My transformation in blogging came when instead of using it as a platform just to pass along information, I shifted my purpose to being that of educating others, empowering them, and demonstrating the possibilities that still lay before each and everyone of us.
The change started when I began thinking about whether I could make a little extra cash with my hobby blog. Within a short time my mindset changed to wanting to progress from being a hobby blogger to one who could turn their passions into profit.
This wasn’t motivated by greed but simply by the fact that I enjoyed blogging so much I wanted to be able to do it all day every day. But to do this you have to find a way to enable your blogging to bring in an income.
It is a big step though. This is the dividing line that so many fear to take, transitioning from a hobby blogger to a professional blogger or at least one who makes a full time income from his online business.
So many ‘real’ bloggers do start out as hobby bloggers. They have a keen interest and they want to share their passion with others and a great platform for doing this is a blog. It is only natural that many decide they’d really like to make some money from their blogs. And after all they came to blogging for the right reasons with the right intentions, unlike others who started with the intention only of making money.
It’s natural for bloggers to be interested in taking things to the “next level” with their blog. The topic of monetizing has fascinated most bloggers at one time or another.
I brought with me one very strong ally, and that was a passion for my subjects. Both healthy lifestyle living, including areas such as nutrition, diet, exercise, strength training and stress management and the subject of personal development were the areas of both my work and my passions. When I wasn’t coaching or reading, I was doing or learning. So as a hobby blogger I always had a deep interest and love for my subjects. I believe that my posts always demonstrated this passion, and nothing would change once I took things more serious and did things more as a business. As importantly any products I would create should ooze this passion. And if I could provide things that truly would make a difference to others well why shouldn’t I charge for it, and make a little money from it.
Blogging offered me a powerful way to share my voice, creativity, thoughts, and whatever else I could create. The possibilities were limitless. I took this as my starting point and built my business around it, but never losing my intentions of offering people answers through the blogs I write.
Yesterday I was on the site of Thuy Yau called How Learning Helps You Succeed in Life. She wrote: “At the end of the day, life doesn’t come with an instruction manual. Sometimes we’ll get it right, sometimes we won’t. But by accepting all the learning opportunities around us, we are increasing our chance at success and ultimately, at happiness. There are so many ways for each of us to learn; it’s just a matter of opening up our eyes to them”.
This is true for everything we do. Life is full of opportunities, and every mistake we make give us a lesson we must learn from. When it comes to building a business on line, from going from a hobby blogger to a money making one again there is no instruction manual, not one that gives you a 100% dead certain way of achieving success.
But if you’re willing to put the time, effort and commitment into this, and are persistent with it, then finally you have a good chance of doing it.
Enjoy the journey and build yourself a solid foundation upon which great success can then be built.
So, let me address the question that everyone who is looking to turn their online hobby into a business is asking…
Is it really possible to make money online?
Yes it is! We are shortly starting our All The Missing Pieces Project where we are going to work with 12 people to prove our blueprint works for everyone. You can be sure we’ll be keeping you informed.
