Confessions of a Six Figure Professional Blogger

7 Tips For Blogging Your Way Out Of Your Full-Time Job

View Comments | Posted In Blogging, Life & Mindset by David

While there is a lot of great advice out there for how to start a blog and get it off the ground, there is one very simple truth about it – it takes time. Finding that time can be frustrating if you have a full-time job.

9to5 Niche Titans (obviously not their real name) posted a comment on this blog which stated:

My biggest challenge is my full time job. I work 84 hours every 2 weeks, and so that really limits my time. I am striving right now to work on my sites in my off time, but there’s only so much time before I have to go to work again.

Quitting the nine-to-five job is a huge step and one that is very hard to make. You want to get your online business off the ground. At the same time, though, you are so busy working your “regular job” that you have barely any time to work on your business. You can’t untie from the regular job because you’ve got bills to pay.

By being smart with your time, you can build up your online business while still working a full time job. Keep in mind, though, that at a certain point, you will need to quit and take the plunge. Stockpile some money if you can, develop a concrete plan of action, then quit.

I know it is hard to do and seems like you’re losing your security blanket. However, a lot of people have become really successful online when their ass was up against the wall. When they were deep in debt, had little money coming in and things looked bleak. Due to their high necessity level (failure really wasn’t an option), they did what they had to do. They made it go right.

So, that’s the long term outlook. Eventually, you’re going to have to make an uncomfortable move.

In the meantime, how do you begin to get some momentum in your online endeavors while having so little time to devote?

Here are a few tips:

  1. Write in batches. Learn to jot down ideas for blog posts whenever you may have them throughout your day. Then, in a structured time in the evening or over the weekend, sit down and write all of them.
  2. Good is good enough. Realize that your content needs to be related to your market, interesting and useful. It does not, though, need to be a novel. You don’t need to solve every problem of your readers in one post! Learn not to write long-winded posts and you can write more in one sitting.
  3. Start Your List Immediately. If you don’t have a mailing list yet, start it NOW. Start collecting subscribers. This will be an extremely important component to eventually being able to quit your full-time job.
  4. Consume Social Media in Batches, too. Social media sites can suck huge amounts of time. They are important elements to your marketing, yes, but don’t over-do it. I would recommend using Twitter throughout the day from work (perhaps via mobile phone or something). In the evening and on weekends, you segment a certain block of time for social media and commenting on other blogs. When that time is up, you stop and turn off ALL social media. Then is the time to start writing. Turn off the information overload and concentrate.
  5. Connect Your Social Media Profiles. Centralization saves time. I recommend using Twitter, then piping your tweets into your blog and Facebook automatically. Use Twitterfeed to pipe your posts into Twitter. Since so many sites now interface with Twitter, you can use that as your hub and post to most of your social profiles simultaneously from Twitter. Saves time.
  6. Get Busy Writing Reports and Information Products. It’ll take some dedicated work to write blog posts while also working on a product to sell, but don’t delay. The true power of problogging lies in creating and selling your own products. The quicker you get that off the ground, the quicker you will be able to quit your job and enjoy the fruits of an internet business.
  7. Think Continuity. I will talk more on this later, but membership sites are huge right now. Any blog can be turned into a membership site. With good content (which as a blogger you should be used to creating) and a little marketing, you can grow your site into a residual, monthly income stream that will eventually replace your full-time job.

So, what are your challenges to quitting your job? Are you taking any decisive action to eventually make all your money on the Internet? Please comment.

And, as usual if you think others would value this post, please share, digg, stumble and retweet! :)

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  • I have trouble w "good is good enough." I also sometimes have trouble focusing on my work when I should, and get sucked into social media too easily. I need to set guidelines for my work schedule and stick to them. I need to manage my time better. I used to have excellent time management skills and self discipline in blogging. I posted daily. I'm going to return to my skills and post regularly, so I can be successful. Thanks for a great post!

    krissy knox :)
    follow me on Twitter:
    http://twitter.com/iamkrissy
  • I'm exactly in this kind of situation right now where I feel like i'm sitting on the fence and just wondering what the other world is. But I have made up my mind, I'll be sealing my resignation letter and as you said... hit the wall and make things happen. Actually as I was planning what i'll be doing before i give up my call center job... I wrote an article... if you're interested you can visit and give me a feedback on what think about it:

    http://bit.ly/FJTcl

    And yes, I use twitter.
  • I enjoyed the 2nd point about how good is good enough. It's true - don't become too obsessed with perfection. Keep things short and concise and move on to the next post.
  • This is pure gold. I really like "good is good enough." There's no telling how much time I have wasted shooting for perfection.

    Also, the advice about limiting social media is timely for me. Sounds like "quit wasting your time on non-productive things."

    Thanks again for laying it all out.
  • Seeing as your posting volume has dropped a bit at the moment - I guess the Blog Masters Club is keeping you pretty busy - I figured I'd look back at some posts that looked interesting. This is a good one. I'm a million miles off being able to quit the day job - very much just started out - but that is my eventual goal! The take-home point from the above for me is the fact that when you have little time it is more efficient to do things in blogs - when you're in the mood for writing, write, do all your social media stuff together etc etc. It's very inefficient switching tasks all the time.
  • If it was so simple to just quit your dayjob....

    Even when the current job is boring and frustrating, I won't quit it because I have a "virtual opportunity" online. First things first, start blogging and see some results, and then see if its worth it.

    Otherwise, you could end up with no job and no other income source, but with a fresh started blog, which could (or will someday) bring up some good commissions. But until then, the full time job is just perfect, because it brings some money which you could invest in SEO or blog exposure.
  • Great article. I can't wait just to be a full time blogger. But I know it takes hard work and dedication.
  • Is it a good idea to use both Facebook and Twitter?
  • It is good to always keep a small notebook with you to write/draw down ideas when you think of them. After a few minutes, it might be to late and the idea could be gone for ever.
  • ah, it takes time. I'm with you on that. But don't let it discourage you. Build a little at a time, and it adds up.
  • Gman, most of my income is produced with pcmech.com. This blog makes a few hundred per month. But, I have two products in the works related to this blog and that is how I plan to monetize this site.
  • gman
    Hey how are you making money on this site. All I see are a
    couple of little adds. Are you charging them that much?
  • David, this is a very inspirational post and it has made me very interested in what you have to say on your blog. Keep up the good work, and if you have any suggestions for me and my blog please let me know.
  • Before I was able to quit my 9-5 job, I was writing my posts on the trains to and from work and during my lunch breaks as well. With a wireless internet card, I was connected when I was commuting to and from work, so my time was being used efficiently. Obviously time is a huge part though, as Google can take ages to index your site high on its page rank and until you break through on the first couple of pages for your keywords, you will struggle to generate enough traffic to quit your job. We have all been there though, and its just a matter of working at it, and it might take 1 or even 2 years, but once your site it setup with content, regular readers, and organic search traffic things pick up very quickly. Those that quit their blog / online business are the ones that won't make it. If your serious about quitting your 9-5 then stick at your internet business for the long term. If it was easy then no one would be going to work would they!
  • "Write in batches", this is what I have been doing recently, jot down what ever topics come to my mind and finish it gradually within a week of time than publish it, some times it is easy to find a topic but hard to write a good topic immediately.
  • Good stuff!!!

    Thanks
  • @Dalirin You should definitely get a twitter account. The last thing you want is someone taking your name.
  • I haven't began using twitter yet. My only social medium is by commenting on other people's blog. I also do that to get ideas on posts I should write about.
  • I have yet to write my own product but I am going to give some serious to that. It is a lot easier to sell your own product than to sell advertising on your blog.
  • Jon
    Like anything else in life, success takes time, dedication and a heck of a lot of luck. Given enough of these, you can succeed as well.

    Jon
    http://2xStocks.com
    Doubling my money, one stock at a time
  • I think dedication is really impotant to built an online income. Most people think that these thinks will happen overnight. As it doesn't happen, they quit.
  • As usual, really good advice and clearly put. You didn't mention outsourcing. My suggestion to all in this situation is, if time is an issue due to employment use some of your salary to pay someone else to do the backend. Read Tim Ferris, The 4-Hour Work Week, for lots of advice on how to go about it.
  • Nice article... Great to see you talk about continuity... I think that one deserves a post all by itself... It's such an important topic.

    Thanks again - PS. I linked to my blog to you too.

    Martin :)
  • Wow.... i was browsing my feed reader, and saw "Niche Titans." I forgot I ever wrote that comment... (it was the night before i had to go back to work again... haha)

    Thanks so much for the valuable tips.

    As another commenter said... membership site tips would be great. As would tips on creating info products. (Most I've seen are garbage, and don't want to model after those.)
  • I feel like I have the opposite problem of "Good is Good Enough." Sometimes I feel like I should have proofread my post one more time, or maybe I should have done this, that, or the other thing. Like my post isn't as good as it should be. But I guess that's kinda the same thing you're talking about.

    Anyway, great tips as usual; made my Starred folder in Google Reader!
  • WOW!! very rich content full of advises!! I really cant wait to quit my nine-to-five job!! working hard to get my online business up and running!!

    Thanks David,

    Firas
  • Chris
    I'm in this very same situation, and time is of a premium. These sound like solid tips. Learning when 'good is good enough' is important, as I often spend too long crafting posts and the attached images. Social media can easily eat away at the hours too, I like the tip about feeding everything from Twitter.
    I look forward to the tips on membership sites.
  • Writing in batches is a great idea! I will have to try this :D
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