Launching a blog is one of the best decisions you can make. This is because, if nurtured very well, it might end up replacing your day job.
Unlike most other businesses that require lots of capital to start, blogging is different.
With a very meager amount of money, you can launch your own blog. And if you're serious and determined to make it work for you, it can be grown into a 6-figure per month business.
The good thing is that today, anyone can make money from the internet (especially through blogging).
At the same time, it's often very hard to manage especially when you have other things going on… like having a day job. This is what usually prevents most people from venturing into blogging full-time.
But do you have to quit your day job in order to run and manage your blog?
You might have been advised to quit your day job so you can dedicate all your time to blogging. If you believe that, read this article first before making a decision.
Unless the money you're making from your blog is more than what you're being paid in your day job, calling it quits will be crazy and absurd.
In this book "Rich Dads Before You Quit Your Job", Robert Kiyosaki described his first experience after he quit his job to become an entrepreneur.
In his own words:
"One of the most frightening days of my life was the day I quit my job and officially became an entrepreneur. On that day, I knew there were no more steady paychecks, no more health insurance or retirement plans. No more days off for being sick or paid vacations.
On that day, my income went to zero. The terror of not having a steady paycheck was one of the most frightening experiences I had ever experienced. Worst of all, I did not know how long it would be before I would have another steady paycheck."
When you're first starting your blogging business, you're not sure if it'll become successful. Here's an important question to ask:
Blogs need money to run during their early stages. Couple that with your other financial needs and keeping a 9-6 job while you start up your blog may be necessary.
Interestingly, there have been some proven ways through which you can manage your blog without quitting your day job and that's what I'll talk to you about in this post.
Like Yaro Starak said, saturation online has made it more difficult today to earn money online relative to just a few years ago.
Thanks to the hype of earning money online, everyone wants a piece of the online profit pie.
A steady income from "normal" employment helps ease anxiety, as well as providing for the day-to-day basic needs throughout the duration it takes to establish yourself in the online space.
1. Start Learning and Experimenting for Free
Obviously, building a blog and making it successful takes lots of time and effort. It'd be a weird idea to give up a steady paycheck just to experiment and make mistakes.
During the learning period, you won't be making any money from your blog because you know nothing yet.
You're still trying to figure out what works and what doesn't. In this case, the best solution is to do this in your free time. That free time is whenever you're not working for your other job. How much time you put into it depends on how willing you are to embrace the "new-age digital space".
It's wise to use your spare time to educate yourself, and with your steady paycheck, you can easily invest in the necessary blogging tools and services needed to simplify and facilitate your blogging tasks.
You can only call it quits when your blog is earning more than you earn for your day job.
2. Become a Time Management Guru
"Time is money."
I have mentioned this quote multiple times & I truly believe in it.
In my experience, I've come to realize that you can actually be very busy sometimes without being productive; therefore, you should try to squeeze out enough time to work on your blog.
If you spend a lot of time watching the TV, playing video games, partying, etc., you may want to apportion that time to work on your blog instead.
Bottom line: Time is a very important factor when it comes to running an internet-based business (just like any other type of business). It's now up to you to decide how you can find enough time in your daily schedule to make your blog a success.
Here are a few hand-picked resources that will help you to master the art of time-management:
3. Learn to Schedule Like a Boss
Sticking to a routine is often the most difficult part when it comes to blogging, but it's also the most important.
In my initial days of blogging, I mastered my routine with the help of scheduling. I ensured that every single day, one blog post got published.
Scheduling is a must for getting things done.
You should plan your publishing schedule ahead of the time.
Tip: It's always good to start with your most difficult task, because once you've done that, the rest will become easier to tackle.
Ask yourself:
This will help you to ensure you're not unnecessarily wasting time.
Once you've mapped out your tasks, stick to it at all costs and don't allow yourself to deviate from that schedule for any reason.
If you're still finding it hard to maintain a schedule along with your 9-6 job, you can use the very useful CoSchedule tool.
4. Learn to Always Stay Organized and Focused
I know you must be saying:
To be honest, staying organized & focused is the key to achieving all of our dreams.
Running an internet based business while also maintaining a day job not only takes organization, but also focus.
In my case, I created two bucket lists:
I put the tasks that need to be executed into the "To-do" list. Once I've executed a task, I move it to the "Done" list.
I use Trello for this & it's pretty handy.
This way, I know what needs to get done and I don't have to start thinking of what I should be doing at any point; this is a big time killer.
Start by listing your tasks, ranking them according to their priority level, and play the Trello game.
Regarding your big tasks, break them into small tasks & follow the same formula.
5. Always Remember Your Big Why
Being an entrepreneur and having a 9-6 at the same time can be very tedious and time-consuming. If you aren't careful, you can easily get off balance and lose focus in the process.
One of the things that will always keep you inspired and highly motivated to move forward even when things are not working well is to know why you're doing this.
With a very big and compelling reason, you'll stand the test of time.
This is one thing John Chow emphasized in his recent interview with me at Affiliate Summit West.
You need to regularly visit the reason why you are doing what you are doing. Each time you lose motivation, revisit your reason & ask yourself 'Why'?
6. Develop Confidence and Peace of Mind
Making money from the internet is not meant for desperate individuals.
It usually take lots of time, money, and effort before you start seeing any significant income from your blog. But with a steady paycheck from your day job, you'll have something to rely on while waiting for your blog to start paying the bills.
Without that certainty, your anxiety level will naturally be higher and potentially push you to quit and give up when results don't materialize based on your expectations.
Read: 10 Powerful Tips To Boost Your Self-Confidence Instantly
7. Assemble a Great Team
Thinking you can build a popular blog all by yourself is crazy.
It works when you start out, but if you want to build an outstanding blog, having a great team will help you to grow really fast.
Even if you're a superhuman, you'll still need others to help you.
As someone who's busy with a day job, one of the best decisions you'll make is to learn to outsource and delegate some tasks (especially the most difficult and time-consuming ones).
Doing this will allow you to focus more on your job and on the core areas of your blogging business.
Once you've built a good team, the entire day to day running of your blogging business will become less stressful and less time consuming.
If you check out most of the popular bloggers from around the web, you'll find out that they have one thing in common:
In case you are not ready to hire someone full-time, here's what you can do.
(I used this method to start building my team.)
Firstly, create a list of tasks that you want to delegate. This is the most important thing before moving ahead.
Now, using any freelancing site, hire a virtual assistant & delegate your work to them.
If you are not accustomed to giving orders, this will give you a good start. You will learn a lot of things in this process & will act as your stepping stone before you hire people full-time.
If you ask me, I'd say that building a team for your business is one of the wisest business decisions you'll ever make. If you're running a blog and also have a day job, having a team to assist you in running your blog will be a very smart thing to do.
Conclusion
Like I mentioned earlier, it takes lots of time to build a successful blog. Within this waiting period, you not only need money for your personal needs, running your blog also requires some investment.
Because of this, it'd be a dumb idea to quit your day job all at once because you want to create time for your blog.
A lot of people have made this mistake before and ended up regretting it. I wouldn't want that to also happen to you.
If you diligently follow the ideas I've shared on this post, managing your blog and your day job will cease to be an issue. Once you start earning more money from your blog than from your day job, you can quit with confidence knowing that your blog can pay the bills.
Do you work a day job? How long did it take you to quit after you started your blog? I would love to hear your thoughts on this in the comments section.
Do you know someone who could benefit from this guide? Share it with them on Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus!
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Source: The Ultimate Guide To Managing A Blog Without Quitting Your Job
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