Creating and maintaining a blog is work, a lot of work, and often you might wonder if all your efforts are even paying off. Quitting has no doubt crossed the mind of every new business blogger, but the benefits of sticking with it can be tremendous, and career changing. Trying to build a brand for yourself that is a raving success and generates new business and income without working yourself to death is tricky though. You have to consider how this transition can affect all the areas of your life before you leap with both feet because once you start to gain momentum it can be detrimental to pause progress on account of poorly planning the transition.
Check Your Wallet
Figuring out if your finances can handle the ebbs and flows of a blogging-based income is important. Think clearly about your budget, and what your fixed expenses are, the size of your nest egg, your retirement contributions, debt amounts, and how all those figures will be impacted by forgoing your corporate salary. Student loans are a huge portion of many people’s personal debt. Taking out student loans with a private lender in order to pay for your education is common, but the repayment terms do not give grace just because you decided to make a career change. Refinancing might be a worthwhile option so that you can potentially lower your monthly payment and create some free cash for yourself each month that you can use however your finances demand while you get used to your new income style.
Your debt to income ratio can also help you to build a realistic timeline for jumping over this hurdle. You alone determine your comfort level as it pertains the risks involved in leaving behind a safe and secure income. Lowering your debt significantly before dropping your corporate gig might alleviate some pressure from your responsibilities and lower your fear of failure. Regardless of how you decide to decide to handle your finances, a well thought out plan, that leaves room for the unexpected, is your best bet regarding creating the most comfortable financial environment possible as you begin this new career.
Have Realistic Expectations
Any new job is going to create new and unique demands on your time and energy, blogging is no different. Really spend time researching how other startups handled this transition before you take the plunge. Going from a corporate structure to a flexible online career is going to have its pros and cons and going into it with open eyes will make the cons easier to troubleshoot. One of the main reasons that new blogs fail is because the creators and contributors underestimated just how much work would be involved.
The good news is that starting is harder than maintaining, so once you have gained some momentum and an audience, maintaining them will feel easier. Always keeping in mind your ‘why’ will create and nurture the core motivation it will take to be successful long term. Having healthy pressure as your fuel to give you the energy this transition needs will promote dedication and help you to create habits specific to this new professional venture.
