How Much Does This Blog Make (2018)?
Side hustles are a great way for individuals to turn extra time into extra cash. Sometimes these side hustles are serious business endeavors that earn significant money. Other times they’re simply hobbies that begin to earn a little bit of cash on the side… almost by accident.
Blogging is one of those activities that can span the entire spectrum of ‘profitable side hustle’ to ‘hobby’. Some blogs are businesses where the owners make major incomes, and others on the ‘hobby’ end of the spectrum make absolutely nothing.
It should come as no surprise that the venerable Internet Retirement Police often turn their criticism towards personal finance bloggers. After all, it is possible to make money blogging. Sometimes a lot of money!
“Your not really retired! You can probably live entirely off the blog income!”
“I could quit my day job too if I had a super popular blog like yours! You’re making a TON of money off that blog.”
Trust me, I’ve heard it all.
Well, today I’m going to counter some of these ugly criticisms with actual numbers. I’m going to share my blog income numbers and let YOU decide if this blog is the main source of my retirement income.
Or, perhaps you’re just one of those people thinking about starting a new blog as a side hustle. You’re trying to decide “Is starting a blog really worth it?”.
Well, today’s your lucky day kids, because I’m opening the kimono! (Close your eyes for the naughty bits)
How Blogs Make Money
First off, let’s cover all the different ways that blogs typically make money, and then I’ll address each income source separately.
Blogs generally can make money from the following sources:
Advertising. This means putting display ads in various places on the blog. These ads earn very little money unless someone actually clicks on one of the images. It’s probably the most obvious and straight-forward forms of blog income, but also one of the lowest paying.
You need A LOT of views and A LOT of clicks to make any significant money from ads. Google Adsense is probably the most common provider of ads for small blogs.
Sponsored Content. Sponsored content (at least for personal finance blogs) is usually in the form of a seperate blog post dedicated to promoting an investment product or service. Like a blog post extolling the benefits of Reality Shares or Motif Investing.
Say I one day published a post dedicated to telling you how awesome “Jim’s Brokerage Service” is. Well, that post could be sponsored content. “Jim’s Brokerage Service” would be paying me to post that. These posts can either be authored by the blogger or the business that’s selling the product (it’s hard to tell sometimes).
Selling Products Or Services. This is where a blogger uses his/her blog to sell some product they’ve personally created. Maybe they’ve written an ebook, created an online class, or are offering some other kind of service. These are all examples of products that people create and sell on their blogs, and they’re very lucrative sources of income.
Affiliate Income. Affiliate income is money bloggers earn by linking to other businesses selling products or services. Anytime you see a blogger linking to another business from their blog, it’s probably an affiliate link. While it doesn’t cost the blog reader anything extra, this can be a big source of blog income.
Does Mr. Tako Escapes Make Money?
Yes, this blog actually does make some money. Even though I started blogging back in 2015, the first year I actually earned enough where I needed to pay taxes on the income was 2017.
Let’s look at each of the different possible income sources to see where I made money…
Advertising
On the advertising side, I use Google Adsense to provide the ads for this blog. It only makes a tiny bit of money under most circumstances. For every 1000 impressions recieved, I probably only make about $0.12. On an average day, my blog sees anywhere from 3,000-5,000 impressions.
That’s less than $1 per day.
However, when readers click on an add, that’s when the real money comes in — I earn about $1.00 from each click. Yes, you read that right, a dollar!
So how much do I make on average from the ads on the blog? Well, it varies from month to month (and how much people click), but here’s how much I made each month last year in raw Google Adsense income:
Not too shabby, eh? For the whole of 2017, this blog made $1,155 from Google Adsense, with a total of 1,131 clicks on ads. This is an average of $96.28 per month.
For 2018 so far, the advertising numbers look like they’re going to be very similar to 2017.
Sponsored Content
Have you noticed that I don’t put any sponsored content on my blog? While some people claim this kind of content is no different than placing ads around the borders, I beg to differ.
I want my readers to come to this blog for quality content, and I think sponsored content is a huge turnoff. I personally have stopped reading blogs that accept sponsored content because it’s so sleazy. I believe it’s likely that my readers would do the exact same thing.
Therefore I won’t and don’t intend to publish sponsored content on this blog. I earn $0 from this category.
Selling Products/Services
For many blogs, the products they sell are a huge source of income. Unfortunately, I don’t have any products for sale!
What would I sell exactly? A cookbook? All my best recipes are posted to the blog for free. How about my super secret stock trading system? Too bad there’s no real secret — patience and compounding are pretty much all an investor needs. Well, that and maybe a few other things I’ve already posted about… but really there’s no secret formula or magic trading systems.
How about Mr. Tako t-shirts? Would anyone be interested in one of those?
(No Mom, you can’t buy a shirt! This is just a joke)
Until I can think of something of worthwhile to sell on this blog, my earnings in this category are going to remain $0.
Affiliate Income
Ok, now here’s a category where I do actually earn a little income!
While there are many businesses that offer affiliate relationships to bloggers, many of them are extremely picky about who they accept into their programs. Amazon is the one I primarily work with because they’re not discriminating jerks like those other guys.
This means from time to time I’ll throw up a link to something readers can buy off Amazon. Maybe it’s a book or some item I recently purchased. If readers decide to purchase that item off amazon using the link, I see a few pennies from the sale (typically 3 to 5 cents per dollar).
(For all those folks that have done so — Thank You!)
As you can probably guess, this income source isn’t going to generate big money. (Probably no new Mercedes for me!)
Here’s my results for all of 2017:
Yep, nothing too exciting. I guess I’ll need to stick with that 12 year old Honda awhile longer. For all of 2017 I made $323 from Amazon affiliate links, which is an average of about $27 per month.
Again, my 2018 numbers are looking very similar to what I saw in 2017 and I can probably expect to make about the same amount of money.
What About Expenses?
Let’s not to forget that despite all these awesome dollar signs I’m flashing around like some kind of hot bling, blogs actually do have expenses.
In my case, I pay $3.73 monthly to Squidix for my web hosting, and last year I paid $13.75 annually for the domain name MrTakoEscapes.com. This means the blog had $58.51 in regular recurring expenses for 2017.
There’s also self employment taxes to pay after expenses. Don’t forget the taxes! In 2017, self employment taxes were 15.3%, which must be paid in quarterly installments, or a penalty has to be paid at the end of the year.
At the end of the year (after expenses), MrTakoEscapes.com made about $1,202.
How Much Time Does It Take?
Based on the numbers I’ve shown you above, I’m earning about $100 per month from the blog. So, how much time do I investing into writing posts and managing it?
Well, last year I wrote 102 blog posts (roughly two a week). On average, it takes me about 8 hours to write a complete blog post, including research.
(Yes, I know I’m a slow writer!)
Crunching the numbers, this means I invested 802 hours into writing blog posts and earned $1.50 per hour for my effort (after expenses).
This doesn’t include the time spent managing the blog or responding to blog comments, which can take up to 4 additional hours per week.
Final Thoughts: Why Do I Do It?
So am I really “living off my blog income” like the IRP claim? Is the blog providing me an easy life of financial independence?
Ha! Not even close! The Internet Retirement Police can go suck an egg. My income is earned primarily from my investments.
So why the heck do I do it? This blog makes significantly less than minimum wage. Why not go get a job flipping burgers at McDonalds instead?
Well, let me say it clearly: It’s not about the money!
On the spectrum of blogs that exist out there, Mr. Tako Escapes fits more on the “hobby” end of the blogging spectrum. I’m really not looking for another “job”.
I primarily write this blog for three main reasons:
1. To Leave a Legacy. I want to leave some lasting investing advice for my kids. As I mentioned in the About page for this blog, there’s just too much useless investing noise out there. Too many half-truths. Too many guru’s that just want to steal your money. Most investing advice is actually about taking your money, and this is an area where I believe I can actually help my kids.
I’m actually writing with the intent that they’ll read this someday.
Unfortunately my kids are far too young right now to understand investing. The blog is my way of recording those important things I want to tell them about life and investing (which they can read when they’re ready).
2. A Different Voice. I also write because I feel there’s room for different voices out there in the personal finance space. There’s many different ways to reach financial independence, but there’s far too many bog-standard blogs that read like generic copies of one another.
If you’ve read many personal finance blogs, you know exactly what I’m talking about here. Clearly, I don’t fit in that mold!
3. It’s fun. Yep, this is a passion project. Believe it or not, I actually enjoy writing about personal finance. I find it to be a lot of fun. The process of writing really gets me thinking hard about a topic, and there’s always plenty of research required for each post. Writing on this blog keeps me constantly learning, which I love to do!
So yes, blogging for me is more of a labor of love than a labor of money. It won’t pay the bills, but it’s fun anyway.
[Image Credit: CafeCredit under CC2.0]
Hahaha, “go suck an egg”. I love that.
I’m very surprised Mr. Tako! The quality of the writing and design made me think it was rolling in the dough! I guess you can’t judge a blog just by its appearance! I have faith in your business prowess though, just give it some time :).
Thank you Olivia! You always have a kind word, and I really appreciate that! 🙂
You could make a lot more in advertising revenue.
I’m not sure what “impressions” are (pageviews?), but if you’re getting 3-5k of them per day, that’s 90k-150k per month. With a premium display advertiser you’d earn over $1,000 easily a month and over $2,000 if you’re at the high end of that number.
The ads would be much better as well, and more appealing to your readers.
Just food for thought… 😉
Oh trust me, I’ve tried. 🙁
An impression is when an ad gets viewed. If there are four ads on the page and all four of them get viewed, that’s 4 impressions.
On a typical day I get about 1000 page views, which equates to about 3-5k impressions.
Ok, so 30k pageviews a month. That’s just on the cusp of qualifying for a premium ad network.
If you’re interested in pursuing that option, send me a note. I may be able to help. 🙂
As long as the ads remain unobtrusive I might be interested. I’ll shoot you a note.
So that’s what it’s like behind that kimono! Thanks for sharing your numbers, Mr. Tako. I always feel like I’m the only blogger that doesn’t really make much from the blog.
And you’re besting me, for sure! I make maybe $300 a year on ads (even less on affiliate and product sales). I’m considering just dropping the whole monetization thing anyway, since I’ve been making much more moolah with freelance writing. But the ads are helpful to pay for hosting and domain renewal, so they’ll stay for now.
You’re definitely not alone Mrs. PP. Really any extra little bit of money above the cost of hosting and fees makes it extra fun!
I’ve always said that good hobbies shouldn’t cost us money, but really should produce a little. 😉
$1.50 an hour. OK. I’ll bet you earned more than $1.50 per minute in your old job. It’s safe to say, at this point at least, that the blog is very much a hobby.
You do write well, and I can tell you put a lot of time into the posts. If you wanted to, you could turn that monetization spigot to the right for a stronger flow. You’ve got the traffic to justify it, and you’ve paid your dues by providing great free content.
Cheers!
-PoF
1.50 a minute!?! Holy cow, no! About half that in fact.
I’m still learning about monetizing, but I prefer to do it in a way that is unobtrusive for the readers.
Thanks for all the kind words PoF! Love your blog too!
I like the fact that you are not like the others! I stopped reading many of the other blogs because their focus seems to be more on increasing blog income. Pop-ups and ads all over the blog is a turn off!
Nothing wrong with earning money while blogging but let’s respect the readers too.
Thanks for sharing your numbers . Blogging is hard work!
Yeah all those pop-up ads are so irritating! There’s definitely a balance between monetizing and not monetizing and doing it in a way that doesn’t bother the users. Hopefully I’ve struck a pretty decent balance here.
Totally agree — respect the readers! 🙂
Very interesting! Thanks for posting this 🙂
I too assumed you were making more. My blog (in it’s fourth year I think) just started making a bit of money from products -I wrote a couple of ebooks. We don’t have advertising or paid content. Amazon pays me about $3 a month.
So it’s reassuring that The Great Tako is in a similar situation 😀
Thanks sendaiben! I’m going to have to check out your ebooks sometime. Really cool that you can still make a little money without advertising or sponsored content.
I wouldn’t recommend them! They are very basic guides to types of investment accounts here in Japan (NISA and iDeCo). Very much aimed at beginners who live and invest in Japan 🙂
Knew it was a “labor of love”. Thank you for reaching out, tentacled friend.
Thanks for being such a dedicated reader Bob! I’d give you a great big tentacled hug right now if I could! 😉
Thanks for sharing your number, Mr. Tako!
I have to admit that I’m one of the people who thought you were rolling in the dough thanks to your blog. Now people know it’s not that easy to retire off of a FIRE blog. 🙂
There are some folks like MMM and a few others that make a ton of money. It’s important to remember that they’re special cases. Most blogs don’t earn much at all!
Some retired people paint and some blog… sometimes it may make money … why climb the mountain… because it is there … blogging is a fun challenge … starting a business is a challenge…if it is a fun helpful challenge, then great
I don’t have any skin in the game. I think you are a bit harsh on sponsored content. It will be as high as you want it to be on the quality scale. Done well, it is no different than display ads. But your blog of course, your choice.
Yep, and I think it’s a huge turnoff to come to a blog and read what is basically a big advertisement. It really hurts the blogs integrity in my mind.
I’m working at well below minimum wage too. Glad to read I’m not alone.
It is a great creative outlet for me and fortunately, I have reached FI. That takes pressure off to earn money.
Yep yep! Totally true Wealthy Doc. If I hadn’t reached FI already I might feel the pressure to make it more worth my time… but any earnings after taxes and expenses are just icing on the cake.
Thanks for the transparency Tako. Yours is one of my favorite blogs and I really enjoy your content – you definitely deserve more than 1.50 an hour!
And you may take 8hrs per post but it shows, your content is awesome. I see many others posting just to post and it’s obvious they do it quickly.
Keep at it and I’m sure your blog will bring in more going forward. Quality stuff always earns it’s own!
Thanks Accidental Fire! I really appreciate the encouragement! 🙂
Your efforts may net just $1.5/hr, but to your readers your posts are priceless.
Keep up the great work!
Thank you MD!
You are preaching to the choir Tako. My blog struggles to break even. That is with free hosting.
It is a labor of love.
True-dat brother! Keep on keeping on! 😉
Blogging for the money is mostly a waste of time unless you are at the very top. I really enjoy your content and am glad you undertook this passion project. You’ve brought hours of reading and deep thought to many of us
Thanks Doc! It’s true that there’s only a few spots “at the top” for people to earn really big incomes from a blog.
I’m totally fine if I’m not part of the ‘cool’ crowd. Afterall, being different was part of how I reached FI so quickly!
Thanks for sharing your numbers. I would be interested to calculate my numbers too- I think it is also somewhere around the $0.99/hr range lol! It is a fun hobby though and nice to get rewarded monetarily for it. Thanks for writing amazing content and it is always a pleasure to read your introspective writing.
Thanks GYM! Positive encouragement like this is very appreciated! 🙂
I think the ticket for you is to make a product. Maybe a cookbook or something like that.
As for affiliate, maybe find a good brokerage that you can recommend to your readers.
Google Adsense is terrible. You’ll make a lot more income if you work with one of the advertising networks. They will put a ton of ads on the site, though. There’s a downside to everything.
Monetization takes a lot of work too. If you don’t care about money much, then I wouldn’t worry about it. It took me a long time to make more than minimum wage. That’s true for most blogs, right?
It seems like it’s true for the average blog. There are some standouts of course (like yourself), but the reality is that it’s not a big money making game.
To some extent I think people believe we all make a ton of cash from our blogs and FI or FIRE is fake. That thinking is very wrong of course. 😉
You should totally join a premium ad network! Its only a matter of time and then bam! You’re on easy street with a pocket of gold! (And great content).
Hehe, I wish it was that easy Lily! For some reason you got the golden ticket and were able to reach that level quickly. That’s great of course, you totally deserve it. Love your blog.
I’m still quite a ways off from reaching the numbers that premium networks like Mediavine require.
I’m glad you blog. Your clear thinking and writing are a pleasure to read!
Thanks Laurie! Love reading your blog too! 🙂
I’m breaking even on expenses, so comparatively your doing really well. Then again the blog serves other purposes some of which you’ve mentioned so it’s fine.
Yep, breaking even is a huge milestone! It can take a year or more to get to that level.
Thanks for sharing! Taking notes as I think about possibly monetizing down the road. I too feel the same way about sponsored content. But where do you draw the line between sponsored and affiliate?
Right. That’s the tricky bit. So many bloggers push affiliate products and it kinda starts to sound like sponsored content.
I’ll only post an affiliate link if I *really use* that product and like it. That’s a big deal coming from me — I tend to think most products kinda suck, but there are a few I’ve come to love and recommend in my “Things We Like” page.
Thanks for sharing! Like the others have already said, you can definitely earn more from a premium ad network and maybe launching your own product. I really like that you blog for your kids – and we all get to benefit from it 😀
Thanks Janet! If I ever grow to a large enough size, I may look into these premium ad networks.
For now, it’s going to be more of the same! 🙂
Very cool article, thanks for sharing your realistic numbers. I have only started now to make some income off my blog. And it is from category 4 : affiliate income, I followed a course on blockchain technology and have talked with the teacher to have a affiliate sales.
I have also refused all sponsored content for now that is not in direct line with the blog or for financial services I have not used previously (a lending company from Latvia, errr…. no thanks, it looked reliable though). I share some similar goals and actually use it as a life hack for myself as well. It forces em to do the research and then I will have all my answers in written 🙂 (many articles might need a revision or tweaking as time goes by, but basically the plan is have it all in one blog).
Good luck further and let us know when the blog will pay your Mercedes 😉 my blog affords me a scale model Maserati 1/24 for now.
Very timely article. There is a big discussion about hobby vs business pf blogging lately. I wonder if blue host’s big commission blitz recently had anything to do with that discussion.
I don’t work with Bluehost, so I wasn’t aware of the commision blitz. It’s news to me!
I know they write some of the biggest affiliate checks, which makes them popular for recommending as a web host, but their service kinda sucks in reality. That’s not something I can get behind.
Loved this! Especially the “go suck an egg” instruction. Thanks for sharing your journey. I aspire to $1.50 an hour at the moment.
Surprised the blog makes income – I had assumed it was just hobby because I noticed you only have google ads and I don’t know anyone that has ever clicked on one before. I would be very surprised if you told us this blog makes enough to be a business at this stage.
But I prefer it that you use it for ideas, it’s fun to read, and I agree that the one’s that are pushing product feel sleazy. Do it for as long as you enjoy it, but I enjoy the new posts =)
Thanks Bob!
Labor of love for sure! I’m impressed you put out as many posts as you do with the average of 8 hours per post. Love your blog, and you know my position on blogging for (big) money 🙂 The low key approach like yours is the way I may – someday – take my blog. Will have to get past the Type A personality of mine that tells me that ads = need to spend WAY too much time on my blog.
Yeah, I think a lot of people want to maximize income but I don’t think that’s always the smartest strategy long term.
Congrats on making that money. It could be worse. Keep up the great work!
Hey, yah! Any number that’s positive is great in my mind.
Thanks for sharing the numbers. I appreciate the transparency. Frankly, I thought your blogging income would have been higher… your content is so excellent/informative/engaging. Luckily you still love to write as a passion project because I’d like to continue to read more from you! And if you ever went with a premium ad service or wrote a few sponsored posts here and there… I’d still follow along.
I’m afraid many readers would be considerable less dedicated if I cranked up the monetization. But I do appreciate your willingness to accept more Dr. McFrugal!
I love to hear the realities of blogging income from other bloggers. While it’s definitely possible to make money doing it, it’s not an easy feat. And if you do the hourly breakdown like you did, most folks would be in for a real shocker. If someone doesn’t love everything involved in blogging, it’s not going to be something that they just do because it’s “worth the money.”
On the other side though, your blog is great to read and I’m glad you enjoy doing it. A little extra money coming in never hurts either!
— Jim
That’s what I think too. So what if it’s only a tiny bit of money! Can’t hurt!
This is a great write up! I think we’re a lot alike in ho we’ve been monetizing (or not monetizing). I’d agree with some of the comments above too – if you wanted to increase income a premium network or creating a product could be a route to look into.
I looove that you don’t do sponsored posts. I think that does devalue a brand. Once a blog has multiple authors and is posting a ton, those seem less spammy. When you’re a single author blog, posting 1-3x a week, a sponsored post has a lot more potential to dilute your message.
That’s a great brokerage service! 🙂
What Jim? I didn’t recommend any…
Thanks as always for the humor and candor. While you may not be making crazy money yet, you are building something very meaningful. There’s significant value in this blog, even if it hasn’t been fully monetized / unlocked yet – keep building the asset and we’ll see what happens!
Thanks Paul! I enjoy doing it, so I’ll stick with it as long as I can!
I think your blog is fantastic, and was a bit gobsmacked at how low your revenue was- I was thinking that it would be 5-10x higher.
The fact that you are writing this up for your sons gives it more meaning and purpose. I’d imagine that when they are ready it will be a great find for them.
Stay well,
Mike
Thanks Mike! I think that’s a lot of what the IRP believe too…. that once you have a blog it’s like a *river* of money flowing in. The reality is it’s nothing like that. Online dollars are relatively hard to come by.
Thanks for this article. It’s definitely helpful to me as I start to figure out how to monetize my own blog. There’s definitely a sweet spot between writing a blog as a hobby and writing a blog for money. I think I want to fall somewhere in between the two.
That’s kinda my goal too. Find that elusive balance and try to stay in the sweet spot.
Always nice to hear some transparent numbers.
I agree on the ads. I don’t want to run them on my site. And I have trouble on affiliate marketing or other marketing because I really don’t buy or use much myself either. I want to stand behind what I’d promote. I tried to get a betterment affiliate, because I’ve mentioned them quite a few times, but I can’t because
I actually used the product! Seems crazy to me! They suggested liquidating my account if I care to be an affiliate. Or using my personal link that gets me money off investment fees, but it’s got my full name in the link so that doesn’t work with my anonymous blog.
And, I want to be “me.” I want to be able to talk about finance, life and family. I feel like if the goal is to make money specifically, it’s going to have to be focused material that loses “me.”
Sure I hope I’ll get lucky. And making SOME money is a goal, just because I like to set goals like that. But, I want to do it “authentically.” I don’t want to have to grow my twitter followers by just doing follow for follow if I’m not interested in the content for example.
It won’t be the first time if come out, apparently, not as well as I could have over principles.
But right now I’m still just trying to grow readership. So all this is just musings anyway!
Great post! I just did the math and realized I put about $10K into my blog in its first two months 🙂 (billing for my time, too, of course). It’s a labor of love. The blogs that I get the most from are not the ones that are the huge moneymakers– so I aspire to be like that, making a bit here and there sometimes, without selling my soul.
Well said Kate! Thanks for reading! 🙂
So if you get a dollar each time we click on ad is there any reason we shouldn’t all just click on one each time we come here. It costs us nothing and makes you money. It seems like it should be a win win.
There is, actually! Google sees that as click fraud and could ban Mr Tako from their ad services for the life of his domain, which would also inhibit him from ever joining a premium ad company, like mine (Mediavine).
Occasionally clicking on a product you’re interested in is fine. But ad fraud tools will pick up on the same computer or location clicking on ads regularly, and that is bad news bears for this site’s AdSense account.
We’re excited to have you join the family as soon as you reach those 25K sessions, Mr. Tako. You’ve got a great site, and one that we’d be proud to help you grow.
Yes, Amber’s right — keep it reasonable folks! If you’re interested in the ads, absolutely go ahead and click away, but please don’t spam the ad over and over.
Lol, that’s what I thought, so I just did and will do so every time now. Seems really easy & harmless 🙂
Don’t ever quit! I need the constant reminder that there are others like me and the fun stories. Now that MMM hardly ever posts, I need others to supply my FIRE reading requirements. Blogs are also gateways to other opportunities and a very good discipline.
I’m also trying to learn the word for octopus on every language so I won’t accidentally order it when traveling. Since I’m going to japan next year I’ll be on the look out for tako. BTW it is pulpo in Spanish. I’m not eating tentacles.
Thanks Evans! Enjoy the trip to Japan! We were just there last year and had a great time!
I really appreciate the lack of pop-ups and the more discrete ads on your site. I don’t mind affiliate links as long as the blogger is upfront about it but sponsored content puts me off. -Which is why your blog is saved to my favorites and most others aren’t.
Yeah those popups drive me nuts! My rule of thumb is that if that kind of ad annoys me on other sites I won’t put it on my site.
Essentially the golden rule — Do unto others as you would have them do to you!
“I’m opening the kimono! (Close your eyes for the naughty bits).”
Bwahahaha.
Congrats on the 3 years of blogging and the 3-5k daily impressions! Looks like ESI Money gave you some good tips on premium ad networks. Google Adsense is easy and low bar to entry, but once you have enough views and get accepted by a premium ad network, the pay out is much better.
Thanks for the transparency! Always fun to look at blogging stats 🙂
Definitely a beneficial read for me! It’s not that you blog for money, but to leave a legacy and benefit the world. This was really inspiring for me to have a clear pursuit. I thought you’d gained a lot of income from the blog, but turns out I was wrong. It was also good information for me to know how to get money from blogging. Thanks!
The lack of sponsored content is one of the reasons I keep coming back to your blog. While one or two is fine, when sponsored posts start appearing regularly you start to wonder if they really use the service/thing or not
You should sell t-shirt with your logo and quotes on Amazon … You might be surprised by the revenue after a while 🙂
Your kids might get to see the reach you wave with all the taco t-shirts out there in the future.
Excellent post! I like your straight-toward approach to writing on your blog. It’s nice to get some real numbers about blogging and starting out. I talk about finance, movies, books and everything that interests me on my blog. I want to help people think about finance and improve the quality of their financial lives. You do that well. Thanks for the peek inside the kimono. Keep doing you.
Thanks
Miriam
I love the integrity of your Blog. And your humor. But mostly, I love that you are doing this for your kids. Young kids can learn about investing as a Math Project. I found your Blog a couple of months ago and I enjoy going back and reading everything. My boys learned about investing back in 5th & 6th grade during Math Tournaments. With money they had earned mowing lawns in Seattle they were frustrated with the interest banks were paying them. They only had $600 so one Saturday I took them to Charles Schwab and they purchased 11 shares of Microsoft. No Fees for kids back then. For awhile they would call everyday to see what it closed at. This was 1993. By the time they were 16 there was enough for them to sell and purchase their first car and still have some left over. Fast forward to today….1 is an Investment Broker buying and selling companies. The other is an Actuary. They learned that you start early and hold on. Your kids can and mostly likely will follow your passion. I will share your Blog with my son’s and my friends. Thanks for all you do.
I often think about finding ways to monetize my blog but so far I haven’t done anything. I write because it helps me stay on track toward my personal health, wealth and happiness. I write because my posts can energize others to choose health, wealth and happiness. Really I write to keep myself sane! Thanks for breaking down the blog income. Until I come up with some type of ebook or course, I will just keep writing for me!