So You Want To Be A Blogger? Here’s How To Get Rich

You tell me you think you want to start blogging, and I’m really excited for you! Blogging can make you rich, it’s true. I don’t mean that sarcastically.

It’s going to be a ton of work. I mean beyond the hours of Google searches and YouTube rabbit holes while trying to figure out how to tweak codes and install and activate plugins. And learning which social media platform is hot now, and how to make algorithms work to your benefit.  And content creation. And teaching yourself photography, and video production, and graphic design.

That’s the easy work.

The grueling work is pouring your soul into a post, and then wondering if anyone even read it. The hardest work is writing the next post. And the next. And the next. Never knowing if anyone will comment, or if what you’re sharing matters.

The real work is in the practice of making yourself vulnerable. The hard part is opening yourself up, sharing what you love (or what you don’t), and finding out one day that there are entire groups of people who hate you for it.

The toughest work is realizing maybe sometimes a dissenter has a point, maybe you are wrong, and allowing that to change you for the better.

But it’s okay because you’re going to be rich from this one day.

I mean that.

Sure, the easy work can bring you paychecks. The easy work can bring free cruises for your family. It can lead to expensive shoes, purses, strollers, and phones that just show up on your doorstep.

The easy work brings you payment that comes and goes. It is gone from your bank account usually sooner than later because you invest it in more tools for more work. The products run their course, and are replaced with newer, better products that show up on the next FedEx truck.

The hard work is what makes you rich.

The hard work brings you friends you would have never bothered to say hi to in passing on the street. They have vastly different backgrounds and world views than you. They live near, but mostly far, sometimes continents and timezones away.

They make you think. Sometimes they challenge your beliefs, and sometimes they solidify them.

They support you in a way that others who love you can’t because they know the difference between the hard and the easy work you’re doing. They do it, too.

The hard work brings you experiences. It pulls you out of your comfort zone. It challenges you to be better, and to evolve.

The hard work gives you power, and if you’re wise, you work even harder to make sure you use it for good. It gives you a platform to make a change, to speak up, to bring people together, and make smaller voices heard.

One day, you will find yourself in a place you only got to because of blogging. And you’ll look around the room, inspired, knowing that you are part of a movement that is changing the world.

You’ll see the faces, and hear the words of people who are doing hard work, too, and you’ll know at that moment that you are rich with the kind of wealth nobody can take away. You can re-invest it over and over, and make it grow exponentially. You can freely share it with those around you, and the more you share it, the more you’ll get back.

So, you want to be a blogger? Get that dot com! Learn about monetization and Facebook reach. Do the easy work, but know that it’s not until you do the really hard work that you’ll get rich from blogging.

In case you can’t tell, I came home from another Blogher inspired, and motivated, and ready to keep working hard. Actually, to work harder. I try not to blog too much about blogging, but I get asked a lot of blogging questions. And people often want to know about the monetary gain, and the free stuff. I want friends and readers and your next door neighbor and YOU to start a blog. And I want you to get rich. I really, really do. 

Inspired. This is my church. #BlogHer14

— Jill Krause (@babyrabies) July 25, 2014

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