What I've Learned Blogging Everyday for More Than A Year for No Money...and Why I'm Grateful For It
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by @cryptoctopus
At age 25, I was broke, had no formal education and I was working as a baker for a well know french bakery in Montreal. I worked late night shift at $12/h and I saw no end to what I was doing and I had no alternatives in sight.
All those years from 17 to 25 yrs, travelling, partying and living the full blown hippie lifestyle only had 1 thing at the end of the rainbow for me...a life of quiet desperation with absolutely no plans for the future.
Catching the Opportunity Market Bug for the First Time
You've probably came across those money making opportunity...most likely from a pop-over or pop-under ad whenever you try to stream a movie for free on putlocker. For some odd reason(I call it Providence), I decided to actually watch one of them.
The concept was interesting. Everybody blogged under the same domain so that everyone benefit from the alexa and google page rank of each other and the rest of the blog was designed with banners ads that lead to a fairly high converting sales video and upsell process going from $25/mo to a $3500 one time offer...all of it with 100% commission every 2 sales...plus some multilevel commissions. The products included the blogging platform with the sales process, some very high level marketing courses and daily audio tapes.
In any other circumstance, I wouldn't have bought from a sales video from a complete stranger but something told me that I had to buy into this. What other option did I have?
Preparing my escape hatch
I needed a way to free up a whole lot of time, get steady cashflow while I dedicated 100% of my time to this new venture. Fortunately, I had nosebleed almost daily from the flour. So I went ahead and got a paper from doctor to stop working because of "flour allergies".
Now on employment insurance, I had lots of time to find a better job and dedicate 100% of my time to writing blogposts and learn internet marketing.
Blogging Daily is for Wussies
The formula was simple: blog daily, tell others, get money.
So, I set out to blog twice daily, in my second language, every day for a full year. Re-invest my earnings into more info products and learn how to run ads on Facebook and other places.
Even though I didn't make a dime for a whole month of blogging, I kept on plowing forward. Lo and behold, my first commission came in. 60 articles of at least 1000 words got me a whopping $25/mo commission!!!
I was ecstatic. (don't laugh)
It was the first time in my life that I've made money for myself and not as an employee. I was by then working as a flight attendant, which was the perfect job since I worked only about 80/h a month and guaranteed minimum paycheck.
Fast Forward a Year Later...
After a year of this circus, I looked back at where I was at. I spent every dollars I've earned to either information products or advertising budget.
Why I am grateful about this
For some odd reason, I am born with the "look at the bright side of things" gene. I was still broke, true. I didn't quit being an employee, true. But I've acquired skills that can't be learned in school...which are now my bread and butter.
Blogging daily allowed me to become quite a good copywriter. I've learned how to write in a way to sell something...would it be an idea, a product or a service. Believe it or not, copywriting is one of the highest paid job in the world.
The infoproducts gave me a solid understanding of email marketing, facebook advertising, sales conversions, website design, psychology, etc. While I was blogging I started my own website, so I learned about wordpress, html and css too.
I attribute a large part of my success on steemit to what I've learned during that year.
A year and a half ago, me and my friend started a marketing agency for the resort industry on the west coast of vancouver island in Canada. I've been working from home or anywhere with an internet connection, I take a bath or go shoot some arrows with my bow whenever I feel like I need a break. When the time will be right, I'll be able to be home when my kids grow up.
I wouldn't have this situation if it wasn't from the epic amount of work and failures I've compressed in that year and the one that followed.
So keep your head up if you've just got on steemit and didn't make as much money as you thought you would. You have such a sweet deal compared to any other platform...it's not even funny.
Also, Remember that a lot of your success depends on your ability to stick to something and to invest in your skills. An investment in yourself is what will always pay the most dividends in the long run.
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A great read. When I first joined steemit, I was amazed at this guy who consistently churn out great posts. Reading your story now shows you truly deserve every single cent of your present success. And I agree, being a copywriter is from experience, definitely an awesome job to have.
When the time will be right, I'll be able to be home when my kids grow up. This is one of the greatest goals in my life right now. I still have a very long way ahead. Pray it becomes reality for you . And me too ;)
I've been home with my son every day of his life. The downside was, trying to take him to school when he was in Kindergarten. He was so used to being with me all day that he thought I was coming to school with him. When he figured out I was leaving he ran and jumped onto my leg. I was basically dragging him with me trying to get him to detach.
His teacher got a kick out of it, but it didn't stop for a week. He finally became comfortable enough with her and the class that Dad was no longer that big a deal. It was at that point I wanted him to run and jump on my leg again. :/
It's 12 years later and we get to spend all day together again! He keeps me young (which in wife-speak translates to "immature"). :)
That must've been very hard. Both of you seem to be attached to each other really well.
aww, that's cute! How old is he?
I plan on homeschooling. There is quite a large homeschooling community here and I'm always amazed by the kids social ability and maturity when I meet them.
He just turned 18 a few days ago.
Thats cute. LOL. Enjoy the moments. He is almost a teenager. ;)
woah dude. I'm glad we are on the same boat for staying at home and see our kids grow up. Keep at it, you definitely are in the right place at the right time. PLUS, you've got great attitude.
thx rene for writing this up!
couldn't say it better! The past 3 years when working for BitShares as an example, i got sometimes somewhat depressed during the down road and the complaining etc. and much more negative things going on! And also from the earning side.
But i didn't loose my passion during this time
But relatively fast i was noticing the real value this connection did bring me with BTS. I was meeting so many nice and really talented people with kinda same vision and interest and the knowledge growth i was noticing as well then was just massive. Not to mention the connections i made and people i was working with. During this time i was not always seeing this kinda *real value things .. but believe me :) I'm so happy that i did that step and was digging into this rabbit hole. Man - happy i meet all you! Exciting times we live in ...
If u will stick to the things u love and u are passioned in and u will feed your addiction to these projects - people will noticed this and u will be credited over the time for all the work u r doing ...
you've always been one of my favorite guy in the BTS community. You've always been there to help, always positive and your graphic design skills are amazing.
We do live in exciting times. We are at the beginning of something big.
yep and we've the possibility to be part of it - happy we are going through together :)
just to add ... currently i'm working on 4 projects (CNX - Steemit - NexusDev - MakerDAO) - all projects with BitShares people or former bts team mates and colleagues from BTS :)
It's kind of cool that a lot of the BTS crowd got to move past phpBB and onto Steemit. It's a pretty interesting recursive move. Build a blockchain blogging platform for blockchain enthusiasts.
This is a great article that shows the power of perseverance. Blogging and marketing are different from a regular job where you earn hourly. They make you a small business owner, and you have to learn that it takes an investment of time and money to get something in return. That return might be a long time coming! But if you keep at it, and enjoy what you are doing, you'll get good at it and things may work out for you!
That's my takeaway from this article. Thanks for sharing this with us!
thanks @kenny-crane - At that time, I didn't know how what I was doing and the skills I acquired were going to profit me in the future. But life as a way of working out for those who persevere and focus on the life they want to create for themselves. I have to admit, there is luck involved too...but luck is only good if you are prepared when it cross your path. :-)
Great article! I'm glad you found this site! I've always hated blogging but now I'm really starting to like it, I love the feel of Steemit, It's not like other sites, People seem extremely intelligent here!
I'm glad I found it too. I'm kind of a old timer here now. A full month old.
You are right, I am pretty amazed by the level on intelligence steemit users. It's very stimulating to read.
You really have great writing skills. Keep it going and posting for us!
thanks @clement
Great read! Bonne chance dans tes projets futurs et continue d'écrire!
Merci Guillaume!
As a french blogger who is also blogging for nothing (in fact, at loss) this is inspirating ! You've done it !
join le channel francophone! :-) https://steemit.com/steem-fr/@cryptoctopus/steemit-slack-for-french-people-le-groupe-francophone-de-steemit-sur-slack
C'est fait ! :p
Very nice detailed post:) Really enjoyed reading this one!
Thanks @arcaneinfo ! :-)
Thanks @cryptoctopus. It is inspiring to read articles such as this. The last paragraph especially hit home for me.
About a year ago, I stopped working full-time for an employer (whose values were very different from mine) and started spending time investing in myself and my own business. While it has been a little scary at times, and I’ve had to find a range of creative ways to pay the bills, the experience has been well worth it. It has helped open my eyes to the many possibilities that exist in the world and within myself.
I applaud you for that. Being an entrepreneur is very tough and requires a lot of courage, dedication and passion.
I've considered blogging and copywriting in the past but I always brush them off because it's such a competitive market. Steemit has quickly grown on me though and I have your book downloaded I'll have to pick it up and read it!
indeed! It's very competitive if you are looking for gigs and it's very tough because you income is result dependent. The more you write, the better you get. :-)