blog Archives - Page 6 of 10 - the frugal millionaire

Day in the Life of a Full-time Work-from-Home Mama

I’ve done a few Day in the Life posts before, but haven’t done one this year I don’t think. Figure I am due! And, I don’t know about you, but these are my absolute favorite posts to read. Just nosy I guess! 🙂

A little background: I have two daughters (ages 4 and 2), another little girl due in October, a full-time job, and I freelance/blog on the side (minimally).

My FT job is flexible and most of it is done from home. I AM FOREVER THANKFUL FOR THIS!! I do stick to a 9-5 schedule for the most part, but there are definitely times where I’ll work on a Sunday afternoon to get my week started on the right foot, and then maybe end a few of my weekdays around 4:00 pm when my 2-year-old wakes up from her nap.

The girls go to daycare five days per week part-time. Daycare has been life-changing for not only my work schedule, but for me as a mom. I LOVE being a mom, don’t get me wrong, but I also love having something that’s just for me. This transition has been so good for my girls and it’s made me a better mom. Even if I didn’t work FT, I would keep my girls in their part-time daycare schedule.

Ok, let’s get started…

How Long It Takes to Make Money with Your Blog

I want to be completely honest about how long it takes to make money with your blog. I think some people are under the impression that you can start a blog and within a few months, be able to quit your full-time job. Sure, that DOES happen, but I honestly don’t think it’s the norm. If you’re working full-time, you’re already strapped for time. Add kids into that mix and you’ve got very little time.

Here’s a realistic look at how long it takes to make money with your blog, plus how to earn an income from your blog.

How to Start a Website for Your Business

Are you ready to start a website for your business? Whether you run a service-based business (such as a handyman company) or have an actual retail store, having a website is crucial to the success of your company. Nowadays, everything is online. Potential customers might want to read reviews, someone may be doing a Google search of your product or service, or a current customer may just want to learn more about you and your business.

Creating a website for your business doesn’t have to be complicated or break the bank. I’ve started numerous small business websites – including a handyman website and multiple blogs – in under an hour, and I am no expert when it comes to technology. If you’re ready to start a website for your business, keep reading.

How to Start a Website for Your Business

Step 1: Choose Your Domain Name

Your domain name is your “.com” name. Ideally, this will be the name of your business, but there is a chance that the name will already be taken.

To start a website, you have to purchase a domain name and hosting – which is what your website will live on. I’ve always used Bluehost and highly recommend them. They’re affordable, easy to use, have excellent customer service, and they give you your domain name for free with the purchase of a plan.

To browse domain names, head to Bluehost.com and select “Get Started Now.” Next, you’ll choose a plan. I recommend the Basic plan shown below:

Next, you’ll be taken to a screen where you can choose your domain name. Enter it in. If it’s available, you’ll be able to continue moving forward with the process. If it’s not, you’ll be asked to choose a different domain name. Feel free to play around with this until you find the perfect domain name for your business.

Step 2: Purchase Bluehost

Once you have your domain name selected, you’ll be prompted to enter in your account information on Bluehost, shown below:

Followed by your package information:

The 36-month starter plan is the best deal per month, but you can always start out with the 12-month price and then in a year, purchase the 36-month one. I also added the Domain Privacy Protection for $0.99 per month. I did not add any other items, but you are more than welcome to.

Step 3: Install WordPress

Next, you’ll want to install WordPress, which is the platform on which you will run your website. Click “Hosting” at the top left, then “cpanel” where you’ll see “Install WordPress” under the Website Builders section (pictured below):

Click on your domain name:

Fill out the form:

I recommend you write down your Admin Username and Admin Password and keep it in a safe spot! Click “Install Now” and you are done!

Step 4: Design Your Website

Your all set! Now, it’s time to design your website and start adding valuable content. Most blogs and websites run on Genesis, and then have their own child theme on top of that (think of Genesis as the engine of your car and your theme as the body and color of your car). This blog is using a Restored316 child theme, but you can browse themes for free on WordPress (in the Marketplace on the left-hand column) if you want.

Phew! You did it! To help get your business’ website looking professional, I wrote a book titled The Beginner’s Guide to Blogging. Feel free to email me (sbrooks52111 @ yahoo.com) and I’ll send you a copy of my book for free! It’ll show you how to create business pages, design your sidebar, set up your “About” section, and more.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me or leave a comment!

Bluehost SALE! One Week Only!

Hello!

Good news for those of you who have been on the fence about starting a blog: Bluehost is offering a “Christmas in July” sale running Monday, July 11th through Monday, July 18th!

Normally, Bluehost offers a discount to those who use my link for $3.95/month. This week only, hosting is just $3.49/month for 36 months! I made my first $100 blogging within five months of getting started. I did it through ads; so you don’t have to worry about having a distinct strategy or game plan in order to make money when you’re first getting started. This month, I’m set to make over $1,000 from my blog!

As a bonus, if you purchase your hosting through my Bluehost link, I’ll give you a copy of my book – The Beginner’s Guide to Blogging – completely for free. Send me an email once your hosting has been purchased (sbrooks52111 @ yahoo.com) and I’ll send my book to you immediately. My book will help you get your blog up and running – including installing a theme and setting up your sidebar – so you can focus on creating content and growing a following!

Good luck!! And as always let me know if you have any questions!

How to Make Passive Income from Your Blog // June Income Report

How does making money from a blog sound without having to do much work?!

For me, this is fantastic. I’m a mom of three and recently quit my job to blog full-time and stay at home with my girls. I started my blog in September 2014 and have been consistently making money off of it since January of last year. Passive income from blogging does NOT come right away. It comes after months (or years) of consistent, hard work.

Get your FREE guide on how to start a blog here! >>

If you’re willing to put in the time now, I can guarantee you will be making money an income (some passive) eventually. Outside of marrying my husband and having my girls, starting a blog was by far one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

As you’ll see in my June Income Report below, I don’t make a full-time income off of my blog. I truly believe if I wanted a full-time income, I would need to be putting in way more hours than I currently do. However, I’m more than happy with my current, part-time income that my blog is making.

11 Things I’d Rather Do than Side Hustle

Side hustles. Where to begin? If you’ve been a long-time reader, you know that side hustling is my thing. I’ve been freelancing for four years (but recently stopped freelancing for something else) and I’ve been blogging for almost two years. My blog is finally bringing in a consistent income (you can check out my latest income report here!) with very little work, so I’m a happy camper!

So, yes, I like side hustling. It’s allowed my family and I to save money, travel, not be on such a tight budget, and even move across the country. I’ll probably side hustle for the rest of my life, if I’m being honest.

But, let’s take a look at my life in the last four years, just real quick:

Quit my FT job to be a SAHM mom
Immediately started freelancing
Had another daughter 16 months later
Took on a freelance editing job 1 month before she was born
Moved across the country
Continued freelancing with two toddlers at home with me
Started this blog (want to start your own? Here’s my tutorial on starting a profitable blog)
Moved from an apartment to a rental house
Started working full-time
Moved from our rental to our new home we purchased
Got pregnant with our third baby (another girl!)
Finally backed off freelancing…

Haha, so, life’s been busy. I’m sure your story looks similar. The past four years have been the best years of my life, and a lot of that IS thanks to side hustling. However, this year I’ve really made an effort to slow down. Life is so short, and I’m not near as focused on making as much money as possible anymore.

In light of my new period of slowing down, I thought it’d be fun to list 11 things I’d rather do than side hustle! Ready? Let’s go.

Why I Quit Freelancing (and What I’m Doing Instead!)

Long-time readers know that I’ve been a freelance writer for roughly four years now. I started freelance writing when I had my first baby, who is now four years old! Freelancing allowed me to stay at home with her and provide some side money for my family. My husband’s income at the time paid all of our bills, but it didn’t leave any extra for savings, vacations, or fun! That’s where my freelancing income came in.

My first month of freelancing, I made $300ish. Within seven months, I was clearly $1,000. By the time my second daughter was born (just 16 months after my first), I was making close to $3,000 per month while at home with my toddler and newborn baby. I was busy, but I managed. I loved what I did and thoroughly enjoyed being at home with my girls.

Fast forward another year, and we packed up and moved from Arizona to North Carolina. We sold our house and my husband quit his job. Because I was still freelancing, we were confident we would be fine for at least a year if it took my husband a while to find work. It was around that time (Sept 2014) that I started this blog, too 🙂

In July of 2015, I accepted a full-time position very similar to what I was doing as a freelancer (financial editing and writing). By that point, I was a little bit burnt out from freelancing, to be honest. I missed the perks that came with full-time employment: office comradery, coworkers, coffee breaks, oh and you know health benefits, a matching 401K plan and PTO 🙂 I also wasn’t quite sure the direction I wanted to head with freelancing. Do I take on more work even though my kids are little and I’m already strapped for time? Do I try to sub out my work to other writers? Or do I just throw in the towel?

Why I Quit Freelancing

I didn’t throw in the towel immediately. In fact, about a month after accepting my full-time position, I got the crazy idea to take on more clients and try to increase my freelancing income while working full-time. This worked for a few months, until finally I got sick of being so busy, to say the least. I hadn’t had a “day off” in pretty much the entire four years I had been freelancing. Sure, I could have set specific work hours, but with two little kids, nap time and early mornings was what worked best for me. Considering that’s only 15 hours in any given week, I would work during nap time on the weekends, too. It’s no wonder I got burnt out!

I made the decision around December of 2015 to quit freelancing altogether. I’m still working full-time and wanted to enjoy my family, my city and my life a little bit more. Since we no longer “needed” my money for savings (my husband and I both have full-time jobs), it was harder to stay motivated. Plus, I wanted to go a different direction…

What I’m Doing Instead!

While I’ve had a ton of amazing clients throughout my freelancing career, I didn’t want to be working for clients my entire life. Instead, I eventually want to work fully for myself. I’m sure you know, but instead of freelancing I am focusing my energy on blogging 🙂

With blogging, I completely set my own schedule. If I don’t want to post one week, I don’t have to. If my kids are sick or I’m having a super busy week at work, blogging is the first thing to go (rather than my family and free time).

Likewise, if I am feeling extra creative or wanting to take in some extra cash, I amp up my blogging. Right now, my blog is not my full-time job, so I have the ability to do exactly as I please. (If my blog were my full-time job, it would be treated with a bit more seriousness!! Eventually 😉 )

My goal over the next few years is to slowly grow my blog and my business to get to the point where both my husband and I can quit our full-time jobs. It may seem like a pipe dream, but I truly believe that we will eventually meet this goal.

For now, I’m blogging because I love it and it’s extremely flexible. Like I said, if I’m not able to blog for a week (or even a month), I don’t; and I don’t stress about it.

If you have big dreams for your family too, I highly recommend jumping on this blogging bandwagon. It can be intimidating at first, and you WILL have to work hard at it (15 hours per week minimum) at the beginning in order to get some good, quality posts under your belt, connect with others, build a following, and just learn the ins and outs of blogging. That being said, starting this blog and committing to it for a solid year was one of the best decisions I’ve made. Last month, I made almost $600 from blogging (and I didn’t even write any posts!!). This month, I’m set to take in closer to $1,000! That’s crazy; considering I now spend just 15 minutes or so per week on my blog (a little bit more if I write a post!).

Are you thinking of starting a blog? If so, what’s stopping you from doing it? Do you have any questions about blogging or freelancing for me? I’m always happy to help!

May Income Report

Hello everyone! Long time, no chat. I’ve been doing really well, just busy with the girls and my full-time job 🙂 North Carolina has been having some beautiful weather lately, too, so we’ve been spending a ton of our free time outside and at the pool!

We officially found out that our third baby is another little girl 🙂 That will be three little ladies in this house and no boys. While I would have loved to raise a son, I’m definitely not sad about getting to raise three little girls, either. I hope they grow up to be the best of friends.

My online blogging income has been going really well. Nope, I’m not making thousands, but I’m consistently making more and more money each month with very little effort.

May Income Report

In May, I made $589.50 blogging!

I didn’t track my hours, but I know for a fact I didn’t spend more than one hour per week on my blog. And, if I didn’t post that week, I spent probably 15 minutes!

How do I make money even though I spend so little time on my blog?

Easy! Last year, I spent a LOT of time on my blog and wrote evergreen posts to help people start a freelance writing business, start a blog, find freelancing clients, grow their blog, and more. Those posts have affiliate links in them and I continue to promote them week after week.

If you’re interested in making money through blogging, you can use my tutorial on starting a profitable blog to get started. Again, I’m not going to sugarcoat anything. I started my blog in September 2014 and posted consistently for over a year. I did this with a full-time job and two toddlers, so it IS possible 🙂 I made my first $100 through Google Adsense within five months of starting my blog. From then, income was low and random, but I still did bring in some money each and every month. Now, I am pretty confident that I’ll make at least $300 per month from my blog, and again that’s with very little work. That’s just made with promoting my older content 🙂

How do I promote my posts?

My traffic increased significantly earlier this year, and it’s all thanks to Pinterest! My friend Kristin has a course – Pinterest Presence – that will teach you step-by-step how to use Pinterest to grow your blog. Kristin is amazing and was recently able to quit her full-time job to focus on blogging and her Pinterest business! She really knows her stuff!

I use Tailwind to schedule all of my pins for the entire week. I pin anywhere from 50-100 pins per day. Without Tailwind, there is just no way I could keep up with that schedule! Manually, that alone would take me three hours a day!

What is my ultimate goal?

To make enough money so my husband and I can both quit our jobs, of course 🙂 However, I want to help people do the same in the process. It is just crazy how many ways there are to make money online nowadays. There really is no reason we can’t “have it all,” so to speak – make a decent living, spend more time with our families, travel, and wake up doing what we love every day.

I’m not actively pursuing this goal right now, though. As my regular readers know, I work full-time and we are expecting our third child. Our current little ones are 4 and 2, so life is very hectic! My husband and I are both happy in our current jobs, too, so there is no urgency in the moment.

However, after spending the past almost two years blogging (and before that, freelancing), I know for a fact that it can be done. If you’re on the fence about starting a blog, I highly recommend you just do so! I am truly the world’s least tech-savvy person (just ask my coworkers), yet I’m able to run a blog. I even wrote a book for beginning bloggers who need some help getting WordPress and their blogs up and running. Best of all, the book is FREE for those of you who purchase your blog through my Bluehost link (which can also be found in my blogging tutorial).

Thanks for following along! And as always, let me know if you have any questions!

How was your month?!

Bluehost Sale: Memorial Day Weekend!

Happy Memorial Day weekend!

What’s everyone up to this weekend? We actually have some fun plans which I’m excited about. My husband has been working side jobs on Saturday’s lately, but this weekend we get him all to ourselves for three full days 🙂 We are kicking off the weekend with pizza out, followed by a neighborhood pool party on Saturday, the zoo on Sunday, and more swimming on Monday. Fingers crossed it’s sunny all weekend. Here in NC we’ve had a lot of rain the past few weeks!

Bluehost Sale

I wanted to let all of you who have been contemplating starting a blog know that Bluehost is offering a sale Friday through Monday of this weekend only! Normally, hosting costs just $3.95 per month (which is a steal in itself!), but this weekend, it will be just $2.95 per month through my link! You do have to pay for one year up front, but that’s still less than $36! I made my first $100 blogging through ads (Google Adsense) within five months of starting my blog. Cha-ching!

Feel free to use my tutorial on starting a profitable blog, which will walk you through getting your blog up and running. Then, shoot me an email (sbrooks52111 @ yahoo.com) <-no spaces; letting me know you purchased Bluehost through my link and I will send you my book, The Beginner’s Guide to Blogging, completely for free! The book will walk you through getting your blog up and running after you buy your hosting 🙂 Easy peasy.

This month, I’m set to bring in more than $700 from my blog – woo-hoo! And I spent *maybe* 8 hours total on blog-related tasks (mostly pinning!). Blogging has been such a blessing to my family. I’m able to bring in some consistent extra money from home without missing out on time with my family. Perhaps one day I’ll make this my full-time career, but for now, the flexibility and ease of blogging is exactly what I like.

And as always, feel free to let me know if you have any questions regarding blogging, hosting, making money online, or anything at all! I am always here to help!

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

Tips on Streamlining Your Life and Business

Mamas!

Do you feel overwhelmed at times? Whether you work or stay home, having kids while maintaining a house, cooking, cleaning, running errands, keeping up with school functions and more can take its toll. Add in working full-time or working for yourself, and you’ve most certainly got your hands full.

I’m a working mom of two toddlers (and one on the way!). While I’m incredibly thankful that my schedule is flexible and allows me to mostly work from home, I do still put in a good 40 hours per week at the ‘ol office job. I also try my best to keep up with this blog, make sure my kids have clean laundry and get food on the table each night. If I were to be completely honest, the dinner part is my biggest struggle. We always eat, of course, but I don’t always have a plan and we sometimes have eggs, chicken nuggets, yogurt, or a combination of the aforementioned.

Eventually, I would like my blog to become my full-time business. With a baby on the way, this probably won’t happen for a few years, but I’m hopeful nonetheless. I wanted to provide anyone who might be in the same situation with some tips on how I am currently streamlining my life and my business for future (and current) success.