A Short History of My Complete Failures, Stagnation, and Rise to Success (and How You’ll Do the Same)

I don’t care what anyone says – blogging isn’t a viable business model.

For a long time, we’ve all had this idea that we’ll create something sustainable out of our blogs but the harsh reality has begun to sink into our gray matter and it’s becoming apparent that our work in blogging isn’t going anywhere too soon.

 The competition is higher than ever.

We, bloggers, can’t continue to produce great information with hopes that it’ll eventually pay off because everyone has taken this approach – so there’s no incentive for consumers to purchase our work let alone share it since there’s just so much of it out there.

However, what does pay the bills stems from our involvement with blogging and this presents an easy transition into the world of freelancing …

A story about how I got where I’m at (read this and you’ll have a crash-course in how to handle just about all the negative aspects of blogging full-time)

In 2011, I left my job to become a full-time blogger.

To describe the whirlwind adventure that I had set out upon would take an eternity so I’ll give you the cliff notes.

It wasn’t before long that earning a full-time income while full-time blogging hit its limits.

At the time, I had (and still have) a few projects that earn me a decent amount of passive income but hits from the Panda and Penguin updates left a deep fissure in my work despite all my efforts in ethical link building and content creation.

In time, all websites fall out of popularity due to increased competition.

I had pigeon-holed myself because I placed too much reliance on just a handful of blogs.

I certainly had a lot of work in the pipeline but even going full-time meant that you’re limiting a lot of the vital elements of life which I couldn’t foresee when I began – most notably: a strain on relationships with the real people in your life.

Connecting with fellow bloggers, community members, and other business peoples certain has its benefits but when you only truly know these people through the Web – you start to realize how far these relationships can go especially when you neglect the people within your immediate area (friends and family).

Then, I hit a wall in my devotion to blogging due to the strain.

I felt many friendships I’ve built to slip away; I was increasingly reclusive because I just had to get a new post out on my blogs.

The breaking point came when I hadn’t truly sat down with my good friends for over a month and a past relationship fizzled out. I was left with my projects which, quite honestly, didn’t have the same flare as when I began.

To renew my energy into online work – I began freelancing.

For some time, I would offer up services when I found some downtime from blogging but I never truly made it a major part of my daily activity.

Fast forward >>

Freelancing has become the focal point of my online work.

Regular readers of this blog have definitely noticed I post infrequently nowadays and the reason for this has been the fact that I’m doing a full-time position with freelance writing, web mastering, and product development.

The amount of income I take in, compared to blogging, is astounding.

Not to boast but the high point in my full-time blogging pulled in around $1,500 a month. With freelancing, I’ve doubled that amount.

Additionally, since I can set a manageable schedule, I’ve rebuilt a lot of relationships and I’ve found that freelancing has far more potential for growth than blogging.

So here I am, today, using 80% of my work-time on client projects that pay for each action I take versus the hope of making just a bit of earnings from passive projects.

That’s not to say that I don’t have my own projects in the works but it’s an incredible feeling when you end the work day knowing you’ve finished something and will be getting paid for it than half-assing a personal project just for it to waste your time and energy.

I wish someone had sat me down to explain how my skills in blogging would allow me to make a break into freelancing from the very first day versus discovering it so many years down the line …

Making a break into freelancing: how you’re going to ditch the blog and embrace a brighter future for your time and energy.

I want you to commit to the 2013 startup challenge.

The transition from blogger to freelancer is far easier than you make it out to be.

One of your biggest hurdles will always be whether you provide a valuable service but let’s break down the act of blogging and jar some ideas:

• Content creation is the same as product development because the process is very similar whereas you brainstorm, develop, and promote a product. If you’re any bit proficient at creating great content than all you truly need to do is make this an available skill because so few businesses have the time and resources to make their ideas come to fruition.

• Promoting your blog content follows the exact methods retailers use when marketing their products and services on the Web; your array of skills in link building, social media, email newsletters, and blog commenting is more than enough to promote your business more than the majority of competitors.

• Networking is almost entirely similar in fashion when operating a blog as an online business because you’ll follow most of the same methods of communication and relationship building whether it is through cold calling to meeting people during seminars and conferences.

The point is that the only reason you’re not operating under the guise of a freelancer is that the “product” you promote is your content rather than your services (or information and/or physical products, if you have released them).

I’m not going to get into the specifics of going from blogging to business in this article but merely to introduce the possibility.

Ask yourself some very valuable questions:

• Who would I contact to gain my first client?
• What is stopping me?
• When can I make the commitment and start?
• Where am I going if I only stuck to blogging?
• Why did I start in the first place?
• How much can I make by offering services?

Allow this information to stew in your mind over the next week.

There’s no right or wrong answer about whether you decide to make the transition but keep in mind that blogging, as a platform for business, is severely limited if you’re relying on information to be your flagship product.

You need something to promote.

Nothing stops you from creating physical and information products to sell through your site but these are massive methods of income – so why not use all of your additional time to get paid, directly, through freelancing.

What say you?