I regularly answer questions on Quora.
One of the more common questions I see involves a beginner blogger asking how much time it will take to make a certain amount of money through blogging daily.
This line of thinking is quite damaging, forcing you to see blogging as a job that yields a set amount of money during a set period of time. Like a 9-5 gig. Or a steady paycheck.
Of course, nobody in the history of blogging has ever earned in a linear fashion. At least, no professional blogger has achieved this feat.
Pro bloggers open multiple streams of income. As money flows in through these streams, in varying amounts, cash flow will vary from day to day, and week to week and month to month.
More than that though, you may go weeks or even months without making a single cent through your blog.
I know what that feels like.
I also know what it feels like to earn more steadily through my blog.
As for the question posed above, thinking along these lines kills many blogging careers because these beginner bloggers go about blogging the wrong way, seeing their blog like an ATM or a job that spits out a steady amount of cash or paycheck during set periods based on the amount of work you complete.
Why this Meme Has to Go
If you blog mainly to get, you will never give freely enough to earn money steadily through your blog.
If you blog believing that X amount of work equals X amount of profits, you will be blind to the fact that you allow money in based on your clarity around money, the skills you develop, the value you bring to your niche and the quality and size of your friend network.
With all of these intangibles, most of all, the energy component of either allowing in or repelling money, can you see why it is physically impossible to earn through your blog in a linear fashion?
The fear behind such a question, and the prime money driver, ensures that new bloggers act from an energy of fear, lack and limitation, guaranteeing struggle and imminent failure.
When you purge this question, this mindset and this silly meme, you can begin laying the proper foundation for a profitable blogging campaign.
Job Residue
For about 8 years of my life I earned a paycheck every week or every 2 weeks through various jobs I worked.
You have likely held a job in your life.
Most people new to blogging carry a certain residue from their jobs into the blogging world, expecting to be paid on a set day at a set rate or salary based on the amount of work they complete.
Like any entrepreneurial venture, this line of thinking does not apply. No employee contract. No salary agreement. No hourly rate based on the amount of work you do, at least until you build a consulting business, and even then, there is no set time or client booking pattern until you create, connect and get clear around receiving money.
Think Like an Entrepreneur Building a Business
Before you ask the dreaded question about how long it will take to make a certain amount of money on your blog, embrace the fact that you are a business owner now. Business owners – after spending months then years of their life practicing, honing skills, creating value and building their friend network through generosity – see varying income through their business venture.
Some days, you won’t make a penny through your blog. Perhaps for months. Maybe even for a year. Hey, it happens. Even when money flows in the frequency and amounts will vary. You are no longer an employee. You are an entrepreneur. Own it.
Hone your blogging skills by following successful bloggers, by studying their content and by putting your newfound knowledge into practice.
Create helpful content.
Build bonds by promoting other bloggers.
In time, you will focus almost exclusively on learning, creating and connecting, for the long haul.
When you get lost in your craft for a sustained period – which varies for every person – the money will follow.