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Setting Targets For Becoming A Full-Time Blogger

View Comments August 12, 2007 | Everton

I was having a chat via email with Dennis about the amazing success I’ve had making money in my first 24 hours with CashCrate. The conversation very quickly got onto the topic of when should one become a full-time blogger.

I’ve been struggling with this problem for the last few months because MyBlogEarnings have been getting into the territory where they no longer fund my ‘gadgets’ but where I could actually live off the income, although my mortgage and car payments might be a bit tough. But, today I’ve finally set my criteria for becoming a full-time blogger.

Becoming a full-time blogger would mean that I would be able to post more during the day i.e. as soon as stories break, which I know is one of the many factors that is holding this site back, as at the moment I tend to post a day after the stories have broken. I would also be able to plan ahead more, and also not rush my posts. When I sit-down to post in the evenings I give myself a maximum of an hour to draft posts, which means that many times the quality suffers. I’d also have more time for networking, attending conferences and building the ‘Everton’ brand.

The thing is my career is going very well at the moment, so even though the blog income is good, it’s still less than I make during the day, although of course the gap is closing every month. The mistake I’ve been making in the past I think, is I’ve been basing my monthly budget based on the income from my day job AND the blog, which made it impossible to set a point at which I will quit my day job because the blog income has been increasing each month i.e. I’ve been moving the bar each month.

So, I’ve just set a threshold for my blog earnings as a percentage of my day job, which if I’ve hit on or after May 2009 will be enough to comfortably pay my bills, so that I can quit my day job and go full-time as a ‘blogger’ as well as starting up a few ventures I’ve been toying with. The reason why I won’t consider quitting before May 2009, is because I owe a lot to my current boss. He fought hard to get me my current job when he heard that I’d been made redundant, and I want to give him at least a year of my time out of loyalty. So, keep your eyes peeled next May as I may be joining the ranks of full-time bloggers!

Have you set your criteria for going full-time? How close are you to hitting your goals or have you already reached them?

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About Everton: Everton is based in London and has worked in the internet and mobile space for over ten years now, and before that worked in corporate strategy and consulting. He has a degree in Economics from Cambridge University.He also writes for Windows 7 News, Windows 8 News and One Tip A Day. View posts.

  • You have to look at it from a wider perspective. Too many people have left their job to try to become full time bloggers & internet marketers and failed; that's where poor planning and bad understanding gets you.
  • Interesting post there, and is a thing I ponder on quite a lot.

    I think they day I give up my job, and become a full time blogger is when I am making as much from the internet than I am in the real world. I look forwards to the day I can wake up when I want, and sit around replying to reading emails, blogging and anayzing web stats for a living. I think we all do :D
  • Still i see you dont have loyal reader base that respond and participate in more constructive way.


    I agree, my feedcount could be higher - one thing that would improve if I developed the EB brand more, and posted better quality posts more often that aren't 'rushed'
  • Blogging is full time job and i think you are planning it right. If you have commitments that full fill them first. work on traffic and if you think your traffic is consistent that it would be great.

    Still i see you dont have loyal reader base that respond and participate in more constructive way.
  • Great post Everton! I think I gotta agree with Chris that I don't know that it's fair comparing blog income to work income because blog income usually takes less work (in one manner of speaking). In any event, I do think it's school that you're lookin' out for your boss who has looked after you. Loyalty is def a good thing. *nod*
  • That would be great. I agree completely that it would be completely different if we were able to post up to date information and had greater time to spend on the posts themselves. The overall quality of the sites would increase tremendously.
  • Sounds interesting. I'll be here for sure to see what you decide on. Good luck EB!
  • @Chris

    Totally agree with what you saying, which is why I've set the threshold at the level that pays my 'bills' as who knows what I could earn if I went full-time.

    Although it might turn out that I earn exactly the same, at least I'l get to have a lie-in each morning and go to the gym more!
  • I'm just trying it for a year, until my daughter enters kindergarten. We shall see. I don't make that much, but it pays my health insurance, car insurance, etc.
  • When making the descision i would not compare your current blog earnings to your day job for the following reasons.

    It is likely that you put more work into your job.
    You spend more time at your job than you do blogging

    If you transfered the time you put into your job and the effort/work input over to your blog is it realistic to expect a larger return? - I think so.

    This would allow you to;

    Write posts of a good length (i'm not saying all your posts are short but sometimes we never get your full opinion.)
    Write more articles
    Write 'Breaking' News stories
    Attend Events and then blog about them!
    Increase article output to 2-3 a day
    And of course branching out and developing the Everton brand.

    In the end the descision is of course yours! GoodLuck.
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