Having served in the US Army with a couple deployments under my belt, I know for a fact that complacency does kill and it’s something that is almost impossible to avoid.
As a blogger, the same problem presents itself and we need to fight it off or our bank accounts will suffer.
I think you military personnel can relate and I’m sure you bloggers can as well.
Whether we like it or not, we will all get complacent in a lot of things we do in life but you always need to know what to do to snap out of it.
Getting comfortable with anything you do in life is a great way to make bad things happen and that is exactly what will happen if you decide to take on the online world and make money online as a blogger.
Some of you may think that getting started in the blogging space is the hard part but I think it’s really after the fact that you are making money that is the absolute worst.
Allow me to explain how most people fall into this trap as well as how you can dig yourself out of it before your overall business takes a hit.
First of All, What in the World is Blogging?
For most people in the world, blogging is nothing but a way for people to talk about something that they are really passionate about.
Which is true but there is more to it, especially in the financial department.
I make my living as a blogger and I do it by talking about things I actually enjoy doing.
Finding a legitimate training platform is actually really complicated, but the whole process of creating one is a breeze.
Getting Started is Easier Than You Think
Becoming a blogger for money is super simple but can be complicated as heck because of the amount of scams that will be thrown in your face before finding something legit.
For me, I started my online career in the hunt for a way to make money and through the many scams I’ve encountered, it led me to the conclusion that blogging was probably the only way to do it.
Thanks to Scott from Aworkathomebusiness.com, that showed me how possible it is to make money online with a simple blog, I was able to create a full-time income with a year’s time.
He was living proof, which ultimately led me to a program called the Wealthy Affiliate, which has everything you could possibly need to start, run, and maintain a blog.
The way I saw it was that even if I had to wait 3 years to make over $5k/month it will be worth it in the end rather than working at a job for 20+ years and not even making that much money.
To make a long story short, I made a solid income within a year of blogging and I quit my j-o-b a lot faster than I thought.
Again, getting started wasn’t the hard part, which you can see if you visit the actual Wealthy Affiliate site.
Making That First $1
The whole process of creating a blog and making money with it is not complicated, but I’d rather not explain all of that as you can just learn that here.
It was making my first $1 and then making more of those dollars that was a little harder, but the hardest part of them all was to stay on track.
You see, the process is pretty simple to understand and if you can make a simple $1 that only showed me that you can make $10, $100, and so on.
Well that’s how it went and ultimately leading to financial success.
But just like anything else out there, you need to keep at it or you can lose everything if you’re not careful.
Celebrate Your Wins But Don’t Get Carried Away
Making my first $1,000 online was a great feeling but that is the same mark that got me to be complacent.
Of course my income naturally increased from there through my efforts, but as the days and months went by, that fire to make money started to get a little dim.
With the money coming in and more than enough to pay the bills and still go out to eat almost every single day, that passion that got me to success in the first place was chopped in half.
That led to less work, which then led to less income.
Not even having a couple thousand dollars shaved off my monthly earnings was enough for me to wake up, but I knew something had to be done.
I got back on track, but it’s not something that just came naturally.
I had to sit back and really think about what was actually happening or I would’ve probably been broke by now.
Step Back and Crunch the Numbers
Seeing your income decrease is the obvious.
It’s the other numbers that you need to pay attention to or that income number won’t go back up.
How many days are you not working?
How many blog posts are you producing every week, month, and year.
How many hours are you putting in of actual work?
How many hours are you sleeping?
How many hours are you awake and not working?
If you can understand these simple numbers, you will see how much work you’re really not doing.
Forget about the income sliding, focus on what it took to get you to those numbers in the first place or you’ll be in a world of hurt.
Treat Blogging Like a Job or You’ll End up Going Back to One
Although you might not be working at a traditional job, you really need to get in the mindset of knowing where hard work will get you.
Yes, you are your own boss, but getting the work done is also going to be up to you, and is also one of the cons of working from home.
Working from home VS working at a normal job has its pros and cons, so you might want to read more here to see how working from home might not be for you.
The thing about blogging is that you can very much make money from it but it can also disappear if you don’t put in the work.
Just because you’re working from home doesn’t mean you slack half the time either, so remember to always keep working, even when you’re off.
Set a Schedule
Setting a blogging schedule is a huge part of any blogger’s success.
If you haven’t already, get yourself a nice little whiteboard and start putting it to use.
Not only should you write things that needs to be done, but you should also set a blogging schedule and most especially stick to it.
Having this “I’ll do it later” mentality will lead to a lot less hours, a lot less posts, and a lot less income so please, please get in a schedule.
Doing this allows you to see that you need to get some work done and also get you through the complacency trip that comes with the blogging world.
Do Some Exercise
A typical stereo type of a blogger is probably one that consists of an overweight man, sitting behind a computer, who hasn’t shaved in weeks, which is actually quite the opposite.
As a blogger, there are many things we need to exercise besides our brains and some good old physical activity is one of them.
From my network of bloggers I have yet to see one that is actually overweight and lazy as I’m sure we all know that being lazy is not going to get you anywhere.
Blogging does take a fresh mind as well as some good physical health or you won’t make it.
If you have made it and put on some pounds, that might have also led to you being complacent.
The fix:
Get out there and go for a run, walk, or maybe even play a sport.
As a blogger, you need to stay in shape or you will get lazy and once again, your business will take a hit.
Keep reading and also keep learning to exercise your brain as well as they all play a part in the success of any blogger’s career.
Conclusion
Blogging can be the most rewarding thing in the world and probably one of the easiest “jobs” out there, but let it slip and you could be asking your old employer to hire you again.
Follow these simple tips and I’m sure you will make a difference in your blogging career.
If you haven’t quite made it yet, you should still keep these tips as good practice as this is also what will lead to success as a blogger.
I hope this post has helped you in one way or the other and if you have fallen into this category, please do share your experience as I’m sure we can all use advice from other bloggers.
Thanks for reading and remember to always put in the work no matter how fat your wallet is or you might find yourself in a bad situation.
Cheers!