‘ve been asked this question often. I got asked this question last night actually. I don’t mind people asking this because when you blog for a job it is indeed a very weird thing that leaves people asking such questions as ‘Where does your money come from?’ and ‘What do you do all day?’ and my personal favourite ‘But… do people even read your blog?’.
So today I’m going to answer those questions because I honestly don’t think there are any stupid questions. There’s a really terrible supermarket just down the road from me that’s been there for a decade and they have one dusty can of baked beans on their shelf and that’s about it. They’re open 14 hours a day, including weekends, in some of the most prime real estate in the city. It’s pretty obvious they don’t make their money from the store but I don’t really know how they actually make money. I have my suspicions though. Illegal miniature goat racket.
It’s like when I see really thin people eat a lot food. I’m like ‘How is that working?’. Or when I see a dog that is so impossibly cute I’m all ‘How do you even exist?’
The point is, you can’t assume that because something is obvious to you, it’s obvious to everyone. So here are some things you might have been wondering about.
Where does your money come from?
Honestly? All over the place. Here are my main sources of income. They chop and change a lot but it’s not wise to have all my money bags in one basket. If one of these income streams falls through, I have four others to back me up.
– Sponsored posts – where brands pay to have their product in one of my posts
– Freelance writing – where a website or magazine pays me to write for them like Bupa or REA
– Freelance blog and community management – where other bloggers or brands pay me to do their blogging and social media strategy
– Teaching blogging – where students pay me to teach them things about blogging. I do this through Little Blog Big and Secret Blogger’s Business
– Magazine editing – I edit the Secret Blogger’s Business Magazine every month
– Crochet Coach – where people join the exclusive community for learning to crochet (this is by far my favourite revue stream I’ve ever had!)
What do you do all day?
Blogger’s lives look super cushy but I promise they’re anything but. Here’s a regular day for me.
6.30 am – wake up, have a pre-gym snack and walk to the gym
7am – gym
8am – Showered and sitting at my desk (either at home or at my office)
9am – Emails, planning the day, responding to Facebook comments and blog comments
10am to 2pm – Freelance work, client work, sponsored post writing, social media scheduling with a super quick lunch break in there
2pm – Smaggle and Crochet Coach blog post writing, community management, newsletter writing and social media management
3pm – Recording podcasts, prepping for podcasts, prepping for webinars, prepping for Crochet Coach live lessons
6pm – Break for dinner
7pm – Record Crochet Coach live lessons, crochet design, writing up patterns, scheduling the next days posts, tracking the posts performance from the day before, checking social media shares for the next day
11pm – bed time
Weekends are usually spent taking photos for both blogs, sponsored posts and social media. I also do a lot of crochet designing, pattern writing and testing on the weekends.
It’s a lot of work and it’s a never ending cycle but I do honestly love it. I’m happiest when I’m busy and I can work from anywhere so it suits me to a T.
But… do people even read your blog?
Yes. My blog is by no means the most popular blog on the internet (or even in my close friendship circle!) but quite a few people read it regularly per month. It’s a very engaged readership too which I love – I get the best comments every day and I always reply to every single one. Have done for 10 years and I have no intention of stopping. It’s the best part of my day. If you’ve ever commented on Smaggle – thank you. It’s very special and less people do it these days and I really appreciate you taking the time to chat to me. It’s the whole reason I started this blog.
This week on Straight & Curly, Kelly and I are talking about blogging. We discuss how we do it, how we make money doing it, how we used our blogs to make other money and how the hell we’ve both managed to do it for as long as we have!
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What other blogs do you read? Also do you have a blog?
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P.S Have you signed up for the free Crochet Coach granny square intro lesson yet?