Around March-April 2009, I decided to quit my day job to become a professional creator. I started a blog and a YouTube channel.
It has been fourteen years since I made that decision, and not only am I happier now, but I consider this to be the best decisions of my entire life.
Becoming a professional creator was not something I had ever given a lot of thought to prior to the spring of 2009.
But somehow I was lucky enough to meet with some favorable circumstances, and I was brave enough to take that leap of faith and create a new reality for myself.
If you want to read more about my journey to professional creator, here are two posts which will give you a more complete background on my journey as a creator:
- Harsh Agrawal – My Creator Journey So Far
- After 2191 Days of Blogging, & video blogging All I Can Say is “Being a Creator is Incredible!”
Being a professional creator is not an easy job. A lot of skills, a lot of knowledge, and a lot of time are required to turn a blogging passion into full-time, income-generating work.
what does a professional creator do?
Professional creator requires following a schedule and being willing to walk in an unchartered territory. There are many daily, weekly and monthly tasks involved for a professional creator, which we will discuss in the later part of this guide.
Becoming A Professional Blogger: Are You Ready?
First, before you decide to walk down the path of pro-blogging, you need to know that a lot has changed in the past few years. Blogging is not a simple or easy way to make money. That said, blogging is one of the more reputable ways to earn money online, and if you are committed to working hard to learn how to do it properly, you can easily earn thousands of dollars a month blogging. (See SML’s income reports here.)
But always remember: If you are looking to make a living blogging, you need to be serious in your approach and treat it like a professional business.
When I started, there were many other bloggers jumping into the sea of professional blogging. But in 2011 and 2012, the Google Panda update and the Google Penguin update killed many blogs, and many of these bloggers began to transition to other aspects of online marketing.
In short, if you don’t persist, you will fail.
The decision to become a full-time blogger as a profession involves many considerations, such as your social and financial situations.
I started blogging as a full-time career when I was a 22-year-old single man with no family responsibilities, so I was able to accept the risks involved.
In a nutshell, when I started blogging, I worked part-time as a software engineer and looked forward to a new job with Accenture. Instead, in March 2009, I decide to quit everything to become a professional blogger.
During that period, I was earning around $400-500 every month from blogging while working around 3-4 hours a day. So I was pretty confident that if I were willing to work 12-16 hours a day, I could increase my online income quite drastically.
By the time I left my “real job” to blog full-time, my income came in the form of direct ads, Google AdSense, affiliate marketing, and other blogging related services.
What I have learned during my own transition from part-time to full-time blogger is that in order to become a successful full-time blogger earning reliable income, many skill sets are required.
Professional bloggers need to have “professional-level” skills in:
- Writing
- Search Engine Optimization
- Social Media Marketing
- Email Marketing
- Management
If you are already a blogger, you may have already gained many of these skills. And from learning and implementing the things you don’t know, you can acquire any new skill set. This is how I have ultimately learned to become a professional blogger.
Essentially, you need to make yourself different from all the other bloggers out there. You need to be special. You need to be unique. You need to be better than everyone else in your niche.
And in order to do this, you need to focus on building up your weaknesses.
- If you’re a terrible writer, you need to practice writing.
- If you’re a boring person, you need to practice being more engaging.
- If you don’t know what’s wrong, you need to practice taking in feedback.
Identify What You Really Want
If you desire peace of mind while making your own transition to professional blogging, I would suggest that you first work toward earning a fixed recurring income from your blog. Once you’re sure that you can comfortably survive exclusively on your blogging income, then (and only then!) consider kicking your 9-5 job to the curb, and become a professional blogger.
Also, before taking this very significant step in your life, be sure to take some time to create a clear road map and business plan.
Think about things like:
- Where will your traffic come from?
- What will your marketing strategies look like?
- What will your sources of income be?
- How are you going to brand your blog?
- How will you draw attention to your blog?
- How do you intend to expand your blog?
- What new things are you willing to learn?
Really take some time to think about what you want your blog to be. This stage is very important for the future development and growth of your soon-to-be business.
Making The Decision: Becoming A Professional Blogger
It took me almost six months to finally decide to become a professional blogger. It was relatively easy for me in 2009, but recently, the blogging world has become massive. Nowadays, you need to be really well-equipped in order to be able to rely on blogging as your only source of income.
And there’s also something else to remember:
- “Never put all of your eggs in one basket.”
Because the blogging world is so volatile, when working as a professional blogger, you need to make sure you’re protecting yourself in the smartest ways possible. If your income source is from just one blog, you should seek to expand your empire to ensure that some unforeseen issue doesn’t ruin you financially.
That said, a good blog can typically start making a fair amount of income within 4-5 months.
A Tip for College Students:
I always suggest to college students to start their creator’s journey (blog/YouTube/Podcast/Social media), as early as possible. College offers us freedom, social engagement, and endless amounts of opportunities to set our lives up for success.
Have I missed anything? Are there any other points that one should consider before becoming a professional blogger? Add your thoughts in the comments section below.
And if you like this post, don’t forget to share it!
amazing article harsh, blogging is one of the best platform to earn by just sitting at home. 🙂
Hi Harsh,
Thank you for this informative article of what it means and what it takes to be a full-time blogger. I know most of the people that reads this post would probably love to be a full-time blogger. I know I would!
Thanks again.
Cj
Awesome job you are doing , you are the inspiration for many Indian blogger.
Thanks for sharing keep on share such article.
It is really a big decision to take blogging as full-time profession. Because most of the bloggers will not able to reach their goal. They may give up blogging after some days. Blogging is not too much easy. You must have enough patience to be a successful blogger. Your article is always interesting Harsh. Thanks for sharing.
I just left my job and found this nice article.
Thanks Harsh.
I also want to become a professional blogger like you, but i was facing many difficulties. This article was what i was looking for and it tough me every bit of becoming a professional blogger. Reading this it made my day and motivated in pursuing the journey in blogging.
Thank you
Nice share, Have a good day
I am a 68 year old female, retired, have withstood/survived stage IV metasticized cancer for over 12 years now! Told by UF Cancer Center oncologist that I am a “Miracle”. Tons of life experience very bad and good … lots of lessons learned. Mesh fabulous with young people … common sense advice … called “mama” and “granny” by so many … almost a following, lol. I need to work to help pay medical bills and have been thinking about becoming a blogger. I am passionate about young people who struggle to overcome dramatic and dysfunctional childhoods and life and have helped many become very successful over past 30 years. I would love to become a professional blogger, but I have absolutely no idea how to start! I want to enter this field. I want to earn a decent living as opposed to social security, I want to help, I want to motivate, I want to help young adults realize their self-worth and all the options life offers them. Do you think that is just too far out of reach? Especially since I do not even know how to begin. I have a huge talent or “something” … for some reason I draw young people in need of motivation and boost self esteem. I’ve guided so many through so much confusion and hopelessness and have young attornies, sucessful business people, etc., that honor me by (still to this date) treating me as a beloved friend and motivator to them to “be all they can be” without trying to fit them into some sort of “mold” and pushing them to be or do what I want to do, but rather what help them realize their own potential and focus in the areas of their human “gifts”.
Hi Harsh ,
You have nice blogging journey .You’re inspiration for newbies. Now a days people taking blogging path as full time to make their own journey like you.
Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for posting such a nice post, Indeed it was an eye-opening post for budding blogger like me.Thank You!!
Hey harsh, which host and domain provider would you recommend?
@Roank This one (They offer one free domain name too)
Thank you for this post! Very interesting insights. I think I’m really lucky because I am reading this valuable post. I am definitely ready to take my blog to the next level 🙂 I would absolutely love to do what you’re doing.
Anyone who is thinking about blogging really should read this and take note of the words of advice given.
Have a great weekend !
Thanks for listing these 5 parts:
Writing
Search engine optimization
Social media marketing
Email marketing
Management
I also believe you gotta do those but it takes time to get good at any one of them individually
Thanks for the article!
Great tips and content for beginning bloggers with tons of value. Thank You! I will certainly share with other bloggers on my team. I appreciate your great work!
Yes, become a professional and full time blogger is not easy, but it is not hard also. if we struggle for pure blogging or writing unique contents then we can win the situation. Thank you for your great content regarding to become a full time professional blogger.
Very nice post Harsh, but I think we can’t rely upon the single blog for making money when it comes to making a professional earning from a blog. It is even more risky if the traffic is coming from organic results such as Google. Because of changing nature and 800+ algorithms per year from them might take you all from you one day. So if somebody wants to opt for professional blogging, he should be seo expert and creating multiple source of income is the key to remain in longer run.
Thank you for this very informative article. You are an inspiration to all bloggers out there. I am just starting my new blog and I will never give up until I make a full-time income from it. As of the moment, I’m working as a writer and editor for a US-based company.
Move forward each day in your blogging Luis. The only people that never make it are the ones that quit and that does not sound like you!
Hello Harsh,
I’m a college student and already started my blog in march 2014. But writing 10 articles/month is pretty tough for me like academics, co-curricular activities, projects etc?
what should i do? and because of my blog i concentrate less on my studies and I’m scared these days as its my Pre-Final year ! whether i’ll able to crack the job or not.
Hope i can make some good revenue from my blog, wish me luck 🙂
Thanks a lot for putting this article. I dropped here from FB. You answered me a lot of questions which were running in my mind and I was curious to know them from a Successful Indian Blogger. I need “Patience” and to continue working on my new blog.
Harsh.. it is an amazing guide for newbies like me who have entered the sweet world of blogging and planning to take their careers to the next level and you are absolutely spot on saying don’t put all your eggs in one basket.. As i have studied a few rich people they also advocate the same thing ” TO BE RICH.. YOU NEED TO DIVERSIFY YOUR INCOME SOURCES”… hats off to you buddy.. cheers
alot of dedication and hardwork is required to become a professional blogger. I also want to mention that people are suggesting here that you have to be financially strong or have to quit your job. Please don’t do this, you can be a good blogger without quitting your job.
Hey, I want to become a full time Seo Expert. I have completed my bca, what do I do next?
Thanks