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?