Should you quit your day job to blog?

No

9 of 43

by Bruce W. Coffman

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One in a million people may be lucky enough to be able to quit their day job to blog. Most of us will have to be content to do it for fun and recreation, a way to share our thoughts and feelings with the world, and a form of expression. That is not to say that it's not a goal worth reaching toward, as nothing is impossible. However, you should definitely make sure you have enough money to live on before you quit a job that is supporting you to pursue an activity which you hope will support you. Bill collectors are funny in that they don't really care that you're doing what you love if you're not paying them what you owe. They have a tendency to get tied up in details like minimum payments due and the such.

The ability to make a living blogging is an elusive dream for most writers. There are some who have been fortunate enough or shrewd enough to turn their blogs into money-making machines, but for the most part, making money by blogging is a pipe dream. Stop and think about how many people you know personally who just sit at home and blog. Out of those people, how many are actually eating as well? Odds are, unless they're one of a handful of famous bloggers, they're not doing all that well.

If you have a blog that gets thousands of hits daily, you will undoubtedly attract the attention of some major advertisers or sponsors who will pay to advertise on your blog. You can do the traditional AdWords and other forms of advertising, but without consistently high traffic levels, you won't see much income streaming in.

Blogging isn't much different from any of the more traditional venues for writers in the past. How many people submit manuscripts for novels as opposed to those who actually get published? How many struggle with dreams of freelance writing yet have to have a day job to support themselves? It's not that different with blogging. Few will be successful enough to leave behind the 9 to 5 world and live their dream of writing for a living. Most will have to settle for striking a balance between the working world and their writing life.

In general, my advice for the would-be blogger would be definitely not to quit your day job to blog unless you are one of the lucky few who already has established such a successful blog that you are making as much or more from your blog than you are from your day job. If that's the case, you'd be foolish NOT to quit your day job. If you find yourself in that enviable position, you deserve to be able to focus on doing what you love. But, until you get there, keep plugging away like the rest of us.

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