them if they have fewer page views.

Think about this like a bag of marbles. You love to collect marbles. All shapes and sizes. Doesn’t matter what they look like. You just want a bunch of them to carry around in a bag.

One afternoon, you decide that you want to look at only the blue marbles. You reach into your massive bag of marbles and pull out… an orange marble.

Nope. Back into the bag it goes.

You try again. Nope. A green marble with yellow swirls.

Geez. This is hard! Why? Because your bag contains all different kinds of marbles. Finding your ideal marble is a lot more difficult.

Why my access to working with brands is about more than just my page views. Love these points! Encourages me as a new blogger to stay focused. Free spreadsheet too.
CLICK TO RETWEET

Likewise, if a brand marketer is wanting to reach one particular type of reader, they know it will be more difficult on a blog with varied topics. Because a general niche fails to have a specific audience, a brand will consider the potential return on their investment to be lower.

Typically, a blog with multiple topics may attract more readers, but it takes longer to build a consistent community and the interest base is diluted. Therefore, a brand will either:

  • think the blog is not large enough for their marketing purposes; or,
  • will want to pay the blogger less for the same type of advertising.

Micro-niche means smaller audience but targeted audience.

Now consider a different approach to your marble collection.

You decide that you only want to gather clear marbles. They may not be exactly the same on the inside but each has the similar characteristic of being clear.

Why my access to working with brands is about more than just my page views. Love these points! Encourages me as a new blogger to stay focused. Free spreadsheet too.
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Marbles like this are harder to find, but you are very precise. While it takes longer to grow a collection, you know that when you are ready to look at a clear marble that is exactly what you will pull from your bag.

If a brand wants their product presented to a specific interest group that can easily be found on your blog, the number of readers is not as critical because they know exactly what they are getting. Therefore, a smaller blog audience can have a greater value to a brand because their interests are all the same.

Different campaigns. Different goals.

If this is true, then why do page views seem to be so important?

There are reasons why a company would want to work with a blogger who has an abundance of page views, but the requirements depend on the goal of their campaign.

Larger general niche blog with less engagement.

Perhaps a brand’s goal is product recognition. The main purpose of their campaign is to have a lot of eyes on their brand. They hope that by pushing their logo into a crowd of people that those readers will feel a greater connection with the product when they see it in the store.

The engagement of the blog is not as important as the size. The topic is somewhat important but it is not critical to the campaign’s success. So, the marketing department chooses a large blog.

Smaller micro-niche blog with moderate to high engagement.

But, what if the goal is conversions?

If the brand is looking for product sales or to grow an email list of hot leads, the campaign requires a laser focus. The company knows exactly who their target audience is, and they look for topical blogs to match.

Engagement also becomes important.

If the audience is responsive and the blogger maintains an active community, the brand understands that the readers TRUST the blogger. Trust is easily measured by the amount of transparency shown when readers engage. As for the amount of engagement needed, the average engagement per social media platform varies.

Why relationships matter

But how does a brand find you? How can you get their attention?

Focus on the relationship.

Giving value. Getting attention.

If you want a brand to invest in you, invest in the brand. When you use their product, show it off on social media. And tag them! Use pictures to show off how you are using their products. Include them in your blog post.

Here are a few examples…

  • Staying the night in a hotel? Share a picture of the comfy bed on Instagram and tag the hotel. You can share the location if you choose.
  • Cooking with a certain ingredient or tool? Mention the company in a tweet when you post the recipe.
  • See a brand share a post to Facebook? Re-share it to your blog’s Facebook page.
  • Notice a hashtag on a brand’s marketing? Use it to share relevant content that adds value to the brand.

Engage with your favorite brands on social media by commenting, liking, sharing, and retweeting their posts. Big companies are seeking engagement just like bloggers. Plus, when you can add value to their message, they will love you even more.

Show you are a fan before sending a pitch. #Influencer @TabithaPhilen (TWEET THIS)

You want to clearly communicate that you are a huge fan of a brand before you ever contact them with a pitch.

Making friends. Getting campaigns.

Despite the numbers, engagement, and niche, you must remember that brands are actually run by people. People who are looking for meaning in their lives. People who desire relationships.

When you build genuine relationships with the people managing a brand’s marketing, you getting a double bonus. Not only do you make a friend, but you become the person they think of when a new campaign matches your blog.

The best way to meet the public relations team for any brand is at blog conferences. Brands will sponsor a conference with the intent of scouting for bloggers. They pay for the food you eat, bring loads of swag, and want to work with you. It’s the ideal situation!

So choose your conferences wisely and research who the sponsors will be.

Do your homework

Preparation is always key to your success.

As you build relationships and before you send your pitch, you need to put on your super sleuth hat and do your research. Ask yourself some important questions about why you want to work with a brand and determine if that company is a good fit for you AND your audience.

Visit their website and look for these clues:

  • What is the company’s mission statement?
  • How are they marketing themselves currently?
  • Are they focusing their marketing on a new product?
  • What hashtags are they using?
  • Have they sponsored content on other blogs?
  • Who is the media/PR contact?
Why my access to working with brands is about more than just my page views. Love these points! Encourages me as a new blogger to stay focused. Free spreadsheet too.
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Also google to see if other bloggers are talking about the brand.

  • Which product did they review?
  • Which benefits did they feature?
  • Which benefits did they miss?
  • What would you do differently?

As you research the brand, keep notes in a brand tracking spreadsheet so you can easily reference the information and save time in the future.

Another tip: Every time you mention the brand on your blog or in your social media, link to their website using a short link that will track the number of clicks. If the number is good, mention it when you approach the brand to prove your audience is interested.

Then, when you are ready, send your pitch.

A brand will never work with you if you do not first express interest. Yes, you could wait for them to approach you, but why? Start building relationships and making money today.

Free Tracking Spreadsheet for Working with Brands

Want the spreadsheet I use to research brands? Get it for free as an Inspired Bloggers University Member. You can sign up for FREE and find the spreadsheet on your profile page.

I Need this spreadsheet.
 

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How to Make Money with a Blog

Wondering how to make money with a blog? Is it possible to blog for profit and make it a full-time career? Absolutely!

Video Notes:

Step-By Step Printable

Domain Registrants

Hosting Options for New Blogs

Premium Themes

Pinterest Group Board Locator

Blog Conferences

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How to Backup your WordPress Blog to DropBox

We all hear about backing up our WordPress blogs and website, but some of us trouble wrapping our heads around this idea. For the longest time I never backed up my site, and I was always worried that something would happen. But with this plugin, I’m able to have peace of mind that my site is always backed up!

Backup a blog quickly and easily with Dropbox. Protect your hard work.

The plugin I’m using is called WordPress Backup to Dropbox.

To install, go to Plugins-Add New:

Step 1

Type in WordPress Backup to Dropbox:

Step 2

 

Click “Enter” and you’ll see the plugin:

Step 2.1

Alternately, you can download the plugin directly here. Once again, you will go to Plugins – Add New. But this time you will go to the top of the page and click “Upload Plugin”.

Step 2.2.1

Click Choose File, select the zip folder of WordPRess Backup to Dropbox from your download folder (or desktop – wherever you downloaded it to). Click Install now.

Step 2.2

 

Whichever road you take to get the plugin on your site, both will bring you to this page where you will click “Activate Plugin”:

Step 3

Once it’s activate you will be able to find it in your Plugins: 

Step 3.1

 

On the sidebar you will be able to find it too, just look for the blue arrow icon and WPB2D (WordPres Backup to Dropbox):

Step 3.2

Next, you have to connect the app to your Dropbox account. This is the page you will see the first time you go to the plugin (via the left sidebar):

Step 4

Once you click the green “Authorize” button you will be directed to Dropbox and see this:Step 4.1

Click “Allow” and you will see this screen once it’s connected successfully: Step 4.2Within your Dropbox a new folder will be created for your WP Backups. In mine, two folders were created. The first is titled “Apps” and within that folder I can find the WP2D subfolder.

Step 4.3

 

It’s within this WPB2D folder in which all my backups are stored:

Step 4.4Now, return to your WordPress Backup to Dropbox plugin via the sidebar:

Step 3.2

You can see here that I am now able to unlink the account if I choose to do so. I can also see my storage usage/availability right from the plugin:

2 Step 4.5

 

Now, we are going to configure and set up the plugin to auto-backup based on our preference. I choose do backup daily, so I’m choosing “Daily” from the drop-down:

Step 5

 

Go ahead and choose the time too, as you can see I choose to backup at 11pm.

Step 5.5

On to the bottom part. This is a section you MUST read well. You are going to check the files and directories you want to EXCLUDE from the backup. So anything you check will NOT be in the backup file(s).

Step 5.2

Click the “Save Changes” green button and you’re good to go!

Step 5.4

This is incredibly an incredibly easy and secure way to backup your WordPress Blog or Website!

Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below!

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How My Frugal Mindset Almost Killed My Business

One morning as I loaded my dishwasher, I was assaulted. Not for realz but in my head. Ramit Sethi read my mind, pulled out a major problem I was hiding, and then proceeded to beat me to a pulp.

Choosing to live frugally did wonderful things for my budget and saved my family from bankruptcy... but it almost killed my business. Are you making these same mistakes?I was catching up on some podcasts and decided to listen to the one that I had been avoiding.

Amy Porterfield interviewed Ramit Sethi about changing your mindset to gear yourself for success.

[Get this podcast.]

Even though a part of me KNEW I needed to listen, I didn’t want to because I had a feeling it was going to challenge me in uncomfortable ways.

I was right.

A little background

My husband and I made really bad financial decisions before we met and continued making huge mistakes after we married. Soon, we had six figures in debt and faced bankruptcy.

Recovering from this spend-thrift lifestyle required a tremendous change in how we thought, and the change did not happen overnight. For a decade, I woke each morning trying to make better financial choices and sought a very frugal mindset. I would tell myself the same things over and over again:

  • Less is more.
  • Do it yourself.
  • Save a penny.

The self-talk constantly reminded me of my failures, and I was determined to never return to the days when we could not afford groceries. I reprogrammed myself.

During this same time, I was learning to blog and shifting from blogging as a hobby to blogging for a profit, and without me realizing, that frugal mindset was carrying over into my business.

Paying for my own domain name (which can be purchased for only $0.99 through GoDaddy) seemed like a HUGE expense. Paying a monthly bill for self-hosting felt frivolous. Even so, I made these small investments and saw a great return on my investments.

But that is where the investment stopped.

Changing my mind

My blogging business was growing but it was slow. The income was a trickle compared to what I was hearing other bloggers made. I was just about ready to give up.

On a whim, I asked my husband about attending a conference for bloggers. Attending this conference would mean eating beans and rice for a month because the money was not in our budget, but he was extremely supportive. So, we risked it.

Literally, that one conference and the lessons I learned changed not only my blogging business but our lives.

From that point forward, I struggled with my frugal self-talk: Should I pay for a plugin? Can I afford this e-course? Can’t I just find a tutorial and do it myself?

The time it was taking me to learn and make changes was eating the majority of my work hours. Blogging was infringing on my family time and my home was a wreck. Life was way out of balance. Again, I was ready to give up.

My frugal mind-set was still at work. My children were well-fed but my business was starving and I was completely burned out.

Putting money into my business

Remembering the impact my first conference had on our lives, I decided to try putting more money back into my business in three specific ways.

1) Investing in my website

Free plugins and themes were only taking me so far but I wanted more for my websites. I wanted the look of a truly professional website and I wanted the control to create an online destination that would generate more income.

This required buying a premium themes from Studiopress for my websites, add-on features for Woocommerce, plugins that would capture email addresses when I offer a freebie, and more.

2) Investing in a staff

Do you know what my greatest strength is? I can do anything. Seriously. Give me a tutorial on YouTube and I can blow your mind. But… should I do everything? No. I can save money this way but I am wasting my time and the bigger my blog grows, the more valuable my time becomes.

So, I hired out some duties that were demanding huge chunks of my time: creating printable packs for my subscribers, checking and sorting my email, moderating my Facebook groups, etc. Paying for these services took a huge bite out of our budget but I was willing to try.

3) Investing in myself

You want to know my greatest weakness? Self worth. I will spare you the details of how the voice got there but there is this nag in my head telling me that I am a failure and therefore, I often quit before I try. How could I silence that bully in my brain? I had to invest in myself. I had to push myself outside my comfort zone.

Join the Inspired Bloggers University before April 15th and save 15%. How? This introvert went shopping in a department store (not online but a REAL store with dressing rooms) for a professional wardrobe and started attending blog conferences regularly. I took some paid courses online and subscribed to a magazine for bloggers. I bought books that would strengthen me in the areas where I was weak.

The ROI

After learning to think frugally in my personal finances and strategically in my business finances, did I see a return on my investment? Absolutely.

In one year, my income quadrupled. I had more expenses but my net value still increased more than three-fold.

I gained a confidence in who I was. I even bought makeup and pitched myself to the local media, becoming a monthly contributor to a live lifestyle program.

What this means to you

Now that you know the ends and outs of my brain, how does this apply to you?

Are you living a frugal lifestyle? Great! But is that mindset choking your business? Do you answer each problem with “I can do it myself”? Do you stop short from buying the tools and courses you need because you are cheap?

Stop limiting yourself by not investing in your business.

Wait… I hear that voice in your head. I know it is refuting everything I have said. The voice is telling you that you cannot afford these investments.

Do this… send an email to your favorite BIG blogger and ask him or her one question:

If I want to be a successful blogger, is it necessary for me to invest financially in my business?

Now tell that voice in your head that you canNOT afford to NOT make these investments.

The harsh truth is that it takes money to make money. If your vision is to blog for profit, realize that with income comes expense. There is a reason why every business runs a monthly profit and loss statement. You cannot have one without the other.

So, sit down and silence your frugal mindset with a business budget and start investing in your business.

Your thoughts? Leave a comment.

  • Have you struggled with a frugal mindset killing your business? How did you overcome this battle?
  • What have you learned about investing in your blogging business? Have you seen a return on your investment?
  • What was the best investment you made into your blog? What was the worst?