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November Income

This post is a little late, but better late than never, right?

First off, I wanted to check in with everyone who is joining me on my $10K per month in one year challenge. If this is your first time hearing about this challenge, it’s something I started to motivate myself and others to increase our income within a year! My end date is October 2016, but you can totally still hop on board and set your own goals! I have people joining me on this exact challenge and others who are doing the challenge but have their own income goals and end dates. It’s not about the actual number, but rather about supporting each other. I really believe that we are all in this together. I saw a quote on Instagram the other day that said “Supporting Another’s Success Won’t Ever Dampen Yours.” How true is that?!

So, I’ll go first. I’m pretty much maintaining (as you’ll see below), even though I picked up two new freelancing positions. One is ongoing and the other I’ve completed, but won’t see the income from until January. My goal in 2016 is to really be intentional with what projects I’m choosing. If you read my last post, you saw that I’m wanting to take it a little easy this next year and focus more on my family and doing things that I enjoy. I want to work on high-paying assignments that bring me joy, rather than just trying to crank out article after article.

I’m also in the midst of writing my first book, which is going to be released on Jan. 12, 2016. As a reminder, if you start a blog through my Bluehost link, you’ll receive a copy of my book for free! I would love it if most of my income could come from my blog, and use freelancing as something to fall back on. Now it’s your turn – how are you doing on the challenge?!

Now, onto my November income.

How Freelancers Can Make $10,000 a Month

Ever since announcing my goal on the blog to make $10,000 a month within one year, I’ve had quite a few people email me asking how exactly this was possible. If you’re new to freelancing and blogging, it might be hard to imagine. However, I’ve been doing this for over three years and have seen MANY people make $10K per month consistently. It is completely, 100% possible, you just have to know how to hustle 🙂

I have not yet hit $10K per month (hence the goal), so I wanted to bring in somebody who has. Keep reading to see how you can learn from one of the pros and be on your way to $10K per month!

How to Be a Freelance Writer

Do you want to be a freelance writer?! I have been freelancing for more than four years as a side gig and consistently make over $1,000 per month. You can see my income reports here! I have FT job, two toddler little girls, another girl on the way, a husband and a big house I take care of. I love my life and love having extra spending money each month!

There are many ways to get your foot in the door when it comes to freelancing. I first recommend you start your own blog to develop contacts, guest post and use your blog as writing samples for when you apply for freelance writing positions or work for a content mill (like Demand Media) to get your feet wet. Content mills usually will hire inexperienced writers because they typically pay less than most other clients, so it’s a good place to start and gain experience. You can pitch article ideas to print and online magazines. You can search websites like oDesk or Elance and so on and so forth.

Get Paid to Write From Home

Are you a stay-at-home mom looking to make some extra income for your family? Maybe you work full-time, but want to accelerate your debt payments. Or maybe you simply want extra money to save, spend or invest. Really, I can’t think of a single person who wouldn’t want to bring in extra income, regardless of their situation.

For me personally, I became a SAHM a little over three years ago right before the birth of my first daughter (I now have two daughters and another on the way!). I was working in finance prior to quitting so I could stay home with our baby. At the time, I remember wanting to just make a few hundred dollars per month. In my mind, I was thinking that could pay our electric bill plus give us some extra spending money.

I had always thought about writing from home, but didn’t really think it would ever happen. I made it known to a few close friends that I would love it if I could do a little bit of work from home. Turns out, one of my best friends at the time was working for a large online women’s website and offered to hire me on a very part-time basis to write for a few sections on the site. My first month, I made $300. By month five, I cleared over $900.

This is one of the biggest parts of becoming a freelancer — your network. Without my friend trusting me and getting my foot in the door, I would have had a harder time landing that first job (though of course, it’s totally possible to start freelancing without knowing anyone…in fact, nowadays it’s relatively easy).

If you are hoping to bring in some extra income each month, keep reading.

How Freelance Writers Can Negotiate a Raise

As most of my regular readers know, I have a goal to make $10K per month within one year, or by October 2016. However, I don’t plan on getting there by working all day every day. Instead, I plan on being strategic about how I’m earning my income. If you’re a freelance writer and want to make more money, but don’t necessarily want to add more work to your plate, it’s time to start negotiating raises.

I started out making $25 per post. Now, I get anywhere from $50 to $275, depending on the word length and the topic. If you want to make more money as a freelancer, you have to start earning more per post.

October Freelance & Blogging Income

Welcome to my monthly income report! You’ll notice I changed the name from “XX Freelance Income” to “XX Freelance & Blogging Income.” I finally made some money from my blog and I hope to see that number only increase over the next few months!

As many of you know, I have a goal to make $10K per month within one year, or by October 2016. I have some ideas on how I plan to increase my income via the blog and I plan on finding a few more freelancing jobs, too. However, $10K per month is a hefty goal especially considering I work full-time and have two toddlers. I’m going to try my best to meet this goal without running myself into the ground!

So, on to my income for October!

Three Simple Ways I Make Money Blogging

I’ve been very transparent around here lately regarding blogging and my hopes for the future (if you’re new, I have a goal to make $10K per month within one year, and I’d like most of that income to be through blogging). I’ve been at this blogging thing for a little over a year now, and it seems like I’m finally starting to make a little headway in this whole income thing.

A little background: I started my blog to make money; I did not start it just as a hobby. If you’re looking to do the same, I have an eBook coming out in January that will help you set up your own blog that you can use as a business to make money. I’m so excited about it, and I hope you are too!

I took my blog very seriously at first, and then I sort of fell off the bandwagon a few months in. I didn’t stop blogging, but I stopped trying to monetize, I didn’t have an editorial plan, and I just didn’t have a general direction at all. My book can help you make sure you don’t fall into the same rut.

So, I didn’t really begin taking my blog seriously again until September of this year. This month, I made $380 from my blog which will be reflected in my next income report. That’s not much, but it’s something. Today I wanted to share the three simple ways in which I’m monetizing my blog.

How to Stay Motivated When You First Start Blogging

When you first start out blogging, you probably have a few weeks or months worth of material that you want to write about. It’s hard to start out at first, but once you get into a groove, creating content becomes second-nature. However, it’s very normal after a few months of blogging to wonder, “Why did I start this blog again?” “I feel like no one is reading it except my mom,” and “I don’t know if this was worth it.”

I am here to tell you that it IS worth it!!!

As my regular readers know, I did not start my blog as a hobby. While I’ve made some wonderful friends and love the blogging community more than ever, my primary reason for starting a blog was to earn an income. (Do you want to do the same? Read my tutorial here on how to start a profitable blog. You’ll receive a discount by using my link!) And, I am happy to report (2 1/2 years in!), that I finally was able to quit my full-time job to focus more on my blog! Woot! If I can do this, so you can!! Just give it time! 🙂

Here are five ways you can keep up the momentum when you first start blogging.

How to Write Faster and Increase Your Productivity

I often get asked how I’m able to “do it all.” Though, sometimes it’s not so much a question but more a concern (hi mom!). Well, I’m here to tell you that while some of my days are long, I honestly think I’m doing a really good job in the work-life balance. Everybody’s busy. But the truth of the matter is if you want to accomplish something, you will make time for it in your day. That’s why I freelance and blog (and work FT and am a mom), I want to. It’s something I enjoy doing and I’m growing a business, so I put in the work.

Before I get started with today’s post, I wanted to see if anyone would have any interest in reading some sort of guide/eBook on how to better manage your time so you can accomplish all of your goals? (Title TBD.) I’m currently working on a FREE eBook as a “Thank you” for signing up for my upcoming newsletter, but after that I’d love to create an actual eBook that goes in-depth and gives readers something to learn from and take away. If you don’t mind, let me know in the comments what you think of that idea or if you think it’s too overdone.

If you’re new to blogging and freelancing, or if you’ve been at it for years but want to increase your productivity, this post is for you. The secret to getting a ton of work accomplished is by learning to write fast and focus. I’m not saying you should sacrifice quality for quantity (in fact, you should never do that), but I am saying you can learn to write quickly so you can make more money per hour, accomplish more each day and have more free time with your family.

How Blogging Changed My Life

Are you happy?

I would consider myself a pretty happy person. While I’ve had struggles just like the next person, I try to focus on the positives in my life. While I’ve always been happy, my happiness has increased significantly over the past few years and I attribute it to a few different reasons.